About the basement: as far as rowhouse basements go, I think we hit the jackpot here. It’s ugly, but a good sized space and most of it has reasonable height (none of it is the standard 7’). As you can see in the pictures, there is an elevated wood floor on one half that pushes the headroom to a danger zone – about 6’2”. Not ideal. This side will be a lounge / TV / fish tank area, so it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. Dancing and grooving will be allowed despite the risk of head injury.
I’ll do a post about the fish tank when we put it up… I talk so much about those dogs that I failed to tell you all that keeping a big fish tank is by far my favorite hobby.
The wood floor is in terrible shape – TERRIBLE – we’re not refinishing it, but because of what’s under it, we can’t remove it [easily]. Some exploring exposed unevenness and surely other yet-to-be-discovered problems. The other half of the area is linoleum on concrete and this is about 6’6”. We’ve decided to just carpet the entire space to unify and warmify.
The side with the taller ceiling is where the kitchen was. You can see some kitchen leftovers in the pictures. Our plan is to reuse a few of the cabinets and put a wet bar in the same corner with a beverage center. We’re leaving the range gas hookup in case we (or a future owner) ever choose to turn the basement in to a full apartment. The pool table will also go in this space (Thanks,
Does this green remind anyone of Nickelodeon? It’s ridiculously bright. It looks much brighter in the pictures than in real life – that is a COMPLETE lie. This is just the beginning and I’m not at all worried that it will be terrible when we finish, but it is a bit crazy looking right now.
Priming begins:
4 comments:
I'm jealous of your basement. Mine is about 6-6" right now, and I want to find a way to finish the front half of it without digging it out. Now I need to find out if this is possible to due while making it do code, or find out the implications of it not being to code.
Know of any good basement folks?
Thanks, Corey.
I'm also curious about what the implications may be... anyone else know? I'm okay if it's just that it won't be counted as living space (although, I find it humorous that the kitchen was previously NOT in acceptable living space).
I'm also curious of other items that are not code. I know during the inspection that a few things were pointed out as being too low or stairs that were too steep, etc. etc. But if these things were always that way, then I assume I am not expected to fix them? And if we carpet stairs that are probably too steep, are we violating some requirement?
I feel you on not knowing all the codes. Renovating a house while living in it means you can't get everything back and make it to code (i.e., adjusting the stair rise/run, which is also an issue at my house). I also fear having someone come in and telling me it's all not to code.
The basic rule is that if you don't touch it, then you don't have to bring it up to code. Like you, I don't know what this really means as far as how much I can rip up and redo. I will say to be careful on just carpeting your stairs. If they have an overhang on the tread like mine do, and you just rip this off and carpet over what is left the rise/run will be even greater, making the stairs feel even more steep.
I just want a place that is safe, and acceptably livable for being an old home. For the basement this means I am ok for having a low basement and not classifying it as a living space. I just want to sit on my ass in the mancave and drink beer while watching football or drink tea and read a book. I'd rather spend the $20k (or whatever a digout fee is) on something better. Like booze. And hookers. :-)
Corey/Jon...couldn't have said it better myself. I find myself in the same situation. I am completely jealous of this basement and wish it was in my house! Our basement is of a good height-about 6'-6"/7' but only under about 1/2 of our house. The rest is dirt crawl space. the front part is where the original bathroom was, as is evident by all the pipes and drains, oh, and the 3 foot cast iron double sink-awesome for washing brushes and tools but takes up a ton of space and is HEAVY to try and move. I've thought about trying to finish that part for a man-cave, but what to do with all the items we have stored there, it is invaluable storage space.
Anyway, can't wait to see all the work you guys do down here!
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