Basement Renovation - Part I

Recently, we finished a GREAT outdoor portico and front door renovation -  Check it out!.  As our general contractor, Lee House, neared completion he kiddingly said, "Now what's next - we love working for you!".   I casually mentioned that someday we would want to redo our lower level already finished space which was out-of-date and did not complement the two-story addition he built for us in 2004.  The pool room portion of that 2004 space is adjacent to the earlier basement area finished in 1988 when the house was built.  While this space was functional and included a bathroom and our "media" area, it had poorly-hung ceiling panel and was very cut up.  I described what I thought would be a "mini-renovation" - new flooring, opening the enclosed stairwell, eliminating a closet and other areas unnecessarily enclosed, adding a mini-bar, and doing minimal upgrades in the bathroom.  Well, he said they could start in June and we did!

We are just barely past the demolition stage and it is quite a mess.  The contractor also ran into several surprises when pulling down the ceiling panels and opening up the enclosed space.  Since this area had been finished when the house was built, the stuff that's inside of the basement ceiling like electrical wiring, duct work, and piping were barely secured and drooped down all over the area.  An even bigger surprise (which Lee said he had not seen in over 30 years of contracting work) was the house building scraps (e.g., drywall, tiles, wood) that were neatly stacked and stored inside of the enclosed finished spaces.  Needless to say, remedying these unexpected findings resulted in some (short) delay and more $$$ from us!

Ceiling panels removed revealing all the "stuff" barely secured to the ceiling.  The primary change to this space, besides ceiling and flooring, is to add a mini-bar (right-hand photo on left) and a built-in media center on wall in first photo.

Under stairwell - area being opened up.  Inside of this space was the location of all of the stored building scraps.  We are trying to remove as much of this structure as possible to open up the space.  The angle of the staircase above and the requirements to add structural support with the removal of several columns has required modifications to at least three plans thus far.

Stairwell going down into basement opening up to add a iron and wood railing to the right.  The stairs will be covered with plank flooring matching our main level but transitioning to a darker, wider plank engineered flooring at the bottom.

We have entered the rebuilding phase.  The electrician is here today and the sheet-rock guy is coming on Thursday.  The granite counter top and bathroom flooring have been selected.   The cabinet-builder has shared drawings and the engineered wooden flooring is almost ready to be ordered and installed.

It should be great redone.  Here are some early demolition photos to show the "potential" and the work involved - I have also stopped using the words "mini-renovation"!

Existing bathroom.   We will be keeping the vanity - boosting it up slightly and adding granite.   New floors and ceilings will also be added as well as new wallpaper.  I had planned to eliminate the wallpaper all together but found some really nice ones at our neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store.  There is also a large shower stall in this space (used maybe a dozen times since moving in 12 years ago).  It would be very costly to redo, so we are adding a new shower stall door but leaving the square white tiles in place.  The flooring in the bathroom is being selected to not clash with the white tiles.