You have finally had motor your dingy, boring basement and so are excited to convert the stark, unfinished space in a livable extension of your home. Perhaps space will end up a sports room, your house theater, or perhaps a greater space to relax. No matter what the final use will be, beginning the conversion is always the identical – solid, thoughtful prep work.
Like so many things in everyday life, the quality of your brand-new, finished basement will depend largely on how well you prepare it. Do not be so excited to jump into putting down new carpet, installing cabinets, and other more pleasurable tasks before you have inked the “grunt work”. It might be a big job.
Grunt work includes those activities that are essential however, not very glamorous simply because they don’t immediately enhance the appearance of your space. A good example of this is waterproofing. Basements are notorious internet marketing damp as a result of water wicking with the concrete walls and floor. It is essential to halt this process through the use of a water blocker to everyone’s concrete surfaces. Over time, the water will begin to destroy your basement if this type of step is skipped. Your carpet after which your basement will become musty smelling, laminated surfaces can begin to separate and mold will begin to grow. Certainly not the oasis outside the daily grind that you’re envisioning!
Floors are another area requiring considerable consideration. Specifically, is the floor level as basement floors in many cases are sloped to some drain. Is this slope subtle enough that it will not be noticed after the flooring is installed or do you need to correct it has a layer of concrete? In more extreme situations, you need to construct a wooden false floor on the existing floor.
Next, take the time to install a stud wall as opposed to just painting the concrete walls. While there exists functionally nothing wrong with painted concrete walls, they’re not very inviting. To get that solid, finished basement look, you need to hang drywall or paneling and that is the location where the stud walls are. Such a wall is nothing greater than a frame of, typically, 2 x 4 boards running over the surface from the existing wall. The process for building one is not overly complicated and is a good do-it-yourself project. Once the frame is complete you can attach your drywall or paneling. However, build your life basic and run all of the plumbing and wiring first.
Drywall can also be an option for your new basement ceiling. A new ceiling covers much of the ductwork and other eyesores which can be part of a basement. As with the walls, you’ll be able to simply paint it but, again, it does not feel completely comfortable. You will have an excellent finished look in the event you want to install a drywall ceiling, however, there’s one major drawback. If a plumbing, electrical, or ductwork problem should develop, it can be much more of a process to gain access to it behind drywall. The damage necessary for order to arrive at the malfunctioning unit might be mitigated through the use of screws to set up the drywall rather than nails. With screws, you can easily remove a full panel and after that reinstall as soon as the repair. However, you still have your work reduce for you since re-taping and painting with the joints between panels is going to be needed again. To avoid this, you could choose a drop ceiling.
Drop ceilings have become popular in retail locations and include lightweight panels suspend by way of a cable and metal frame matrix. If you need the use of anything within the ceiling it is a straightforward matter to eliminate and replace a panel. It is no hassle solution. The drawbacks are that it is less appealing visually and more expensive than installing drywall. You will need to assess your particular situation and decide which route is best to suit your needs.
Hopefully, these considerations will give you food-for-thought and help your project become successful!
