Anyone finished a basement by yourselves?

[roadtrippin2wdw]

Hi! Hubby and I are contemplating finishing the basement in our 70 year old house. Contractors asking anywhere from $6000-$15000. We think we could do this cheaper, my husband is in the trades and I 'm pretty handy. It would probably take more time, but we can look everything up online and can buy materials as we save more money. Has anyone done this and been happy with the results? TIA : )

 

[merekc]

Yes. We just did this last year. By we, I mean my DH.

He roughed it in. We then had a relative/electrician do the electricity and we hired out the sheet rock (including ceiling).

Contractor quotes $13,000-20,000. We did it for about half that. It took us about 7 months doing it in DH's spare time.

We are very happy with the results. We opted not to do any plumbing down there to minimize cost. We are still happy with that decision.

 

[Halle]

DH has done ours and is now helping DS with his. Huge savings.

 

[DAISYDUCKRN]

when we moved 4 years ago our new house had an unfinished basement,previous owners used it just for storage. My husband finished the basement in our old house (was a much smaller area). He was determined to do it again in the new house. He removed masonary walls, redid the bathroom (did decor in disney), knocked through the garage, rearranged the pipes, plumbing, lighting, etc...This took him approx three years to totally complete. Now, recenly all completed with rugs, plasma tv we are enjoying it. He also put in three new closets for extra storage. He was determined to complete this project himself and is very proud of it. Yes, it was a tremendous amount of work because in addition to the basement he redid 2 upstairs bathrooms, and did work outside the house (this is why the basement took so long). No sure exactly how much money it cost us but it was a fraction the amount we would have paid a contractor. My husband also put new insulation, moisture barrier, sound barrier and new sheet rock on every wall. Now we can sit back and entertain in our new room. I was worth the time, effor and money

 

[debf]

DH did our basement.We have a playroom,tv/family room and a bar down there. Came out very nice. He did all the work,except the carpeting.He put down laminent wood floor in the bar area.The only thing that is not finished is the ceiling. We ran out of $$$.Hopefully we (he) will be able to get it done this year.

 

[soccerchick]

Yes, DH has completed three basements. First was really jsut a big rec room. Second was larger with multiple rooms and a full bath. We did pre-fab stuff in that bath. This last basement added flooring and tiling to his list of skills. He does everything except drywall. Our bathroom was already roughed in, but he added sink in bar area, did tile work, laid laminate flooring and did all electrical. We probably paid $20K (most expensive items were drywall -$4k, granite, and flooring). Added four large rooms and a full bath. Easily increased our home's value by $75-$100K. We'd have had to pay at least $50K for someone else to do all of it.

 

[katied]

DH did the basement in our old house. We were very happy. First, he gutted it down to the cement (it had previously been finished, but had water damage we knew about when we bought the house, so we wanted everything out). He then leveled the cement floor, re-did the plumbing to move the bathroom - we did have a contractor in to re-do the duct work we wanted move and to lay down the natural gas lines we wanted. Otherwise, DH did all the plumbing, electrical, etc. We put in a tile floor, 3/4 bathroom, lanudry room, wet bar, gas fireplace, home theater, etc. We also put in new hardwood stairs to the basement. All the wood, trim, doors, cabinets were bought unfinished, and DH stained everything to match.

Overall, it did take DH quite a bit of time, but we were very happy with the results.

I think one of the issues to sort out ahead would be any concerns around permits, etc. - What is required in the area you live, and what inspections will be required. There were certain things we had to have licenced contractors come in and "sign-off" on to meet the permit requirements, but all worked out.

 

[elgerber]

My dh wouldn't have it any other way. He is way too picky, and never happy with the work builders or contractors do. It does take a LOT longer, since he can only do it in his spare time, but it works better for us in the long run. He has done 2 basements now.

 

[jessica52877]

DH and I finished ours! I was the one that pushed for it and I am pretty handy (or atleast I like to think I am). We have 1600 sq ft ranch and so our basement is exactly the same. We did a huge bedroom, computer room, bathroom (had the pipes coming out of the ground already for us), family room and then just another room as big as the family room. It has toys and exercise equipment and a storage room. I made sure that we added plenty of closets (two whole walls plus one in the bedroom).

We actually did room by room except for the drywall. Did all that at once. And hired out the carpeting in 3 of the rooms, we laid ceramic tile in the other rooms.

It is one of the best things we have done together. Enjoyed the time spent (even though we don't do anything the same or agree on much ) and enjoy the end result and knowing we did it. Plus the $ saved in our pockets! DH tells me he is not handy at all but obviously he was handy enough.

 

[bonoriffic]

Framing will go real fast, especially if you have/borrow/rent a framing nail gun. Unless you are good at it, contract out the mud, tape, sand phase. It is an art form, and will take you 5 times longer than a pro and probably look decent at best and horrible at worst.

I had someone finish my basement and did my in-laws myself. Expect it to take twice if not longer from start to finish doing it yourself, so if speed is a concern make sure you have an army of friends to help.

 

[kelleyrn2000]

We're (meaning DH) is in the process of finishing our basement right now. Luckily the bath was roughed in already, and there is already electrical in most places.

DH is putting in heated floors (he plans to do solar heat) and is almost done with those, but still has everything else yet to do. We bought a jacuzzi tub from someone on Craig's list and actually got tile from the guy for free too.

DH is a perfectionist so I know it will take a while to get it done, and I'm trying to be patient! We're just doing a movie room, playroom, and a bathroom. Can't wait til I can send those kids downstairs along with all their toys!

The one thing we may hire out is to have some builtins in the kids play area. I was thinking about a bookshelf area with a built in desk for the kids.

 

[decaff38]

Tips:
YouTube is your friend
Hire out the sheetrock finishing. You can put it up easily, it is the mudding and taping that really takes talent
Do a drop ceiling rather than sheetrock. if you have a leak, etc. it is much cheaper to fix. Easy to do too. Takes time and patience
hire electrician and plumber if needed
Read those how to books at Home Depot and watch renovation realities for a couple weeks first.
You should be fine if you have some muscle help and can work together.
Good luck.
We added 45,000.00 to the value of our house. Cost us 9,000.00 for 1300 square feet

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes.

I was able to do all the framing, insulation, electrical, hot air (duct) heating, basic wallboarding, suspended ceiling myself. Floor and tape/mud not done yet, not sure whether I will try that myself. No plumbing was needed.

I have been at it for more than 3 year although the space under renovation is usable. Perhaps you could, with more enthusiam and budgeting of time, get yours done sooner.

Some hints: http://www.cockam.com/theater.htm

A few mistakes:

Soft (poured, blown or batt) insulation should not touch the foundation wall.
A circuit with part 12 gauge part 14 gauge wiring can only have a 15 amp. breaker.