I am preparing to buy a new house and the basement is not done. I want to know the best thing to do to figure out how the design should go. Can you tell me the best way to prepare myself prior to having the basement sheetrocked and sized off for rooms.


Thanks
LeRoy

 

At this time you may be a little premature in your planning.
Move into your new home, and as you are moving in and storing items in your basement, a plan of what you want to do there will materialize. You first must figure out what you want to do in your basement. Storage, family room, work shop, kids playroom etc. As your plans come together, you will then know how much room you will need for each room. There is nothing worse then finishing your basement, and then finding out you should have done it different. Good Luck. Dream a little.

 

Spend some time in the basement before doing a layout. How its laid out depends, in part, on where the furnace, water heater are placed, where the windows are placed, and whether its a walk-out or not. Also depends on where the rough-in for a basement bath will be, if you ask for the rough-in. My personal opinion is that a basement bathroom is not needed if you have 2 or more in the house already.

One thing you can do now is talk with the builder about omitting the middle support columns. You may also need to talk to a structural engineer. It will certainly cost more, but will be easier and less expensive to do it now then later. One common question on these types of forums is how to move/elminate the support columns.

One more suggestion: If the builder hasan't started yet, make the foundation(basement walls) 10 feet high. That gives you plenty of room for a subfloor and suspended ceiling, if you so desire. The next house I have built will have 10 foot foundation walls!



[Edited by BobF on 01-15-01 at 03:24]

 

Hello
Jack is right on. Nothing I can add but, Do what Jack has lay out and you will be a happy camper..Good Luck