Tips on Finishing Your Basement

You must have a plan and a design to finish the basement; once you have a plan the work is half done. Make a drawing of how you want the basement to look, measure everything in the basement from the wall to the floor, from the door to the window. Take the blueprint of the house to see for any pipes or any pillars that might obstruct the work. Make several copies of the drawing so you can add or subtract things that might come to you. Basements are usually used to store excess stuff needed around the house. Many turn it into a study, office, kids play area, a gym, a living room, entertainment room or they make it a guest suite. There are even some basements where the finishing is better then the master bedrooms, and becomes the central rooms of the whole entire house.

A finished basement also fetches a good price for the property and increases the value of your home when selling the property. If you plan to have a gym or a kid’s play area in the basement it is wise to carpet the floor for safety reasons. If you want to put carpet it’s highly suggested that you waterproof the floor and then put carpet. Use a dark color carpet and paint the walls a lighter shade of the carpet and color the ceiling white. Dry wall is not recommended for those two functions. If you use the basement for any other reason then always use tiles to floor the basement, as it is easy to clean and cheaper to re-install in case of any wear and tear. Color the walls bright to match the tiles, also color the ceiling so it give a character to the ceiling and the ceiling will also look taller than it is. A false ceiling with different themes will also look great, like a theme of moon and stars or if it is used a kid’s area then the ceiling can be of 100 acre woods!  Install an exhaust fan in the basement along with an air-conditioner as it might get stuffy in the basement. Also have a heater installed there as it will get colder in the basement in winter.

If the basement is square put a round table in the room, it will look very beautiful. Use standing lamps or ceiling lights as the basement ceiling is not that tall. You can convert the basement into a theater and it can be a perfect hideout for families which like to spend more time indoors in a safe environment. Use furniture that sits low on the floor and have comfortable furniture there and also have a microwave and a mini bar installed in the basement. If the basement is going to be used as a spare bedroom then construct a bathroom in the basement so it is fully equipped. But before that please take permission from the local authorities and when the permission is granted then only start constructing the room. Any extension also needs municipal permissions.

A drywall is a wall made out of plaster board used to decorate the walls and create like compartments if needed. They are difficult to transport, they have to be transported flat on a truck and have to be unloaded and loaded the same way! Carpets are available in different color and sizes. If the room is square use a round carpet to decorate it. Persian carpets are available everywhere now and they are easy to maintain and are also economical. Washing carpets is a bit difficult as we cannot clean them like tiles, so choose the color carefully and always have a carpet cleaner handy in the basement. Always keep the entrance to the basement free and enough lights near the entrance and the stairs that lead upstairs or downstairs