Basement 2.0

[Road Guy]

ughh.. so wife mysteriously found some $ and wants to do some work on our basement.

Her reasoning is that our same model house with a finished basement just sold for $100K more than ours appraised for.  I don't really want to deal with this but it would be nice to have some more room & my daughter has said she would be interested in staying home for the 1st year of college if she had a "suite" in the basement..

Still not sure I am going to go through with this again, but this time around I am going to contract out some more stuff like framing and sheetrock to save some time.. anyways... Here is a link to my previous project if anyone wants to hire me out?



I have two areas in the basement that have plumbing and I am trying to figure out if both are set up for a full bathroom or maybe one is for a small kitchen  / bar?  These areas are close but not close enough to be the same room.

The one picture that has two pipes the same size the pipes are 4 IN and the other photos one pipe is 4 IN pipe and a 2.5 IN Pipe. I am thinking that the first photo is the one set up for the bathroom?

 I haven't looked at the codes  but I am assuming a 4 IN pipe is required for the toilet and shower? Or can you get by with a smaller drain pipe for a shower? I just did this 5 years ago but cant remember!

 

[P-E]

RG don't do it unless you're sure you'll never get water down there. I've seen/heard of too many finished basement disasters.   Many just from bad plumbing. 

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

Basement? What's a basement? Lol.

Seriously, are basements counted in the square footage of living space? Do they have to be converted into a living space to count? Just curious if this is similar to us "no basement southerners" who sometimes convert a garage into a room.

P-E, is the concern from water from leaking plumbing getting into the basement and flooding it? Sump pump wouldn't work? I thought basements were supposed to have sump pumps. Then again, I know nothing about basements.

 

[matt267 PE]

are basements counted in the square footage of living space? Do they have to be converted into a living space to count?

In my area, basements can be counted as living space if they are finished to code with permits pulled. Therefore the town can charge you more on property taxes.

water from leaking plumbing getting into the basement and flooding it?

Leaking plumbing is a risk no matter what. Flooding from rivers "shouldn't" be an issue if the house is out of a flood zone.

I thought basements were supposed to have sump pumps

If the groundwater table is high, the basement should/would have a sump pump. If there is a low groundwater table you wouldn't have to worry about it. It's also important to make sure gutter downspouts empty away from the house and that the grading is sloped away from the house as well. 

 

[Road Guy]

Denver is basically the desert and I am far enough away from any water sources to worry about any of that....

The place I live is much more permit heavy than the south. Most builders won't do stuff without a permit- they have all been scared / trained to make sure the govt knows what happened to you house.

 

[MA_PE]

bad plumbing is going to cause a problem whether it's in a basement or not.  Those stubs certainly look like the house was built with the intent of adding something.  Are these connected to a vent somewhere?  The two side by side 4 in. pipe seems to be an odd configuration.  It might have intended to be an in-law apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom.  Is your house a "typical" configuration in the neighborhood?  Maybe go to an open house of the same style and see what they have done in the basement.  If the developer built a number of the same style houses at teh same time, a finished basement might have been an option and you can see what the intent of the layout was.  The original owners of this house may not have had the resources to go with a full finished basement but paid to have the rough plumbing installed.

You might call some local contractors and see if they are familiar with this configuration and could offer some insight on the best approach to finish it off.   The intent is not have to hammer the slab and use the stubs where they are.

 

[Road Guy]

Crap I should have went and looked at the one that just sold while it was "on the market". They took down all the photos (but they didn't show much of the basement online).

It's defin stubbed out for basement living- I just can't figure out the two 4" pipes. They are in the easier bathroom construction location but I don't see vent pipes close by.

 

[knight1fox3]

RG don't do it unless you're sure you'll never get water down there. I've seen/heard of too many finished basement disasters.   Many just from bad plumbing. 

To echo what others have said above, certain home-owner insurance policies will have add-ons to protect extra items of value in a finished basement environment.  I think we have something like $20k worth of protection.

I'll send the photos over to LadyFox.  As an enviro, she might know about the (2) pipe configuration.

 

[MA_PE]

Crap I should have went and looked at the one that just sold while it was "on the market". They took down all the photos (but they didn't show much of the basement online).

It's defin stubbed out for basement living- I just can't figure out the two 4" pipes. They are in the easier bathroom construction location but I don't see vent pipes close by.

I know you hate them but you might consider calling the listing realtor on that house and ask for the photos or their recollection on the layout of the basement.  Worth a phone call.

 

[jeb6294]

You can also try googling the address. Sometimes the pictures will still be on a realty website somewhere, i.e. Zillow.

This house has a sump pump but my old house did not. There were floor drains but the storm sewer was lower thN the FF elevation. 

As said, if you want to count the square footage you have to get everything permitted who h means it'd have to have an emergency egress so so drying more than those crappy little 18" x 24" basement windows.

 

[knight1fox3]

As said, if you want to count the square footage you have to get everything permitted who h means it'd have to have an emergency egress so so drying more than those crappy little 18" x 24" basement windows.

This is how it is in WI.  Our finished basement is not included in our sq. ft. calculation.

 

[MA_PE]

On a similar note, a friend just told me his brother is selling a house in CT and he's running into issues because he'd done some renovations eithout getting permits over the years and the physical appraisel didn't jive with the assessor's database so he's got to pursue permits now and he's going to end up paying some fines to clear the house for sale.

 

[Road Guy]

All the basements in our hood were set up to be living spaces, weve got full size windows even my fat ass could climb out of easily.  I've got a contractor coming to give a quote next week, Ill just ask him.  Wife called the realtor and she was going to send us some pictures directly but it sounded like the previous owners used the one that I think is the bathroom as the bathroom and she said she didn't think there were other pipes roughed in and that area in their house was left as storage since that is where the sump pump and rayon gas remover thing was located..

Id like to not get a permit since then they will just raise the assessment of my house.  I can always just draw up a plan and stamp it with my pe-ness if I get questioned about it later

 

[Road Guy]

looks like this is going nowhere fast! (& I'm happy)

met with 2 contactors, price to frame and sheetrock just under 1000 SF =  $20,000 (both estimates basically the same)? & That's essentially only rough in of plumbing and electrical?  They said if I didn't pull a permit I could pay them around $15K just to frame and rock it and let me run the wires, but both wanted cash (different cons, I mean Residential Contractors)

No Friggin Way.. I know real estate in Denver is crazy but I will just do it myself if need be, but $%%^#$!^^^&&!!!

 

[Ship Wreck PE]

I finished my 400 sq ft bonus room above garage totally by myself in 6 months for $3,500.00 and it increased my homes value $45,000.00, and I can't spell "permit"

 

[Road Guy]

Yeah this is why I normally just do things myself, if you click the link at the beginning of this thread I did all that work for around 15,000 and I did 80% of it myself. On that one though I did have to add a separate HVAC system

 

[Dleg]

Well, cosntruction workers gotta live in $500k houses, too.

 

[knight1fox3]

Well, cosntruction contractors workers gotta live in $500k houses, too.

Fixt.

 

[Road Guy]

Ive done enough of that type of work to respect the craft, but I think the contractors look at the neighborhood and figure everyone is rich and can afford it. 

My engineers estimate for materials is around $4K to frame, rock, rough in electrical. so I figure usually about  twice the materials is what people normally charge to do the work, Plus it pretty wide open. I could frame it in a weekend with my kids help probably (not counting the ceiling)

I just don't want to spend all my free time on this like I did my last time, I mean there are only 3 to 4 months left until ski season

 

[willsee]

Ive done enough of that type of work to respect the craft, but I think the contractors look at the neighborhood and figure everyone is rich and can afford it. 

My engineers estimate for materials is around $4K to frame, rock, rough in electrical. so I figure usually about  twice the materials is what people normally charge to do the work, Plus it pretty wide open. I could frame it in a weekend with my kids help probably (not counting the ceiling)

I just don't want to spend all my free time on this like I did my last time, I mean there are only 3 to 4 months left until ski season

Do what you can then hire out the rest.