October 29, 2007
A diamond in the rough
In addition to a mudroom, we wanted to use the back part of the basement for a laundry, workroom and exercise room. But from floor to ceiling, there were multiple surfaces with different elevations and finishes.
The transformation began with the laundry area.
It turned out that there were problems with the plumbing, so we needed to dig up the floor to correct these problems. At the center of the space was the back staircase. We needed to leave this alone to avoid significant work to bring it up to today's code. But if we cleaned up the lines around it, it would help set the tone for a nice, clean space.
For the floors we worked with Sean Curry from Garage Interior Solutions; he suggested we use Flexmar. Normally a combination epoxy and flakey mix poured for garage floors, we were able to soften it up for use inside the home. This adds a rich looking, but durable surface. Along with its two large closets, and gateway to the patio and backyard, the basement is turning into a gem with relatively simple updates.
The other half of the basement will remain unfinished, but boasts all the mechanicals, radiant heat controls, an electrical closet and space for a ping pong table. When we recover from phase one, perhaps we'll put in a dropped ceiling and carpet. In the meantime, I think we will be perfectly happy to hang out in an unfinished but fun space…destined to become the kid cave!
(3) Comments
Comment on this BlogHave you thought about using this space as a workshop? I know you have small children now and perhaps now is not the time for that. I think in the future though it might make a great space for a small workshop. From what I remember of the back of the house you can go straight into the basment and not have to go on an angle which can be a bad thing for a wood shop and any other kind of workshop. So your basement would work great as any kind of work shop and it is great experience for your children when they get older.
We're going to have a worbench there, and we also have an unfinished part of the basement we can use for projects.
Seeing Tommy Silva's Plumbing controls for waste AND heat on past episodes they all look like a MISSION CONTROL CENTER with all the pipes, PEX Tubing, manifolds, control boxes etc out in the open , (A work of ART!) they should be showcased Same goes for the electical system, too. BTW did you go GREEN in your lighting and water usage fixtures in house and any new segemnts upcoming?