Maximize Living Space With A Basement Remodel

If you’ve felt for years as though you need a house with more square footage and more living space, the solution to your issue may be literally right under your nose – your basement. By remodeling and finishing your basement, you can instantly acquire a significant amount of living space, and it might even provide an excellent solution for a family which is still growing. For instance, if you need another bedroom to accommodate a new arrival in your family, you might want to install a finished bedroom in the basement.

You might also choose to setup a new great room in the basement, where the entire family can gather to watch television or movies together. However you choose to finish the basement area, it will undoubtedly add a great deal of value to your home, and provide much more living space and functionality to your family members. Here are some suggestions for how you might remodel and finish your basement to add more useful living space to your home.

Wet Bars, Kitchens, Laundry Rooms

If you were to set up a new wet bar in your basement, you would have a wonderful area for entertaining guests and visitors. It will also localize the party to the basement area, leaving the upstairs free for family members to conduct normal activities. You might also want to set up a kitchen extension in your basement, where you can install countertop appliances, a small dishwasher, electrical outlets for a microwave, and an under-counter refrigerator, with access to hot and cold water for cooking. Setting up a laundry room in your basement could be a great idea, as long as you have a floor drain and access to one of the outside walls, so the dryer can be safely vented.

Wall Finishing

For the most part, foundation walls are usually made of stacked concrete block or poured concrete, so you’ll probably want to finish the walls to give them a more homey look. To accomplish this, you can cover over the concrete with paint, paneling, drywall, or plywood. Once you have this installed, you can get a little bit creative on how you want to actually finish the wall, to make the room more inviting and appealing.

Basement Ceilings

Finishing your basement ceiling will provide you with an opportunity to make some choices. One of the simplest ways of concealing all the pipes and ductwork could be to install a drop ceiling, or you could install paneling or drywall to cover up all those objects. You could also choose to simply leave the ductwork and pipes exposed, but have them spray-painted so they look more like part of the room’s ambience.

Basement Flooring

Most basement floors consist of a concrete slab, and this will make it easy for you to install either laminate, carpeting, or tile as a flooring solution. It would probably be best to avoid solid wood flooring, because that will have a tendency to shrink or expand, which will eventually cause warping and the development of gaps. Your main concerns when considering basement flooring should be that it’s both comfortable and practical for your household.