Developing my basement. Must haves?

[03ozwhip]

So, turns out I'm not moving to airdrie, I'm stuck. So, next best thing is to develop my basement, nothing crazy, bedroom, bathroom and rec/theater area and a little bar area.

Main floor I have speakers in the ceiling and walls, so I'm going to do the same downstairs. I'll run a few cat6 plugs, but I'm not sure if I'm missing anything that is a must have.

I'm going to do as much as I can on my own, but any advice would be welcomed.

[ExtraSlow]

More cat 6 than you think. If you are doing it yourself, it's practically free. Fish a couple up to any tv or office spaces on the main floor.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Cancel the bar area. It's the most underused waste of space in about 90% of developments.
Stick a small fridge in the utility room. Put beer in it.
Profit.

[03ozwhip]

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More cat 6 than you think. If you are doing it yourself, it's practically free. Fish a couple up to any tv or office spaces on the main floor.

I already have it upstairs, but thanks. I'm not sure how much I'll need though. Only 1 bedroom going in and the media area...

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Cancel the bar area. It's the most underused waste of space in about 90% of developments.
Stick a small fridge in the utility room. Put beer in it.
Profit.

It's really just supposed to be a cool area to store everything. I have a walkout basement, so it will be used more than you might think.

[ExtraSlow]

With a walkout, depending on your family, some folks put in a mudroom type area with a laundry sink. That's more useful for the filthy children than responsible adults, but ya know . . .

If I was doing quite a bit of entertaining, I might do a bar area, but I'd do it against one wall and NOT have any kind of island. That saves quite a bit of floor space, and is still really functional. But I'm actually really antisocial, so I'd never have anyone over, so a beer fridge in the storage area would be plenty.

[rage2]

I shrunk the theater room by a couple feet and added a wall to create a storage room/hardware room for all the HT gear. The HT wall is literally just 3 speakers + a TV with zero wires. Best decision I ever made.

[jwslam]

Are you doing a projector? getting the power to there with the AV hookups would be good for later.

Consider the flooring and heating selection

I'd do heated bathroom floors for sure. Depending on the use of the bedroom consider a 1full + 1 half if you have frequent guests.

Look at your layout and determine if under-stair space would be utilized or hidden as part of utility room/storage.
https://www.homecrux.com/15-smart-id...-stairs/70835/

[03ozwhip]

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I shrunk the theater room by a couple feet and added a wall to create a storage room/hardware room for all the HT gear. The HT wall is literally just 3 speakers + a TV with zero wires. Best decision I ever made.

Hmmm, I might have to think about that...looks nice. All of your cables are directly behind the wall behind the tv?

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Are you doing a projector? getting the power to there with the AV hookups would be good for later.

Consider the flooring and heating selection

I'd do heated bathroom floors for sure. Depending on the use of the bedroom consider a 1full + 1 half if you have frequent guests.

Look at your layout and determine if under-stair space would be utilized or hidden as part of utility room/storage.
https://www.homecrux.com/15-smart-id...-stairs/70835/

I thought about a projector, but I dont know if I will. My sqf isnt very high down here, so I will just be doing a 3 piece bathroom with a shower, no tub.

I did a rough draft of what I might do, but I'm open to changes.

[rx7boi]

When you're doing this project, could you kindly take before/after and WIP photos along with a breakdown of price?

Have always been interested in what the various renovation costs are. It's too much money for us to take on all at once so our plan is we'd like to do it bit by bit over several years.

This thread should become the 03ozwhip basement journal.

[rage2]

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Hmmm, I might have to think about that...looks nice. All of your cables are directly behind the wall behind the tv?

Yup. I had wired power there but didn't use it (wanted to have TV behind UPS). There's an access hole that drops TV power and 2xHDMI cable to the back room there. I only used the 1 HDMI cable.

The wiring is cleaner now, but by all means still messy. I don't have to see it, that's all that matters. Bonus is with so much more room, I don't have to deal with heat and ventilation issues at all. Not the case in the living room with a credenza that houses an XB1X and PS4P. Looks clean in a credenza, till I play video games, and have to open up the door and see the mess to prevent overheating.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

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I shrunk the theater room by a couple feet and added a wall to create a storage room/hardware room for all the HT gear. The HT wall is literally just 3 speakers + a TV with zero wires. Best decision I ever made.

Which in-wall speakers did you use? How do you like them as the mains?

[03ozwhip]

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When you're doing this project, could you kindly take before/after and WIP photos along with a breakdown of price?

Have always been interested in what the various renovation costs are. It's too much money for us to take on all at once so our plan is we'd like to do it bit by bit over several years.

This thread should become the 03ozwhip basement journal.

Definitely. It can be a huge cost. Ive done a few on my own and some of it didnt turn out to well and it wasnt thought out properly so I'm trying to avoid that this time, by doing stuff that I know I can do well and sub out the other stuff.

I'll definitely be keeping track of costs and what not as well.

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Yup. I had wired power there but didn't use it (wanted to have TV behind UPS). There's an access hole that drops TV power and 2xHDMI cable to the back room there. I only used the 1 HDMI cable.

The wiring is cleaner now, but by all means still messy. I don't have to see it, that's all that matters. Bonus is with so much more room, I don't have to deal with heat and ventilation issues at all. Not the case in the living room with a credenza that houses an XB1X and PS4P. Looks clean in a credenza, till I play video games, and have to open up the door and see the mess to prevent overheating.

Messy cables is something anyone with a theater area has to struggle with, I've done my best with my main floor, but fuck me lol

My issue is that the TV will be on an outer wall, I will probably have to wire everything a wierd way to have all the components somewhere else.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Are you doing a projector? getting the power to there with the AV hookups would be good for later.

Consider the flooring and heating selection

I'd do heated bathroom floors for sure. Depending on the use of the bedroom consider a 1full + 1 half if you have frequent guests.

Look at your layout and determine if under-stair space would be utilized or hidden as part of utility room/storage.
https://www.homecrux.com/15-smart-id...-stairs/70835/

Another vote for heated bathroom floor.
I'd also recommend spray foam insulation. You can get a govt credit for a chunk of it. It's so much better, it's not even funny and you're going to have to pull a bunch of your vapour barrier and insulation out for electrical, anyway.
There's also no such thing as too many outlets. Don't forget that bedroom outlets need to be on an Arc Fault protected circuit and those breakers are like $100 each!

Use permits. That's the dumbest $200 anyone could ever try to save and so many people try.

[03ozwhip]

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Which in-wall speakers did you use? How do you like them as the mains?

I know you're bot asking me, but mine aren't terribly expensive and they sound awesome. They're soundstage blueprints, walls and in-ceiling.


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Another vote for heated bathroom floor.
I'd also recommend spray foam insulation. You can get a govt credit for a chunk of it. It's so much better, it's not even funny and you're going to have to pull a bunch of your vapour barrier and insulation out for electrical, anyway.
There's also no such thing as too many outlets. Don't forget that bedroom outlets need to be on an Arc Fault protected circuit and those breakers are like $100 each!

Use permits. That's the dumbest $200 anyone could ever try to save and so many people try.

Heated flooring was something I thought about, I'm feeling it will be crazy expensive though. I've already done the electrical in the basement, but I am going to do spray insulation on the ceiling. Permits are definitely going to be used.

[ThePenIsMightier]

^It is crazy expensive, but for a small bathroom, it's tolerable. Whole basement is #BeyondBaller which is too much money!

[suntan]

Get heated bathroom floors. You will regret it otherwise.

It's actually not that expensive these days. My contractor charged $700 for my ensuite.

[03ozwhip]

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^It is crazy expensive, but for a small bathroom, it's tolerable. Whole basement is #BeyondBaller which is too much money!

I'll take a look into it. I'm no #beyondballer but I like to try sometimes lol

[rx7boi]

As a preliminary guess, what's the sq ft of the basement and what's your initial impression of cost range?

[killramos]

I would definitely put in a wet bar, or at least rough it in, it doesn’t have to be huge but it’s a big selling feature imo.

I really miss mine and I am thinking hard about putting another in.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

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I know you're bot asking me, but mine aren't terribly expensive and they sound awesome. They're soundstage blueprints, walls and in-ceiling.

Good to hear that in-walls make for a decent main speaker these days. I went with the Monoprice Caliber 3-way in-walls for my surrounds, but stuck to traditional towers for my mains as I wasn't convinced the in-walls would work well as the main drivers, especially in a steel-studded wall.