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I was thinking of finishing my basement myself to save money. I wanted to know if you are suppose to complete all the floors first, then put up the walls, or the reverse?
Think about waterproofing or sealing the entire basement before you do anything. We just had our finished off completely. Our builder said that was the best thing we could have done. We run a dehumidifier and still take out a lot of water and we have air-conditioning.
I thought ceilings went up first? There are a couple of really good builders in this forum so maybe more advice will come in. When I finished my basement, we did the ceilings first, then the walls. Flooring was last, even after painting everything.
I didn't bother getting a permit for the basement. I'm not sure it mattered much when selling the house but there was something important: when you get a permit to finish a basement, it gets recorded in the Tax Assessor's Office. Well, you're taxes may go up considering that it's an increase in space. But the basement is now recorded as extra footage for the house. IOW, when my realtor was putting the house on the market, she said that they pull specs from the County and my finished basement was not included in the square footage of the house (since it was never recorded in the Tax Assessor's office). I don't think it mattered too much when selling the house as "Finished Basement" was indeed included in the listing and people who came through saw the finished basement.
Don't consider finishing a basement without the required permits and the ability to do so. A basement that is improperly finished can casuse your insurance company to cancel your homeowners insurance. More, it can damage the structure. Depending on the area of the country. For example here a floating wall system is required. If you build studs to the ground - it will damage the upper floors. I've known of homes to be condemned for that very cause.
Don't consider finishing a basement without the required permits and the ability to do so.
This is a very good point. The reason I didn't bother to get a permit for my basement was because the builder (it was a new house) had already finished the basement with studs and had already wired the electricity for the light fixtures, the smoke detector, etc. It was a townhouse and the wall with the garage was completely finished, and the wall facing the backyard was also finished (with a vapor barrier not drywall). So we didn't have to do any major construction or wiring.
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