How do you turn a room in the basement with concrete walls into a bedroom?
Question:I'm moving back to my dad's house and want to turn a room in the basement into my bedroom. Two of the walls are "normal" walls with wallpaper, but 2 of them are still concrete, and have been covered with rug squares. I don't know anything about home improvement, but I want to be able to paint the walls and make the room look nice. How do I do this?
Answers:
You've got two good answers, and a bunch of others from people who don't have a clue what they're talking about.
First off, as Steve said, you technically can't make a basement into living space unless there are at least two points of egress (exit). If the basement has two exits (even a basement window qualifies as an emergency exit), then you're good.
A proper setup would be furred out and insulated walls and a raised floor. But if you know that the floor doesn't get cold/damp in the winter, you could go with just doing the walls (in dry areas, the insulation provided by carpet and padding can suffice, and since this sounds like it's already a partially finished basement, I assume that if it's needs a raised floor, you've already got one).
Use construction adhesive (comes in a tube like caulk) to adhere 2x4 studs to the concrete walls, just like you were building a normal framed wall. Space the studs 16" on center - in the inside corner, make sure they're set so the drywall from both walls is supported in the corner Install wiring for receptacles (per code, every 6' of wall space needs a receptacle), and telephone and TV cable as desired. Insulate, apply a plastic film vapor barrier, and drywall. Then paint, wallpaper, whatever.
If you do need to create a raised floor the, it's the same idea as the walls, except you only need 2x2s (or 2x4s laid on their side), and instead of drywall, you lay down 3/4" underlayment (a type of plywood).
To do a 12x12 room (two walls only), you're looking at about $80-100 in materials. To do the floor, another $70.
DIYnetwork.com has good tutorials on the specific details of the project. Have fun!
Is it possible to tear of the rug squares? and if you can tear them of.. also tear of the wallpaper and paint the room a bright color to livin' up the basement that could be real dark. like light baby blue or pink or yellow. get nice furniture and yeah
First, I would tear down the carpet samples and clean the walls thouroughly. Then you could either paint with the color of your choice, or hang tapestries to cover the concrete and give it a more homey feel.
I'd also add lighting to the room to brighten it.
Three ways.
Repaint all the walls.
Add new wallpaper to all the walls.
Or hang paneling on the walls in your choice of patterns.
anything can be homely, it just takes a little work.
You have to frame the new walls with 2 X 4 including headers over doorways and windows if any. The run electricity by installing NM type cable. You need a hard wired smoke detector inside the bedroom and one just outside it. You also need a second means of egress from a bedroom either a door or window. You will need heating of some sort and wall insulation if against the outside of the foundation. You will need floor covering. You will need to buy a big book on home improvement that tells you how to do all this.
There are special paints for covering concrete block or just concrete walls. They are easy to use. Are the cement walls above ground? If not you should protect them from letting water in.
If you want sheetrock walls, email me for advice
On the walls I would use 2*4 wood framing with 3 inches of fibre glass insulation followed by a 5 mil poly barrier to keep the moisture out. For the floor if it is concrete I would use a 2*2 floating floor with a plywood surface. You could then finish it with carpet, wood or tiles to your choice.
ether paint the concrete or Sheetrock over the concrete than tape and bed and than paint painting would be easy tho
Put a bed in it...TaDa..You have a bedroom...
Put a little table by the bed with a candle on it and you can live just like me!
Depending on the climate in which you live you may want to leave space or use Styrofoam insulation on the wall itself before framing. Putting regular fiberglass insulation against a concrete wall that has dramatic climate change will result in wet insulation especially if you put a vapor barrier in between the Sheetrock and studs. Check with your local building inspector as far as the egress required in your area.
Measure your basement from the base of the ceiling to the floor, then corner of the wall to corner of the wall. Taking the measurements to your home depot and have the clerk cut 2x4's according to the measurements. Build your frames attaching the frame to your walls with a hilty gun used for concrete and brick penetration. You would not have to frame or touch the ceiling, carpeting would be a good way to go on the floor. Find an alternate insulation instead of fiber glass, there should be a few variety of choices to chose from. An electrician could explain about running an electrical cable from your fuse/junction box as an electrical outlet.
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