What are the steps in redesigning my basement?
Question:My basement is finished with walls and heating and ventalation and stuff so I don't need those steps, I want to repaint it get a new carpet, make it more of a living area. I want to make it sort of a study area for school work, a movie night place/place to hang with friends, and a gym area. We have a treadmill and one more sit up maching. Also, we have a small room with all the plumbing fit for a bathroom, so I am definatley making a bathroom. Basically I want this whole basement to be nice and warm and cozy, and fun and modern. Right now we have dark 1/4 inch thick grey/black carpets right on teh concrete, adn scratched smudged white walls. and ccat torn up sofas and thats pretty much it. help! Where do I start?
Answers:
We are also currently working on finishing our basement better. Some key factors to start with are lighting, windows, and flooring. Once you decide on what you like there, the rest will fall into place and can be done later, such as furniture and painting.
Think about how you want to use not only now, but also in the future. It's easier to do it right the first time then to have to redo it in a few years. If you are in an area where water is any type of issue, I would recommend a reliable sump pump, and also a battery back up sump pump to protect your basement from flooding.
Start by making what is called an "as built" This is a plan view drawing of the room that shows accurate measurements of the walls, doorways, and anything else that doesn't move. Use graph paper, or if you have a Friend who knows how, CAD software. It is very important to make the drawing to scale, and to make sure the measurements are correct to within a half inch. You can get an "architects scale" (it is a triangular ruler that is calibrated at different scales commonly used by architects.) at any office supply store to help with this. If you use standard paper (8_1/2"x11") a 20 foot square basement should fit at a 1/4"=1' scale. (This would draw out to 20/4x20/4= 5"x5"
Use tracing paper over the finished layout to experiment with different ideas. If us use CAD, you can make several copies of the as built to experiment. (Don't over write the original as built)
EDIT
THEN hire someone like suhobi, and unless you are einstien with a scale, expect him to scribble all over it.
Check his references, and if he's legit, listen to him.
1 Go shopping for bathroom fixtures (tile , faucets etc) and furniture (it is way easier to match you carpet and paint colors to furniture - than the other way around)
2 Find contractor to do your bathroom (unless you want to do it yourself) - you may choose to hire him to do walls/painting to.
3. After bathroo is done - do the painting and carpet.
4. You may want to put wall mirrors in the workout area (they're not so expensive)
We CREATED a basement & finished it. Had house lifted & basement put under house. I started with graph paper using each square as 1' and drew the walls, door ways & windows & retracted the pencil in ink because these are not changeable items. This was main step. This paper was carried continuously for measurements for paint, wallpaper, sheetrock, cabinets, counter, ceiling tiles & carpet so it didn't have to measured over & over & over for each situation. Yet everything inside the inked drawing could be erased & redone then inked when permanent.
Bathroom - - where is your sewer drain from main floor. Is it going thru side of basement or under the floor? This will determine if you can put in a regular toilet or a more expensive 'upward' flush toilet.
We had block cement walls which needed a dehumidifier which I had removed the drain plug on its tub so it could run water into floor drain. To avoid this we put up a wooden frame from floor to ceiling, insulation glued sparingly to brick walls, plastic over that, had electrician arrive to do the 'rough in' wiring plus larger breaker box (& that inspected) for numerous outlets & switches (including for ceiling fixtures), sheetrock that we finished.
I installed ceramic tiles in bathroom, hall, & kitchenette (these remain cold so throw rugs were added. Two rooms had carpet padding & carpet added. One room we used cork under the carpet which leaves a firm floor with cold (your fitness room). One wall we got a wood panel, glued cork on it & framed it. The 'picture' for one of the walls was great for tacking up notes, pictures, etc...
You may not want to go this extreme; but, it gives some ideas.
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