Basement finishing

[sclitheroe]

I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a good outfit to finish a basement.

Also, any general tips/advice about finishing a basement?

Thanks,
Scott

[greyshep]

Probably not what you want to hear but with the huge demand in the trades lately you are probably better off doing as much of it yourself as possible.

Otherwise be prepared to pay huge $$$ and expect to be waiting a good while for the job to be completed.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by greyshep

Probably not what you want to hear but with the huge demand in the trades lately you are probably better off doing as much of it yourself as possible.

Otherwise be prepared to pay huge $$$ and expect to be waiting a good while for the job to be completed.

That's kinda what I figured. I'm not in a huge rush, just starting my research into the whole process.

-Scott

[Bobblehead]

A friend of mine is in the reno business. He says they are booking 6-8 months in advance for things like basement/kitchens. Something that is small (like replacing a door after a break-in) they can sometimes fit in.

[Fuzzy McGillicuddy]

What are you looking to do?

A lot of this you can do yourself if you are the handy type. Those big box stores like Rona and Home Depot offer seminars on "how to". Maybe you can get some advice that way. There's a lot of advice on the net too.

One area you shouldn't overlook or take lightly is drywall. I looks easy enough, but an inexperienced installer can make a mess of the most noticeable feature of a finished basement.

Best advice is make a plan, then double check the details. Better to find something you overlooked before you start.

[ken0042]

As a home theatre guy myself I would highly recommend running wire before you finnish the walls. Go to Home depot and get the in wall speaker wire, and run a few coax lines (RG6) as well as Cat 5e (or Cat 6 if you can find it.). You don't have to terminate the wires; in fact you can just drywall over the ends if you want as long as you have some way of remembering where they are.

I mention Cat5e because within 10 years IP TV will be a reality, and the last thing you want is to be kicking yourself for not running $15 worth of cable.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by ken0042

As a home theatre guy myself I would highly recommend running wire before you finnish the walls. Go to Home depot and get the in wall speaker wire, and run a few coax lines (RG6) as well as Cat 5e (or Cat 6 if you can find it.). You don't have to terminate the wires; in fact you can just drywall over the ends if you want as long as you have some way of remembering where they are.

I mention Cat5e because within 10 years IP TV will be a reality, and the last thing you want is to be kicking yourself for not running $15 worth of cable.

This just needs to be quoted for truth. Cat 5e and Cat6 are required for Gigabit Ethernet as well.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Just in the final stages of my basement.

Did most myself - which means I hired the cheapest and least qualified person I knew, and got what I paid for.

I had a tin guy come in and do the ducitng and a company come in and do the ceiling because in both cases there was not a lot of extra cost vs. doing it myself and I saved a bundle on the learning curve.

If you've never done taping and mudding my experience is that it's easy - once you get the hang of it. Took me more than few buckets of mud sanded off to get the hang of it.

I know someone who's just branched out on his own and may be worth a call to do it for you. If I can help pm me and I'll share my experiences. I learned a lot from CP all along the way, incidentally. It was a great help so keep tapping the great minds here.

Finally I may be able to line up more coaxial cable and cat 5 than you'll ever need if you go that direction. I have giant boxes of the stuff in my garage and I'm not sure if the guy who gave them to me wants them back or wants me to get rid of them. It's just bare wire though. No ends.

[ken0042]

Just make sure whatever wire you use is Fire Treated, or Plenium rated as it will be going behind walls. I found Totem was about 40% cheaper on the Cat5e than Home Depot. (I found it after I was done running cable.)

[Robbob]

If you get any major work make sure the contractor takes out permits so it can be inspected (ie lazy plumber just removing the floor drain and extending it to make a 1/2 bath).

[GoinAllTheWay]

Finishing the basment yourself can be one of the most rewarding experiences. I am just in the final stages myself. If you are developing the basement of a brand new house, it won't be that hard. If you hire anyone to do anything, it would likely be the drywalling or mudding/taping. As someone above said, all your work boils down to the job you do on the drywall, it makes or breaks a project but for the most part, its only real problem is the physical effort put in to doing it. If you do wind up doing the drywall yourself, you can acutaly by drywall lifts that will raise the drywall for you, holding it in place while you secure it. You can also just raise it to the ceiling to make sure it going to fit in advance and make any cuts you need. You can also rent an electic mudder that will apply the mud evenly for you in one long, even stroke.

Wiring? My personal favourite. Tons of fun. Just make sure you are mounting boxes the correct hight from the floor, leave a 6 inch loop of wire outside the box in case you need more in the future.

Bringing power, light and water to a cold, dark basement is the ultimate testosterone producer.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Yeah, I'm about half done my basement as well.
Only things i'm not doing are mudding/taping and the carpet.
It's all pretty easy to do but it does take a lot of work.

A few things I've learned while doing it.
1) It'll take a lot more wood than you anticipated, not even accounting for mistakes (hopefully there are few) ro wastage, but plans change and you don't realize how many extra studs you'll need when things get even remotely complicated.
2) PLAN PLAN PLAN, you may think you've got it figured out but take the extra minute to check it out and avoid having to redo something. Building a wall is a real pain in the ass the second time you do it.
That being said it is pretty fun to see it all go up (slowly as it may be happening).
Oh and also as a few guys have said, make sure you plan for the future, you can never have too many outlets, and wiring for sound/cable/phone/internet is a lot easier to do before the drywall and paint is up.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Oh and also as a few guys have said, make sure you plan for the future, you can never have too many outlets, and wiring for sound/cable/phone/internet is a lot easier to do before the drywall and paint is up.

Ha. Though when reading the electrical code, note that it says nothing can be more than 6 linear ft along the wall from a plug, which is not the same as you must place a plug every six feet.

'Cause a plug every 6ft or less looks pretty silly. Or so I'm told.

[photon]

Does anyone know of someone who does that spray in foam insulation? I want as warm a basement as possible and I've read that the R value for that stuff is a lot higher than the standard pink.

[Indi]

I found that one of the best and fairly cheap ways to keep the basement a lot warmer in the winter is to drop your heat ducts AND the cold air return to ground level. Also, make sure you run at least 2 cold air returns or you wont get the proper air movement....resulting in cold air pockets

[photon]

Good advice, we're planning to get that done too

I guess I should run all the possible wires in the walls as well before doing that foam insulation... that would be a royal pain to do after!

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by photon

I guess I should run all the possible wires in the walls as well before doing that foam insulation... that would be a royal pain to do after!

Also to get a city permit, you have to have the wiring inspected before putting in insulation.

[photon]

Yup, that too.

Oh and I found some info about the foam insulation:

http://www.cufca.ca/

[Shazam]

Current code requires a cold air return along with a heating vent in every room, including basement rooms.

You can also get Delta-FL, which is a plastic subfloor that will increase the warmth of your floor. http://www.deltafl.com/ It's sold at Totem.

Foam is indeed about 2-3 times more efficient that regular insulation for the same depth. If you want to do your whole basement, I'd say it'd be at least $2000 to get it done (I got some estimates a few weeks ago). Be sure you do your wiring, etc. beforehand. If that's too expensive, you could get something like Roxul which is better than the standard "pink".

[photon]

Cool, thanks. I don't mind paying a bit extra if the result is good. And I've seen that Delta-FL stuff before (derived from their basement wrap no doubt), we're thinking of doing that as well. I didn't know you could do laminate right on top of it though (without plywood or OSB)!

You're sure that code dictates a cold air return in every room? Because one of our bedrooms in our newly built house doesn't have one. And that room does get colder at night than the rest (makes sense). We haven't talked to the builder about it much yet as we're just getting to our three month repair stuff now.