Finishing our basement

[Daniel]

Any tips, tricks, hints, do's/dont's from experience? Keeping in mind that I have no interest in tackling it myself... lol ;-)

We're in the process now of getting quotes (1 bedroom, 1 bathroom (3 piece)), so any contractor recommendations would be hugely appreciated. Has to be willing to come to Stouffville.

Thanks!

[PaulH]

When sanding the mud make sure that you have a dry vac attachment!

Do your homework on how to insulate the walls properly.

You can wire everything up and just get an electrician to make the connections.

If putting in bathroom make sure you put in a fan that comes on with the light. Otherwise you wil get mould.

Allow for lots of lighting.

Paul

[nitrowsb]

I think it's too early to finish your basement...I've always heard 2-5 years before doing your basement to allow cracks if any to form in the walls and or floor!

Are you having another baby?

[Daniel]

Thanks guys. Keep it coming.....

Trung, the house is almost 3 years old. Still too soon? And #2 is a possibility, sure - down the road. Can't believe Natalie is almost a year old already!!! :-o

[TrevorH]

Never find yourself in the position of asking "Now that the dry wall is up, how do I install the electrical wiring?".

[Opal]

From hard experience... make sure you have a floor drain without a floor blocking it/water channel. Given it's new construction, you should be fine.

Insulation on the floor and walls - go as thick as you can afford.

Consider in-floor radient heating. Can utterly change the livability of basement rooms (warm feet = happy people).

Get an energy audit if you haven't already, before you start the work. The efficiency gains may pay for the work. And I'm sure you know about the reno credit already, but the two together make home improvements definitely worth it this year.

[nitrowsb]

My cousin is an Architect and could help design your basement/home as a favour for me! He just recently spent 200k+ re-doing his entire house...it's nice!

Don't forget about pre-wiring for entertainment like speaker wires,HDMI, etc.

[Navigator]

First and most important thing is to know what you guys want. Make a detailed list, the more detailed information you give the contractor the less chance you will be disapointed. If you want be your own GC and hire each trade individually I may be able to point you in the right direction.

Is it only going to be one bedroom and bath or are you dividing it up into any other rooms (furnace, laundry, etc.)?

If its only the two rooms your list should be about 30-50 items long. :-)

[BruceE]

Couple of things:

Radiant heating is great stuff, at least do the bathroom floor.
The dry-loc raised floor is awesome stuff. It will protect you from minor water issues and keeps the floor much warmer. I saved $100s the first year on heating costs just from it alone.
Spray foam insulation is way good stuff. Just do it.
Insulate the ceiling with Roxul, you won't regret it. This is definitely an easy DIY.
I went whole hog and used Quietroc drywall on the ceiling it costs 5 times as much as regular drywall but it is awesome at reducing noise. My kids can yell and play music and I hear nothing upstairs.
Sound proof any bedrooms from the rec room/av room by using a staggared wall or double wall system. Again definitely worth every penny.
Use solid core doors.
Get a dude off kijijii to do the mudding and taping. I got a guy to do it for next to nothing like $600 for 700 sq ft including the mud and ceiling.
If you drywall the ceiling plan ahead for future electrical wiring and AV wires.
You will likely need supplemental heating of some kind in each room. I have a thermostat controlled gas fp in the rec room and baseboards in the bedrooms to supplement the forced air. It is hard to get a decent balance between floors without a two zone system.

[STeveD]

If you're going to wire in 5.1 to 10.2 surround sound, dual RCA plug wall jacks actually exist! We mounted them up near the ceiling where the surround speakers should go. Would look crappy for 7.1, but 6.1 isn't very intrusive.

If you're doing 7.1 + , you'd probably want to think in-wall speakers anyway to make it look clean.

[tashko]

PaulH wrote:
When sanding the mud make sure that you have a dry vac attachment!



My only recommendation is to NOT do the mud and sanding...hire somebody else. They'll do a better job and faster... :hammer:

[BruceE]

So true, the one bedroom I did looks like crap and took forever.