Basement Development & Associated Costs

[KTrain]

You could build the wall out...but I doubt it would be worth the effort.

[fundmark19]

Nope not worth it at all. I will just hang the tvs on the wall like normal. They only stick out 4 inches now a days anyways so it isn't a huge deal

[Wormius]

Shouldn't the studs 16" off center?

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Shouldn't the studs 16" off center?

Usually they are 24" in basements

@fundmark - depending on what you are doing, if your tv is only 4" deep it would be easy enough to build a cool looking treatment to you wall using finished wood wrapped 2x4s. Think a wall of lots of different sized boxes one of which holds your tv.

I have no idea if that concept comes across in writing. Keep us posted with images of your basement!

[speede5]

Non-load bearing walls can be 24" oc.

Your idea would be cool, and you could have used 2" styro for insulation with good results. The only issue I would have with it is that if you ever want to change you layout you have a hole to fill. These built in scenarios are great at first but people usually like to change things up now and then and you really are commited when you build in.

I am about to help someone put a suite in their basement, we are trying to finalize a layout and determine where the kitchen will go, and one wall has a built in projection TV and stereo. It looks great but is dated, and even though you can still fit a nice flat panel in the void its wasted space and commits the space to only one layout.

Anyway, I still think your idea has validity, just throwing in my 2 cents.

[AMG_G]

I thought about recessing my 80" LED tv into the wall but I think the TV needs to ventilate? Anyways in the end I decided to get a flush mounting bracket and inwall speakers to make it look cleaner.

[AMG_G]

Not sure how your guys were able to do your basement for less than $5k. I went all out on my basement. 45" Linear fireplace was $5k...

[AMG_G]

Washroom and gym area to the left and play room for son to the right

[AMG_G]

Our contractor is doing fantastic job. He is making this build very enjoyable for us. Here is the floor plan he did for us. There is now a fireplace beside the bar and the gym area will have the professional type gym floor with a 42" flat scree in the corner and in ceiling speakers for music. All wall and ceiling is insulated with Roxul safe and sound insulation.

[speede5]

Lookin good!

[surferguy]

I agree! Glad to hear you are having a good experience with your contractor.

[TheGrimm]

Originally Posted by AMG_G

Our contractor is doing fantastic job. He is making this build very enjoyable for us. Here is the floor plan he did for us. There is now a fireplace beside the bar and the gym area will have the professional type gym floor with a 42" flat scree in the corner and in ceiling speakers for music. All wall and ceiling is insulated with Roxul safe and sound insulation.

It might be too late, but why not move the TV from the 10' cove onto the east wall (from the drawing perspective). This way you can view the TV from the exercise room and broaden the visibility? I am sure you can re-purpose the 10' space into the drybar etc.

[AMG_G]

Originally Posted by surferguy

I agree! Glad to hear you are having a good experience with your contractor.

Thanks suferguy! When I first contacted you I was really skeptical of all these contractors out there. Maybe I was watching Mike Holmes too much .

I did get 3 quotes (Planit, Willace and Fleming and Affordable Basement Renos). The prices ranged from 48k to 74k which may seem high but I noticed that you get what you pay for so don't cheap out if you're not going to do it yourself.

The main motivation behind doing my basement was the need for space. With 2 young ones, toys are litterally taking over our upstairs. Plus I was getting a little tired of starring at the insulation while I was on the elliptical. We looked at moving but because we love having the new school in walking distance and both sets of parents within a 3km radius we wanted to stay in the area. Looked at houses in West Grove and Aspen but everything similar in size is north of 700k to start. I can't stomach paying 3 times what I paid for basically fancy granite and finishings and to top it off Aspen's designated school is Olympic Heights which means bussing.

Did not like Planit because they pushed monthly payments and their finance options more than what they can do for me. Their 50 page quote was like WTF to me. Planit is too big and tries too hard to streamline and cookie cutter the whole process. Did not feel for them at all.

I really liked WallaceFleming but they where just way too high for what they offered and timeline took too long.

I chose ABR because he understood what we wanted right away and my son really took a liking to Mr Trent. Also, he did my friend's basement and I really like the work. ABR just happens to be the lowest priced...but that is about to change....hahaha.

I really like Trent because he gave me many great ideas of what people did in their basements. Never really pushed any upgrades from our initial plan just optioned things in the quote. I liked the flexibility he gave his crew for example the quote included 16 pot lights but we ended up with 28 but we worked out the price with the electrician and will be paying him separately for the extras.

Initial quote was 48k for about 1000 sqft of developed space which includes bedroom with walkin closet, closet in foyer, storage room, washroom, playroom, home gym with gym flooring, media room.

We added a fire place with stone work floor to ceiling, 6 ft dry bar with uppers cabinets and granite counter top. This brought the price up to ~54k (wife picked some backsplash that was $40/sqft and some exotic slab of granite )

Then the media guy, Sigma Audio came to wire for 5.1 only but ended up doing a 7.1 and I ended up spending 14k for a full media set up with 80" tv and a 42" in the gym. You better have some self control before you call Paul Ferrel....hahaha

Knowing and seeing work done really helped us pick Trent. So far, he has been awesome with his work. He works with the same group of trades for all his jobs so the quality isn't a crap shoot. He is part of the framing crew so he gets his hands dirty too. Also, while framing he said it would be really nice to cut the stairwell wall so that it opens up to the basement. I said great idea and he just did it for free...stuff like that really added a lot of value to me. Time line is pretty spot on. Framing done, plumber in, plumber done, HVAC in and the electrician spent 4 days to finish his part. Inspectors are coming today and drywall next week. We sound proofed all walls and ceiling. Also liked the fact that payments are divided into 4 stages. There where many nights that wife and I asked do we really need to spend x amount for this for the basement? But we decided that since we are staying for a few more years why not enjoy it and not having a mortgage helps.. So final price should come in under $70k I know many of you will say WTF that much for a basement? Keep in mind not everyone can and wants to swing a hammer. I rather spend my weekends with the family. My coworker is on year three of his build...

more...also included an interior designer to help pick tile, stone, granite, flooring...etc.

When we went to the vendors to pick the fireplace, trim, doors, etc...they where all like oh right Trent said you were coming...and spoke highly of him. This proves that he pays his vendors on time which says a lot as well.

[Nyah]

That looks great AMG! You've probably mentioned already, but what contractor are you using? We're going to be developing our basement next year.

Edit: NVM - answered in the post above.

[AMG_G]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

It might be too late, but why not move the TV from the 10' cove onto the east wall (from the drawing perspective). This way you can view the TV from the exercise room and broaden the visibility? I am sure you can re-purpose the 10' space into the drybar etc.

We did have it like that in one of the versions but didn't do it because we wanted that large fireplace but all along that wall is windows and patio above and you cannot ventilate near windows. We wanted the fireplace to be the main attaction so putting it in the nook space kind of hid it from sight.

[fundmark19]

Here is basement so far. I guess I should have noted that it isn't for my main tv it is for 2 small 32 inch tvs I will be putting on the side wall.

Projector is where that green cord is in the roof
Left hand side where the rip in the drywall is there will be 2 32"(ish) tvs on fully adjustable mounts. This is where I was thinking about indenting the wall to make them flush
Straight ahead on back wall is projector screen
Right hand side will be wet bar (to be completed at later date) and component storage

[AMG_G]

Originally Posted by Nyah

That looks great AMG! You've probably mentioned already, but what contractor are you using? We're going to be developing our basement next year.

Edit: NVM - answered in the post above.

http://affordablebasements.ca/ and http://www.sigmaaudio.ca/

[TheGrimm]

Originally Posted by AMG_G

We did have it like that in one of the versions but didn't do it because we wanted that large fireplace but all along that wall is windows and patio above and you cannot ventilate near windows. We wanted the fireplace to be the main attaction so putting it in the nook space kind of hid it from sight.

Ah yes! I didn't notice the fireplace was in that spot as it wasn't on the drawing, that makes sense.

[AMG_G]

This thing is massive

[darklord700]

In the spirit of this thread, here's my recently completed basement. Time it took was 2 months and the cost was around $35K (not including media room equipment).