Renovating your basement is a popular and cost-effective way to maximize existing square-footage. Imagine this entire level of your home as a blank slate for your ideas. TOTAL can execute these ideas for you, bringing to life a brand new space in a cost-effective and proficient manner. A remodeled basement can add great value to your home, and increase your existing living space.
If you’d like to hear more about the TOTAL design/build service, and how we’ll give you a new basement without the stress, download a copy of our basement remodeling guide.
Does Basement Remodeling Make Sense?
1. Is my home eligible for a Basement Renovation from a structural and legal position?
Most towns do not allow basement finishing where the ceiling height is below 7’0”. To quickly see if your basement is eligible, you can measure the height from the floor to the underside of the floor joists. There may be some irregular height with larger beams and good basement remodeling professionals can design a solution for this. In most cases you need about 7’4″ of clearance for the support system and wiring of the finished ceiling.
2. What is possible with the extra space?
To make sure you have enough square footage to realize the full benefit of your finished basement, it’s important to consider how you plan to use the remodeled space. For example, many people use their finished basements for:
- An additional living room, or family room
- Extra bedrooms for a family’s in-laws, elderly, guests, and kids moving back home.
- Play rooms
- Personal gym
- Work office
- Game room
- Bathroom
- Spa
3. Adding Bedrooms
Although basement finishing is a very low cost way to add additional living space to your home, if you are thinking of using the remodeled space for bedrooms, additionally, your town will almost certainly insist that you have an egress access for fire safety reasons in a space that is being finished as a bedroom. These are just a few things to consider when remodeling a basement to add bedrooms.
4. Electrical Service
When you add a home theater, kitchen, wet bar or anything that adds to the circuit requirements of the home, you must consider the electrical and wiring implications. Often, the existing electrical panel is insufficient to support the new demand and must be upgraded and supplemented. Part of a good design and build plan will be to budget for those additional costs in advance.
5. Adding Bathrooms
Adding a bathroom or powder room makes great sense if you have the space. Clearly, an additional bathroom is a great way to complete the renovation of your basement.
6. You need to start with a dry basement
We never advocate finishing a basement that has an existing water problem. The first step is a comprehensive and permanent basement waterproofing solution, which will provide the foundation for years of enjoyable living. This can add considerably to the finished investment as you may need a French drain, sump pump, and possibly back up power.
Click here to read about our basement waterproofing service.
