My basement -- a new chapter

[Smart Red]

I haven't said much lately about the basement since the new stairs, but DS has been working in the basement. When we built the house we ran wiring, water, and drainage for a bar. DS is looking for ideas for the bar he intends to build.


He is completing the wall and insulation for the outside wall in the room we are making into a theater. He will also be adding heat and covering the inside wall. The 39 foot space should make a neat gaming and movie space for the Grands. (I need to keep them coming to Grandma's once they're old enough to drive. What could be better than a popcorn machine and all the movies their friends and they can watch?)


Here is what will (hopefully) be a room for growing micro-greens and other plants as well as a space for starting seedlings. DS spend much of the day looking for and pricing lighting for the room. We have a lot of research yet to do regarding lights, pumps, nutrients, and waste removal, but the idea is a go for now. Water is already there and I 'found' two unused circuits for lighting since the air conditioner is no longer taking the space.


The cold space I used for storage was in the 'growing' room. Here is its new home. With the oil tank removed there will be access to cold outside air. It should be dark, cool, and damp -- perfect for storage.


Also in the original plans was for a bathroom in the basement. We had water and drainage in place. Now DS is working on plans for the space.


There will still be plenty of room for storage.


In the basement space already done, we have an ample area for the pool table, a pingpong table, and two gaming tables. There is still room for the insufficiently used exercise equipment. Sigh! I would show those spaces, but all the basement junk is piled there waiting for a forever home, donating, or the dump.

All in all I am really excited about what's being done. It all started when I suggested working in the basement would give DH something constructive to do during the winter. I never envisioned this many plans being considered and worked on. I am going to be one happy camper when everything is done!

 

[so lucky]

Wow, your living area must have a huge footprint, to have a basement that big. Ours is pretty big, but it's filled with equipment that never gets used.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

I hope the project works out well. I love those kind of projects but they ALWAYS take twice as much time and three times as much money as planned. Please keep us up to date on the proceedings.

 

[Nyboy]

Bar and home theater very fancy Red !! For some reason I think your grands would always want to visit you, no matter what living space you had.

 

[thistlebloom]

I always wanted a basement ever since playing Blind Mans Buff (or is it Bluff?) in my Idaho cousins basement. To a California kid basements were pretty exotic. Yours is going to be super Red!

I have the perfect bar for it too.

 

[digitS']

In that spirit, I also have an idea for a bar, Smart Red!

I can remember my idea in building those basement stairs, know how much help that was, and trust that your DS takes my design into account for his plans.




The handles on top were something of a mystery to me until I realized how helpful to Smart Red that the added stability would be for hand walking, 8 or 10 feet above the floor .

Steve
who really likes @thistlebloom 's design best!

 

[Nyboy]

Thistle I guess your not a fan of horror movies, basements can be scary. Thats where the monster always hides.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I had hoped to have a basement when I moved to this part of the country but it didn't work out. A good basement has a lot of potential. Looks like you are planning on making good use of yours. I especially like that idea of cold storage, something I very much miss. A good interior insulated wall and access to cooler air sounds great.

I don't know how much electrical you are going to add down there. You might consider adding a breaker box so you can safely have several circuits. You could probably run it off that old AC circuit and get plenty of amps. I really like separating wall outlets and lighting, especially fluorescent. I've messed up fluorescent lighting when I plugged a power saw into the same circuit. Now I make sure they stay separate.

 

[journey11]

Adding that extra living space with a finished basement is going to significantly increase your home's value too. Sounds like your house will be the place to hang out when all is done.

 

[Smart Red]

Adding that extra living space with a finished basement is going to significantly increase your home's value too. Sounds like your house will be the place to hang out when all is done.

It won't be 'finished' living space for tax purposes. To be finished it needs to have ceilings installed. For some reason, just having walls doesn't make the cut. At the most, I plan to run (removable) bolts of cheap material from joist to joist to hide the mess in the joists and keep the taxes down.