Basement question

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Looking at putting wife's sewing room in the basement (it's where she wants it). Instead of nailing studs to the walls and insulating and whatnot, I'm looking at putting in the middle of the basement and just doing a free-standing room. Framed with 2x3's as it's not load bearing. Make it avoid any utilities, like cleanouts for the drains. Good pathway around it, so the concrete walls are fully exposed. And plenty of other space left for storage. It's a new house to us, but it's been in place for twenty years, so it's clear to see it's a dry basement. I don't know how warm it stays in winter but that was part of the thought: instead of heating a large area I could do a small room with a space heater. Wouldn't need to insulate a small room if it only has to go from 55F to 65F nor require "lots" of power to do so. And if insulation is needed, it could easily be added (I was going to only finish one side of the wall, leave the studs and electric exposed).

I do have the dehumidifier running at a good clip to control moisture now; I've left it at "comfort" which I think is around 50% and it's removing a gallon per day or so (but who knows if it'll taper off). That's the other thought: instead of having to put down vapor barrier against the wall and worrying about future issues, just skip it all. Let the basement breath, and make a smaller structure. Cheaper too. [I'm guessing I need something under any flooring but I haven't gotten that far on this plan.]

Am I nuts in thinking this? Most people go and fully finish if they do anything, but I'm always worried about the cost and then future mold problems.

My basement is something like 28' x 60' with a nice high ceiling in most of it.
 
Originally Posted by KGMtech
I would consider the impact on re-sale value if you do something that only appeals to you.

True. If it had an impact though, whatever I build will be built so that a few minutes with a sawzall would fix. It's not going to be some $10k "make it pretty" project.

We plan to be there for decades, potentially (looks like something we could stay in well into retirement, so 3-4 decades). So putting something up, getting 10 or 20 years out of, then ripping out if we went to sell and the realtor thought it was not nice, would not bother me. I would "have gotten my money's worth" out of it by then.
 
It's not a bad idea.

After owning a home with a basement for a number of years, you will at some point have water entry.

You can paint the concrete walls with Drylok, and that helps with the humidity too.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Is it going to be a she-she'er she-shed?

Not really. My wife likes sewing and does a bit of costume work on the side for a performing arts studio. She wants to be able to have a couple of sewing machines out at a time, easier than swapping thread. The living room upstairs is the area to relax and escape the world, the basement will be the work area.

Although yesterday she pointed out that we could just as easily put a room next to it for my amateur radio stuff too. I haven't been active for a while but it might be nice to have my own walled off electronics area, apart from any wood working hobbies that are kept on the outside. [I had been thinking of making a room just for wood working, but am starting to think I just don't want to deal with the dust.]
 
Originally Posted by drtyler
It's not a bad idea.

After owning a home with a basement for a number of years, you will at some point have water entry.

You can paint the concrete walls with Drylok, and that helps with the humidity too.

I'm not sure if I can seal the concrete, there's a radon system going; I think that pulls a vacuum under the slab and I haven't a clue what making changes to the basement would entail to that system. Sealing would be nice to cut down on the moisture though; I'll have to look into that and its ramifications.
 
Originally Posted by Alfred_B
Make sure to test for radon.

It was slightly elevated so the previous owner put in a system. I'll retest at some point in the near future.
 
Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by drtyler
It's not a bad idea.

After owning a home with a basement for a number of years, you will at some point have water entry.

You can paint the concrete walls with Drylok, and that helps with the humidity too.

I'm not sure if I can seal the concrete, there's a radon system going; I think that pulls a vacuum under the slab and I haven't a clue what making changes to the basement would entail to that system. Sealing would be nice to cut down on the moisture though; I'll have to look into that and its ramifications.

Sealing the concrete will help with the radon infiltration as well as the humidity. It will also help the radon system by allowing it to pull a vacuum easier.
 
I have a couple of light framed rooms in the basement for the teens 20 years ago.

I want to rip them out. It's pretty gross and dungeony down there though fully carpeted and drywalled and wood trimed out.

Note that you can make an obtusel-angled boxed reveal below the basement windows inside to effectively
triple the light and apparent size of the small flip out windows. Think Middle Age castle loopholes or balistarium. but Indoors

This an Old trick i earned from an ingenious architect
 
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
I have a couple of light framed rooms in the basement for the teens 20 years ago.

I want to rip them out. It's pretty gross and dungeony down there though fully carpeted and drywalled and wood trimed out.

Note that you can make an obtusel-angled boxed reveal below the basement windows inside to effectively
triple the light and apparent size of the small flip out windows. Think Middle Age castle loopholes or balistarium. but Indoors

This an Old trick i earned from an ingenious architect

I was thinking of those newer LED shop lights. Lots of light.
 
When I built storage/laundry rooms in our basement I just put up three walls with the fourth being the outside concrete wall. No worry's about mold or water as you have complete access to the outside wall. A good coat of paint on the concrete and it is fine for an unfinished work or storage room. You would only need to build two walls if your room is in one corner of the basement. Try to include an outside window in the room.
 
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Is there forced air ducts that provide heat/AC to the basement or are the ducts only available to the main floor and higher floors? How are the basement walls constructed? Cement blocks or poured foundation walls with forms? Is there insulation on the existing walls or just plain concrete? I know building codes between US and Canada may be different.

My basement has forced air ducts to the basement. Old building code had a pink insulation blanked of the top 4 feet of the wall with a vapor barrier attached. This is fastened to the wall via a bottom strap that is ram set into the concrete

When I finished the basement, first thing I did was remove that plastic vapor barrier and pink insulation off. Then I put 2 inch thick rigid foam insulation boards around the entire basement. I know it was expensive, but I'm saving in heating and AC bills by doing this. Furthermore, the basement is warmer in winter and less damp and humid in the summer. If I run the dehumidifier it picks up hardly any excess moisture.

The last thing you want is moisture in the basement getting into regular drywall in the basement. This will lead to possible mold problems which can lead to major health problems later on.

I know everyone wants to do stuff on the cheap, but this is your house. If you are going to live there for a long time, this will pay for itself. I looked around my local Kijiji and got plenty of free drywall from people that had ordered too much and didn't have a truck to return excess purchases. It was cheaper and easier for them to give it away for free.

As for the flooring, I used a product called Dricore the subfloor. Keeps the cold off the basement floor. Also insulated the walls with Roxul mineral wool insulation.

Do you need to also run electrical outlets and switches to this area? If this area is not comfortable, then your wife will not want to use this area for a long period of time IMO.
 
Particularly because there's been a problem with radon in the past, you'll have to think carefully about how to ventilate any sort of basement development. You don't want to accidentally create an area of increased radon.

If you make any room in that basement that people will live in or work in, I'd suggest you check it for radon levels.
 
Recirculating hot water, no duct work at all. Poured slab and walls. Modern construction all around. The (whatever those cavities are called, above the sill plate and with the floor joists) do have insulation stuffed into them, but i'm not aware of any insulation in/around the walls otherwise. Fully underground basement, no walkout, not too much exposed above the ground (nominal 18" or so).

Was not planning on drywall at all. Was thinking of nailing 1/2" plywood (maybe a decent sanded grade) to a wall section made from 2x3's, then standing up, nailing to another section, etc. Leave the stud cavities open to the outside, plywood to the inside. Cut outlet box holes where desired. Ceiling, hadn't figured that out yet. Wife is thinking of getting whatever flooring is on sale at Home Depot etc, open boxes or whatever--she doesn't want to stand on concrete but she doesn't care what it looks like either.
 
If you are buying supplies plywood will be more expensive than drywall. If you want to go cheap on flooring then cheap laminate (99 cents a sq ft) is probably the best option. Is the Floor you want to build on mostly level?
 
Originally Posted by Yah-Tah-Hey
Hello Thrasher, this is supton.

?

Originally Posted by JC1
If you are buying supplies plywood will be more expensive than drywall. If you want to go cheap on flooring then cheap laminate (99 cents a sq ft) is probably the best option. Is the Floor you want to build on mostly level?

Yeah, but they are workrooms. Will be hanging things from the walls. I had been thinking of cheapo luan but then the wife thought about hanging scissors and wantnot from random spots. 1/2" OSB might be perfect, and maybe even acceptable to her. Something cheap and easy to put up. Drywall is dusty and a pain to work with.

Floor is quite level. I'd snap a pic but right now there's a huge pile of stuff from moving in that we just haven't gotten around to putting up on shelves yet.
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Also, just to be clear, I'm not doing this on my own--the wife is the one measuring and designing. I told her to avoid the utilities. So far she's thinking this--she's kinda excited about designing her own room, and is trying to entice me with a radio room of my own.
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FWIW this is from the tax card. I don't think it's actually 28x60 down there, but close enough. Two odd bumpouts too, one is full basement but the one on the right is a weird alcove area that is not usable for other than storage. The 12x12 thing is a deck and not basement.
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I this link is an ad but still, they seem to list a con against using Drylok in the basement, which makes sense to me. Moisture is going to get into the concrete anyhow, and using a sealer is going to let it sit behind the paint. If adhesion isn't perfect it's just going to peel, and then no longer be sealed.

I've never liked the idea of finished basements, it strikes me as something hard to do properly. Sealing should start on the outside of the foundation and then whatever is inside will need to breath inward, but it'll have to breath. Just like how the upstairs is done--keep water out, but allow a path for whatever got in (or was exhaled), out.
 
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