Basement Rec Room

One side of the original basement was semi-finished.  The main wall was sheet rocked and there was a pellet stove in the middle of the room.  It wasn't an exciting space, but extra living space is always a good thing. 

I debated long and hard about whether to leave it in that condition, or make it a more livable room.  And finally decided it would be great for the new homeowners to have some extra space down there.  It could be a kids playroom, a craft space, or whatever they want it to be.

But we needed to do some work to make that happen.  And it might seem counterintuitive, but we started on the exterior.   The previous owners said in the disclosure that there was sometimes leakage in a heavy rain.  We saw evidence that some water had come in the basement windows, but with this dry weather, we haven't seen anything else.  But we did notice that the downspout from the roof runs right along the exterior wall, next to the windows.  I dug a small trench and installed drainage pipe that the downspout will drain into, forcing all the water to the front yard.  It also created a swale that will limit water from the neighbors yard from collecting along the foundation.

But basement walls can still be damp from condensation in the basement, especially in the summer.  So we installed 'dimple board' along the exterior walls and on the floor to provide an air gap from the concrete.  

The spray foam insulation was applied on top of that, to create a tight seal.  We also added the stud walls, electrical and flooring.  The rest of the wall was insulated with rock wool.

We removed the pellet stove now that we've updated the house with insulation and heat pumps (it also got rid of the open floor grates that were in each ceiling up to the 2nd floor).  And we're adding an electric fireplace at one end of the room for both ambiance and heat (although when the steam boiler is running, it will be plenty warm in there thanks to the exposed steam pipes).

Once the drywall is installed, it will start looking like a room!  When all the finishing work is done, we will add a suspended ceiling, that will allow sections to be removed if they ever need to access plumbing or electrical lines.

How would you use an extra room in the basement?  

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