# Basement is done!



## jadams68

It only took me 10 weeks...yeah I know...you don't believe me do you?
Well it's true and my friends and I worked around the clock it seemed to get it done.

Thanks to everyone for helping me with it.

It's an 1100 sq ft remodel of our basement. It has two storage areas, a walkout (french door), egress window, full wet bar with beermeister, sink, washing machine and wine chiller, granite tops, wall to wall carpeting with 250 sq ft of 12" tile at the bar.
There is a 18 sq ft powder room, tiled with a a Saniflo toilet due to my plumbing being above grade.
Baseboard electric heat, 24 halo lights, cable and CAT5 runs...permitted and inspected :thumbsup: 

Here are some pics... I welcome your comments.


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## AtlanticWBConst.

Fantastic Job!!! 

(clap, clap, clap)

Very nicely laid out. I absolutely love that bar set up with the TV screen on the wall. 

Thanks for sharing the pictures with us....


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## jadams68

Thank you. It was quite a project. Having never done anything more than paint in my life, this was a great challenge and learning experience. I saved a ton of money doing it myself too.


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## yummy mummy

Fabulous job.
Looks really nice.

Congratulations!

:thumbsup:


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## Zel1

Excellent job! 

I'm looking to do something similar in my basement one day!


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## handyflyer

Great job.


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## jadams68

Thanks.
Tomorrow morning is my final walkthrough inspection with the township....then I have the pleasure of being informed by them that my taxes are going up because they reassessed me....


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## beer_geek

Very nice. Enjoy it.


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## rubicon789

Very nice... I am going to try the same thing this summer. However I have done things like this before so I know what your experience was the first go around. Enjoy it!!!


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## jadams68

Final inspection passed!! Now I'm waiting on the electrical inspector....:thumbsup:


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## KUIPORNG

Excellant job in 10 weeks....


the most amazing job to me is the bar... you did the capentry yourself....?


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## jadams68

Those bar cabinets are Lowes medium grade cabinets. We sat with a Lowes designer a few times and whipped it out.

I installed them myself which was surprisingly easy for me and a friend to do in a couple afternoons... 

We installed the beermeister first just to make sure the cabinets would fit around it properly. :laughing: :laughing:


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## KUIPORNG

Do you mind telling me how much it costs you in Lowes.. I sure want somthing like that... but would imagine it will cost a lot...


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## jadams68

Sure thing... 

- The design work
- 20 cabinets
- Trim, molding and crown molding
- Delivery
- Extra stain for our corbels we used when we built the bar
- Hardware (knobs)

Around $6000 total... Some may say that's high, low... it worked for us.


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## KUIPORNG

it sound reasonable price... Looks like Lowes has a good customer service considering your messages... I kind of reluctant to talk to HD people as they generally kind of very unhelpful to me... may be I will try Lowes .... but if you look at individual items... HD seems to beat Lowes in pricing...


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## rubicon789

jadams68 said:


> We installed the beermeister first just to make sure the cabinets would fit around it properly. :laughing: :laughing:


I just noticed... way to support the local brewers... Yuenglin all the way:thumbsup:


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## jadams68

I used HomeyD's for a lot of things...mostly the bulk items like wood, insulation, drywall, plumbing stuff...

But with the finer things like carpet, paint and cabinetry, I couldn't beat Lowes customer service. I mean an example, when they put the carpet in, they called 45 minutes later to ask how satisfied we were...just small touches like that.


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## beer_geek

rubicon789 said:


> I just noticed... way to support the local brewers... Yuenglin all the way:thumbsup:


Yuengling?? That basement is in Downingtown, PA, the home of "Victory".


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## jadams68

Victory is 2 blocks from my house actually.
I have 12 Storm Kings and 12 Golden Monkeys in the wine chiller


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## rubicon789

Nice:thumbsup:


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## New2dis

excellent work I would love to fix my basement up like that


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## Mr. Michael

wow, that looks awesome. :thumbsup: be sure to post more pics when you and your buds christen the beermeister. however, i assume that's been done already.:thumbup:


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## Not Sure

Your basement doesn't look like a basement! AMAZING JOB!


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## saltydevildog

Looks great, you should be proud. You added at least 10% to your houses value. Don't tell the tax man.


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## jadams68

Unfortunately the permit triggers the taxman to come out and we got a little tacked on. They never saw it, just went by our permit application.

But oh well.... 



saltydevildog said:


> Looks great, you should be proud. You added at least 10% to your houses value. Don't tell the tax man.


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## ACobra289

Nice job! It looks great. How do you like the saniflow toilet? If we ever add a bathroom in the basement, we will probably have to go with something like that.


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## jadams68

It's been perfect actually. No leaks, no issues. It's withstood some rather large parties and relatively high usage this past year. It wasn't hard to install either. You only have two choices for below grade waste removal. The Saniflo vs raising a regular toilet 6" on a pedestal and flushing down into a sump dug into the basement floor.

You still have to use a pump in either situation. The Saniflo seemed less intimidating to me.

- jim



ACobra289 said:


> Nice job! It looks great. How do you like the saniflow toilet? If we ever add a bathroom in the basement, we will probably have to go with something like that.


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## jkrodger

beautiful! Were your stairs already set up like that? My husband and I would like to finish our basement, but in our 1920's house, the basement stairs are rather steep and don't think we have an option to make them better without having people bump their heads!


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## jadams68

Yes, my steps were already in place and at that angle.
My home was relatively new construction when I bought it. 




jkrodger said:


> beautiful! Were your stairs already set up like that? My husband and I would like to finish our basement, but in our 1920's house, the basement stairs are rather steep and don't think we have an option to make them better without having people bump their heads!


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## Mr. Michael

gorgeous work


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## JackOfAllTrades

I was thinking of finishing my walk-out basement. It is around 1,300 sq.ft. It has the "roughed-in" plumbing for a bathroom. I was thinking of going with a drop-ceiling so I can access the pipework if needed. 

QUESTIONS:
What were the costs of just the framing and drywall?

Is it better "re-sale" value if you add a bedroom along with an entertainment/living area? 

Does a bathtub/shower combo bring more value than just a shower only bathroom in the basement?


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## jadams68

The cost of framing was just for lumber as I did that myself. If I recall correctly all my lumber costs were around a grand when completed.

I paid a company to hang the drywall ($1200) and to finish it ($2000).

The only things I sub'd out were the drywall and the carpet, the rest was done by myself and 3 of my friends.

I don't think a bathtub adds anything above a shower stall. Just my .02





JackOfAllTrades said:


> I was thinking of finishing my walk-out basement. It is around 1,300 sq.ft. It has the "roughed-in" plumbing for a bathroom. I was thinking of going with a drop-ceiling so I can access the pipework if needed.
> 
> QUESTIONS:
> What were the costs of just the framing and drywall?
> 
> Is it better "re-sale" value if you add a bedroom along with an entertainment/living area?
> 
> Does a bathtub/shower combo bring more value than just a shower only bathroom in the basement?


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## jogr

Nice job!

BTW, a sewage basin in the floor with an ejector pump doesn't require the toilet to be raised on a pedestal. It would also give you the option of a shower or tub. But the Saniflo works for what you were doing.


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## admtplb

Very nice work, looks great! I have a question for you - does the Saniflow system that you installed handle the waste water from the wetbar also?


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## jadams68

That's a great question; no it doesn't.
The waste from the wetbar sink and dishwasher goes into a Hartell pump similiar to ones used for Washing machines in basements. It's a VERY well made pump and fires waste water up 8' and then over 40' in between two ceiling joists (with a 1 degree slope per 7' or so) and that ties into my main soil stack.




admtplb said:


> Very nice work, looks great! I have a question for you - does the Saniflow system that you installed handle the waste water from the wetbar also?


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## redheads88

*Great Job!*

How much for you to come over and finish my basement???? LOL

*Questions:*
How much did you pay for the SaniFlo product?
Which SaniFlo model did you purchase and from who/where?
Were there any permit/permission issues you had to worry about?

I was born and raised in Thorndale (actually, I was there today)...not too far away from you!


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## jadams68

Thorndale is only a few miles up the way!
I got the Sani-plus model, the one that looks like a regular toilet, but flushes out the back instead of downwards like a normal unit. This way you don't have to raise it and it flows through a pipe you can buy from Saniflo to go through a wall and then into the pump.

The entire unit plus the extension pipe was about $750+ and I got it from my local Ferguson's plumbing supply.

I did go the permit route with the township. The permit cost is based on the estimated construction costs. My permit was about $200 and frankly that's nothing to ensure that I did everything right, went through the proper inspection process,etc. 

I'm a believer in an ounce of prevention... The whole inspection thing is a sham, but it will hold up in court if anything were to happen.

If by permit you were referring specifically to the Saniflo, none is needed. 







redheads88 said:


> How much for you to come over and finish my basement???? LOL
> 
> *Questions:*
> How much did you pay for the SaniFlo product?
> Which SaniFlo model did you purchase and from who/where?
> Were there any permit/permission issues you had to worry about?
> 
> I was born and raised in Thorndale (actually, I was there today)...not too far away from you!


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## JDuc

I must say, it makes me jealous that we don't have basements down here...lol

Looks great!


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## perpetual98

Threads like this make me super excited to start my basement!


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## grateful

Looks great! Have any idea of time or money invested on your basement finish? .


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## cips

*Most Excellent*

Basement looks GREAT! Nice Job. I just posted pics of our basement project that we have almost completed. Bit of a mess now..but hoping by June it will be completed.

We also plan on doing a bar...I want to build something so we can fit it nicely..my wife wants to buy one of the pre-made bars you see at the furniture stores that go about 2-3K. We still can't figure it out. Can you elaborate on your bar plans a bit...what all went into it...love the look..


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## jadams68

I apologize for not being on line in quite some time.
Thank you all for the compliments, it's been almost two years since the project was completed.

My buddy did his basement has a pre-made bar. Pros for that setup are that you can change your mind about the bar and turn the room into something else. For me, that's going to be a challenge. My bar is pretty much permanent, although it wouldn't take much to convert that space if I ripped just the bar section out.

The bar plans were simple. We measured the space after we framed it, added an extra 1/2" for drywall on each wall. Lowes enters those figures into their CAD software and renders a 3D image of your space. They then drag and drop pictures of their cabinets into your design...move them around a bit, trying different configurations. When it's all done, they deliver all the cabinets, molding, etc and you just put them wherever the design dictates. Building the bar was more of a custom job. We have floor cabinets from Lowes and then we took 4, 2x4's and stacked them on top of each other to make the riser for the bar. Lowes sold us large panels of veneer that we covered the back side of the bar cabinets with. We used 4 wooden corbels from Home Depot, stained in the same burgundy color as the bar to support the granite riser. The main granite top for the bar simply sits on top of the lowes cabinets using glue and it's own weight.

-jim




cips said:


> Basement looks GREAT! Nice Job. I just posted pics of our basement project that we have almost completed. Bit of a mess now..but hoping by June it will be completed.
> 
> We also plan on doing a bar...I want to build something so we can fit it nicely..my wife wants to buy one of the pre-made bars you see at the furniture stores that go about 2-3K. We still can't figure it out. Can you elaborate on your bar plans a bit...what all went into it...love the look..


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