The potentially least expensive “additions” of useable square footage is to finish a portion of your basement. A few walls, sheetrock, paint, drop ceiling, carpet, a couch, and a really big flat screen; and voila! New living space! Shoo the kids down there or escape yourself, whatever works for you. OK. Remove the rose colored glasses and well talk about reality.
In new construction we can make a basement dry with very few exceptions. Many existing houses were not built to withstand the pressure of outside ground water from the fifty or one hundred year storms. If your basement has ever been wet or you have stains on the cement walls inside that indicate it happened in the past, I would not recommend a finished basement. I have already been to too many rugs soaked and toys floating SOS calls. Now let’s review the other common prohibiting circumstances of the existing dwelling.
The stairs from the first floor to the basement must be Code compliant. There is a restriction of rise and run (the part you kick and the part you stand on). Its way too complicated to explain here. If you need further details, call your contractor. Let’s just say that those stairs that are scary to walk on because they are too steep are not compliant. The next issue is the space for your head at the bottom of the stairs. When you stop and stand straight up on any stair, there must be at least 6’8” in height. That’s a limiting factor in many wanna be basement remodels. Now we finally get to the basement floor… What is the distance from the floor to the bottom of the main carrying beam? That needs to be a minimum of 6’8’ also. My friend Janet points out that no modifications from the State Building Official are granted because of the expense of creating this height. No height, no go…
If you’ve passed the test so far, here is one more requirement. There must be two ways out in case of an unthinkable emergency. Up the wood stairs to the first floor is one. The Bilco door, if you have one, is acceptable as the second. If you don’t, Bilco also makes a Scapewell. Somewhat like a large window well that allows you to climb out in case of emergency.
Now let’s move on to the common but fixable problems. How about heat? Don’t think you will be getting away with cutting new vents into the ductwork in the basement. If you have to wait for the first floor thermostat to call for heat, you going to be very uncomfortable. Another common finished-basement-furnace-mistake is to make a new utility room around your boiler. On the very first cold day the furnace will die. It needs make up air to put in to the combustion chamber. The solution is to install a backwards dryer vent from the outside.
There are very basic and Code compliant basement remodels and ones that are much more lavish. If you need more information, give me a call!
In future columns I will be discussing Finished Flooring Types, Retrofitting homes for the handicapped, and Why not just call the plumber, electrician, etc myself? Please email questions or suggestions for future articles to sspurrell@nbict.us
Neighborhood Builders, Inc (NBI) has been building and remodeling on the shoreline since 1986. No job is too big or too small. Please call Stephen Spurrell at 203-453-3777. Connecticut Home Improvement #522685 New Home #8
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Related posts:
- Building And Remodeling: Why Do My Floors Squeak And What Can I do About It?
- Building And Remodeling: Residential Fire Alarms
- Building And Remodeling: Zoning Restrictions A To Z
- Building And Remodeling:Finished Flooring-So Many Choices
- Building And Remodeling: Retrofitting Homes For The Handicapped
