the blairs

Hi

I have spent alot of time on mls the last couple of days to get a feel of what properties are out there and the prices.

As some properties do not have finished basements, I have been wondering what sort of price / work would be involved in making a basement in to another room? also would this add a fair amount on to a property once done?

Has anyone had an unfinished basement and had it renovated into a room? Before and after pics would be cool !

Never had to think about basements before !!

Thanks
The Blairs

Aviator

A basement may not be quite what you think it is. It is not a dungeon underground. Many houses it may just be the ground floor, depending on the style. Finishing a basement adds to the value of the house (more so if it is legal, done with permits). What's involved depends on the basement, it's present level of 'unfinished' and what you want to do. For many basements you'll get way more than one bedroom out of it, or a very large one. We did a 1800 square foot basement in a split level, got 3 bedrooms, two sitting rooms and two bathrooms, cost around $30 per foot, but that was a while ago.

Almost Canadian

How long is a piece of string? The cost would depend upon type of finish, whether the space was divided into bedroom, bathroom, kitchen etc. I would estimate anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000.

How much it would add to value of the house would depend upon what was installed, drywall and electricity - not a lot (in fact it may devalue as new owners may prefer to start with a blank canvass), a nicely done bedroom, bathroom, family room and kitchenette would add a fair amount.

iaink

My basement it intrinsically dry, so for us it has been a question of sealing the sills with caulking and foam, putting up 2" poly insulation, then a stud wall with R14 (total insulation R24), then vapour barrier and drywall, and putting in a sub floor to get up off the concrete. Oh, and re routign some of the plumbing and ductwork, and upgrading and adding to the electrical.

After that finished flooring plus trim, and addressing the ceiling...

Total cost so far (for about 800 sq ft) about $4000, plus a LOT of my time. There is probably about another $2k to spend on the final flooring, and I havent though about how to finish the ceiling yet! Those expenses dont include the $1500 spent on upgrading the windows either. If paying a contractor to do it I think $30k would not be far off.


If it was a damp basement then the sky is the limit because finishing it before addressing drainage and water seepage is pointless, unless you like mould. That could involve digging a trench all around the house to put in drainage and seal the outside, and that a costly job.

I'm not quite finished, but Im finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. The main downside of our basement is its only 7' high. 8' would have been nice, but there was something in the planning regulations around here that made the permits for that extra foot a lot more expensive so few houses have full height basement in this neighbourhood. many in fact have no basement due to proximity to the river and the cottage country history of this area.

misplacedheidi

We had our basement finished 1 yr ago. About 1400 sq ft.
It already had an insulated subfloor down and a complete bathroom.

We had the drywall, insulation, ceiling, carpeting and lighting and electrics done.
Cost $20K.

Money well spent IMO as we can run around down there in the winter.

We have now turned Canadian and have the treadmill and the pooltable/airhockey table down there too. But not succumbed to a bar as yet!

But as another poster said, how long is a piece of string?

PS - we kept our basement completely open plan though we have one area which could be boxed off to make an extra bedroom if required by future owners. (but then we have enough bedrooms upstairs)

cov-canuck

We finished one room in our basement, turning it into a home theatre.

My parents came up and helped us frame it, we ran the wires/cabling ourselves, then had an electrician connect it. We did the soundproofing ourselves, then had someone come in and drywall the ceiling and walls. We then mudded/taped, painted it, and installed all of the equipment (the fun part!).

We decided to use removable foam pads on the concrete floor (they fit together like a jigsaw), it means the floor isn't cold, but if, for some reason, the basement flooded, we'd be able to remove them easily and replace them (they are also awesome for sound dampening).

My husband can be in the basement blowing up all kinds of stuff on his xbox 360 with the surround sound cranked, and I can't hear it in the room above (although we find the sound does carry a little through the vents).

It's probably a 200sq ft room, plus an understairs storage space (also sound proofed), and cost us about $5000...but that's including the projector, screen, furniture, speakers, amp, etc.

the blairs

My Hubby's dream

Simon Legree

Give some consideration to installing a drop ceiling. Not difficult to do and the accessability to wiring, ducts etc. may come in very useful in the future.

My basement is about 1,800 sq. feet. I have a sizeable workshop, a utility/laundry room, storage racks, a large rec. room with a fireplace, home theatre etc., a bathroom with a shower, loo and sink and my "play room" where I have my radio station, Meccano work bench and a couple of hundred Dinkys from the 50s & 60s ! Just a kid at heart eh !!! It's about 18' x 18' and is partly above ground with two windows, each 4' x 6' so I get lots of light and it doesn't feel like a dungeon. The OH seldom ventures in except to remind me that it needs vacuuming and tidying up. I did most of the work myself and I have no idea what it cost when I did it eight years ago.

Hobbess

As everyone else said, lots of variation in costs depending on what you do and how you get it done. Obviously the more you do yourself the cheaper it will be in the short term, but there are definitely some tasks that having a pro do them is well worth it (or certainly for a non-DIYer like me, wife and I are GSI - Get-Someone-In).

We are just starting out on our project and are using a general contracter to do about 80% of the work. Some of the finishing and painting we're taking on ourselves to save costs as the quotes came in above what we'd originally estimated. We also stripped back the project as we were planning on getting custom storage closets built but that sort of thing really adds into the cost.

We're doing a 1000 sq ft basement and turning that into about 700sq ft living space (2 bedrooms, bathroom and living room) due to the height of the ceiling in the remainder of the space. Quotes were originally around $40k and up, so $40+/sqft, that's with nothing in the basement right now, no plumbing roughed in, concrete floor and walls.

Now hopeful to get it done for less than the $40k, but probably won't end up too much less when all is said and done, staying conservative on my budget estimates.

iaink

The downside to the drop ceiling is that its only a 7' ceiling (less where the main ducts and structural beam intrude downwards) and I dont want to lose that 3" if I can help it.

The downside to drywalling it is there is a world of junction boxes etc that I shouldn't be restricting access too. For now Im going to leave it bare and worry about it later Plus drywalling a vertical surface is a pain, I can only imagine the horror of drywalling above my head.

sharkus

When we were house hunting a partial finished basement was the minimum we'd accept but we'd prefer a fully finished one. The main reason being that you can put a lot of money into finishing a basement, especially if there are any existing problems there, such as water ingress.

The house we purchased had a recently fully finished basement and the home-owners had permits for it all, so that was a relief.

That is a very good point, if you're doing it, get permits. Yes, extra time and money involved but I think in the long run it's a good thing. Obviously if you have a contractor in then make sure they have the permits and that you see them.

As for cost, as said by others, depends on exactly what needs doing and also what you want out of the space. If I were to do the basement then it would be setup to cope with a home theater setup, as well as a recreational area.

Relocating the furnace and water tanks is well worth doing as well. I'm pretty sure ours was relocated from it's original location, it's now in it's own room which is a combined furnace/heater and laundry/storage room

iaink

Regarding permits....

The downside to permits...permits cost money, and the township knows what you are doing and will increase your property taxes too as a result


The good side... you will have to have a plan that meets code and is executed to code. Anyone buying your home will have the security that it was done to code...

The downside...the increase in resale value perhaps doesn't cover the additional cost of getting the permits and the increase in propery taxes paid...

Its a toss up. I dont think most DIYers bother, but if hiring contractors I think its a must to make sure you are protected from the fly by nighters.

Hobbess

Some advantages of buying finished (or at least for us when we were looking):

• the work is done so will be priced into the sale of the house, this means in theory no more costs if you are happy with the basement
• You don't have to spend the time and money going through a renovation, it's not quick and will almost always cost more than you thought
• Your whole house is liveable from the start, something you may need depeding on the size of your family and the number of visitors you get, especially important as an expat.

and some advantages of buying un-finished:

• it's only worth it if the basement is actually finished to your liking, most we saw when we were house shopping would have needed at the least a lick of paint, if not a full over haul which means more cost and time to demolish (an old sauna in one, a display cage akin to a dungeon in another and several MiL suites)
• you get to do what you want and spend the money where it's important to you, such as a fancy media room
• you can do it over time, so maybe buy a cheaper house now and spend a few years renovating to spread out the cost

Simon Legree

Having done the total basement finishing thing previously when this place was built I specified 8' to the ferring strips so that I could have a nice high ceiling. It did cost more for the extra concrete for the basement but I thought it was worth it. Even with the ductwork it isn't a problem. The main trunk lines, both hot and cold still give me a seven foot ceiling. Not an option if the place has already been built but something to consider when someone goes the custom built route.
Drywalling above you head isn't difficult. You just make two simple T braces out of 2 x 4 cut about 3/4" shorter than the height of the ceiling. It is simpler with a helper but you can do it by yourself if you have to. Use the braces to hold up the wallboard until you shoot some screws in.

Butch Cassidy

You my son are having a bloody laff, even rip off builders (I know I work for one) start at 25K ($45per sqft)