questions about finishing a basement here (work, house, construction)

[LisaCACO]

we're newbies to the concept of finishing a basement and are looking at homes in the centennial/aurora area. some of them don't have finished basements even though they're pretty new. just saw a lovely house today, just gorgeous, but wouldn't you know, the basement was unfinished.

so I have a few questions. I know there are stacks of variables, but what's the average cost of finishing a basement that's roughly 1300 sq? we'd want a lovely man-cave, lol, nice carpeting, probably a little kitchen area, bedroom, and so on. anyway, what are we looking at in costs for this type of thing? I'm just looking for some rough ballparks here from folks who may have redone their basements.

thanks .

[Charles]

Originally Posted by LisaCACO

we're newbies to the concept of finishing a basement and are looking at homes in the centennial/aurora area. some of them don't have finished basements even though they're pretty new. just saw a lovely house today, just gorgeous, but wouldn't you know, the basement was unfinished.

so I have a few questions. I know there are stacks of variables, but what's the average cost of finishing a basement that's roughly 1300 sq? we'd want a lovely man-cave, lol, nice carpeting, probably a little kitchen area, bedroom, and so on. anyway, what are we looking at in costs for this type of thing? I'm just looking for some rough ballparks here from folks who may have redone their basements.

thanks .

I think 2200 square feet basement was about $70K. Included two bedrooms, one full bath, one half bath, wet bar, TV/movie type room, storage room, lots of lighting. All bath and wet bar flooring and countertops were slate. All flooring was laminate wood except bedrooms were carpet.

[Mike from back east]

And if you'd like that basement to have 9' high ceilings, add another $30k or so. It sure makes a difference, as with a 9-foot ceiling it won't "seem" like a basement, instead, it will feel like another whole house down there. Part of the area under the master bedroom was not to excavated in the basic home we took, but we opted to have them dig that out too, another $20k. So even if you spend $125k on the basement, you're getting another entire house in the lower level.

[Katiana]

If the house is fairly new, it will be up to date for the present building code. If it is older, the area being remodeled will have to be brought to code, up part way, anyway. In the case of our house, which was about 20yrs old when we did our basement remodel, some of the windows had to be enlarged, and one had to be made into an egress, even though we weren't putting any bedrooms down there. Because these windows were only 10' from the house next door, the windows had to be dug out by hand. This did add to the cost. There are all sorts of little things you don't know until you get started.

[LisaCACO]

thanks guys. my gut tells me my marriage won't survive so much construction . I hate construction guys in my home . not enough prozac to make it all okay. maybe I need to buy a home with a finished basement...hmmm...gotta think. anyway, you've given me much to think about .

gosh I love this forum!

thanks a bunch!

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by LisaCACO

thanks guys. my gut tells me my marriage won't survive so much construction . I hate construction guys in my home . not enough prozac to make it all okay. maybe I need to buy a home with a finished basement...hmmm...gotta think. anyway, you've given me much to think about .

gosh I love this forum!

thanks a bunch!

Yes, I said we needed to go to "Marriage Encounter" after buying our first house!

[LisaCACO]

it is a tad stressful, isn't it? since we're planning to adopt again and expect another little one in the home sometime in the early fall, I doubt my sleep deprived body would be able to take several hairy men wandering thru my house once or twice a week as they saw fit. something tells me at some point I'd see them just sitting around doing nothing and I'd snap, lol, taking out hubby too. then I'd make the news, and well, it just wouldn't be pretty.

to paraphrase clint eastwood, a woman's got to know her limitations.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by LisaCACO

I hate construction guys in my home....


I doubt my sleep deprived body would be able to take several hairy men .....

What if they looked like this?

[Katiana]

since we're planning to adopt again and expect another little one in the home sometime in the early fall,

OOH, a new baby! How special! Congratulations!

[LisaCACO]

thanks, that's the plan- we'll see what happens.

okay, charles, love the photo, but if you'll notice, he's not working. I'd prefer it if they were good looking and working. also note he's laughing. that's cuz he's enjoying life and my money.