# ronocnikral's Basement refinish



## ronocnikral (Oct 22, 2012)

Hello everyone. My Wife and I are in the process of finishing our basement. It is roughly 2650 sq ft, with another ~600 sq ft (Unfinished) under a suspended garage. So yeah, a lot of sq footage for a rather small family. 

Anywho, work is underway, and I'll try to get more pictures as needed/requested and as work progresses. I wanted to have a place to document the progress, $ spent and of course, get some ideas. So, any ideas/comments are always welcome. I plan to track the spend here as well (I keep track b/c I am relocated quite frequently for my job, and the relo pkg entails "capital recovery" if I take a loss on the sale of the home). 

Currently, we are focusing on the "bedroom" side of the basement, which will have 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. My parents wanted a space outside of our office to sleep during Christmas, and we hope to at least get a quasi-livable space with a working toilet for them. 

Spend to Date - $11,561.94 Seems high for just some framing, insulation and a bit of wiring run thus far. But the major expense has been about $9000 for new cabinets everywhere in basement (2 full baths, storage area, and a 2nd kitchen. Another (minor) financial pain was to find my ceilings were 9.5' tall and 2x4's were $3.29/board. Also, paid my brother in law to help with the framing (who came with tools, nails, etc). Having a forced air system installed as well (work is complete, just need to finish the wiring, hook into breaker and turn on before contractor gets paid). 

Next up, finish up the framing (tray ceilings in all 3 rooms), seal rim joists properly, run wire for lights/outlets, insulation for between studs on outside of "envelope", run vents for dryer/bathroom exhaust (2 separate vents). Probably not in that order. 

Thanks again for taking the time to look. I'll get better pictures of the overall area this evening.


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## Trucon01 (Jan 10, 2012)

I'm jealous of your ceilings... I'm stuck with 7'8"...


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## ronocnikral (Oct 22, 2012)

Trucon01 said:


> I'm jealous of your ceilings... I'm stuck with 7'8"...


Thanks! I've been following your thread. I'm certainly glad I had no demo and especially glad I don't have to take up the floor! Our lowest Ceiling drop brings us down to 8'3" before sheetrock and flooring. 

Bought some more electrical stuff last night. Total is up to $12,064.80. Should be 80% of the electrical stuff, perhaps a bit more 14/3 wire will be needed and we are trying out some 3 way dimmer switches which are $55/pair. If they work how we think they should, we'll do the other rooms.

Planning to hook up my first circuit tonight (the expensive AFCI type). All bedroom lights are going on one circuit and I'll split the receptacles across 2 different circuits. With 2 breaker boxes, 2 forced air systems, 2 laundry rooms etc, we'll be running tight on slots. There are a few I need to find where they ran them to, as we don't need them (e.g. circuit for soft water) and if we get real desperate, I'll disconnect the big 2 pole 40 amp circuit for the cooktop upstairs, as we have a gas stove top (and I can't fathom why anyone else would want to cook on electric, but it happens, trust me, I know). 

A few more pics. First, here is how we imagined our "storage space" (and ordered cabinets for it). Cabinets in this area were about $1900. 









This is what happened...

















It was a nice "Craft" area and a place for me to do my mad hatter film photography. But, since we have about 6000 sq ft, total, the single system most likely wasn't going to cut it. And while we can flush the total room design down the toilet, we can still use some of the cabinets. Perhaps they have some residual value, they're built by Omega, walnut wood and a natural finish, so they are far from cheapies...or we can find somewhere else to put them...

Our West side bedroom. a 6'x24" closet is going where the insulation is piled up. Tray ceiling will be brought in as there is an air return box on our original system protruding. Much smaller drop than the room pictured above and a larger tray of course. Jack n' Jill bathroom in back corner (behind insulation).


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## ronocnikral (Oct 22, 2012)

Well, crap. I opened up one of my electrical panels thinking is had some space to expand, and I was incorrect. The other panel has 9 slots open, I could probably open up two more, as the central vac has it's own circuit and our soft water has it's own circuit. We have a kinetico water softener, so no power is needed. But, the pump to circulate the hot water is plugged in there. I think I could consolidate those two. And the basement lights are all on one circuit, which will be replaced with the proper dedicated circuits. So, 11 circuits to expand, a 2 pole for the A/C, 2 pole for dryer, 1 for furnace, 6 for the bedrooms and bathrooms and I'm already at 11. not to mention washer, 2nd kitchen, potential media room etc...I'm going to need another sub panel. I wasn't planning on this, but I'd rather do it proper now before everything gets sheetrock and it becomes more costly....sigh.

$12,392.01 spent, BIL finished off some framing. We have trays in all rooms now. Framing is 90% done.


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