How much space do you have, and what do you imagine for your basement? Many people purchase a home knowing that the basement has tons of opportunity, but it isn’t finished. You can change that and dramatically increase your living space within your home. Finished basements can serve as dens, home offices, bedrooms, and more.

Start By Assessing Your Space

Most people looking to furnish their basement aren’t planning to move plumbing or wiring. That’s good because you can create many high-functioning layouts that fit within your basement. Take stock of your space, measure your usable areas and get comfortable with exploring different layouts.

If the basement has substantial space, you may get the use of multiple rooms from the space. Evaluate your layouts and determine what would work best with the current plumbing and electrical configuration.

Schedule An Inspection

There are ways you can inspect your basement by laying down plastic sheeting, but it’s best to get a professional inspection. Testing for rot, the quality of the seal, ventilation, and the state of the floor joists are imperative.

A contractor can certainly help with an inspection, and many do them for free as a consultation. They can also help with permits and advice on scheduling or prioritizing repairs.  

Make Repairs

Few basements can pass a thorough inspection without needing some type of repair. You can schedule your repairs so that your basement goes through a gradual change or plan to do your repairs all at once.

Aside from repairs such as eliminating mold or fixing plumbing, you may need to make “repairs” to get your basement up to code or in a livable condition. For example, you may need to dig down and lower the floor if your basement doesn’t have the proper height clearance. Another example is insulating your pipes. These aren’t necessarily repairs because they’re often older or simply not updated.

Plan Your Walls and Get to Work

There are a few different ways to install walls in a basement, including interlocking panels or insulated stud walls. Once you decide on your flooring and wall materials, you can get started. Lay down your plans, and put up your walls.

Ceiling Options for Basements

There are many different ways and options to finish your basement ceilings; you can go for a more rustic look by simply spray painting the joists and boards, or you can get your contractor to install sheetrock for good sound proofing, but one of the most popular choices is to install a drop ceiling, or suspended ceiling. The benefit of getting a drop ceiling installed for your basement is that you can hide any pipes and wires nicely, and also easily access them when needed since a drop ceiling is installed as tiles with a metal framework that supports them. So when necessary you can take out a tile or two and perform the repairs, and replace those tiles when done.

Sponsored by Drop Ceiling Installation Boston MA