Hello. We have wanted to finish our basement for some time, but I have always wanted to try and do some of it myself. I am not very handy, so it would take me a long time to do. I have found that with two little boys running around at our house, I have less and less time to devote to projects like this. Therefore, I need to find someone to do at least most of the project for me. Can anyone recommend someone that would finish a basement in the Ankeny area at a reasonable price? I'd also like to wire the basement for internet, surround sound speakers, etc. while I'm doing it. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Basement Finishing
- Thread starter jeff0514
- Start date
How old is your home? You might be able to contact your builder and just hire his subs, I framed and wired mine and then just hired the drywaller my builder used. Pm me if you need any names.
How much $$$$ are you willing to spend is the real question. Are you wanting to do it on the cheap, or spend more, what do you consider reasonable? It's not the materials that will cost the $$, it's the labor.
I would hire it out if you can afford it. I refinished mine, and I hate it. I am considering finding out what it would cost to have a pro come in and either fix it, or tear it all out and start over.
I have done trim work for a while now and what your talking about could be a subs total nightmare. Since I don't know exactly what part is bad that your talking about, trying to make someone elses work look good can be a pain. If the things aren't horrible, then fixing it may not be to bad. But depending on what is good enough to keep, it may me easier to start over.
I would be very interested iproviding you a proposal to complete your basement. My partner and I are looking for some work this month. Please visit my website www.conservoenergy.com. The company started as an enegy audit/energy improvements work, but we have done all kinds of residential remodel and would love to help you out. Check out the site and you can then give me a call.
Thanks for all the help. I'm at the game right now but will try to respond back with square footage and other details when I get home.
To give you some perspective, the house has 1,734 SF of living area. Our basement already has some framing down the middle. The west half of the basement (where the stairs lead to) is around 26'x13' based on my very rough measurements. I'd like to split that side into two small rooms if possible - one for an entertainment/TV room and the other for an office. On the other side i have an area about 16x16 that I'd like to possibly finish off entirely or partially finish. That area includes the furnace and water heater, so I'd have to wall those off somehow. I'd like to use that area for a play area for the kids and would possibly put our treadmill in there and maybe weight bench. The rest of the basement would probably just be storage room areas and would not need finished. The basement is not stubbed in for a bathroom and I was leaning towards not putting one in, as there is a toilet at the top of the stairs. Only reason I see for putting a toilet and shower in somewhere is that we have daylight windows downstairs, so I could probably convert one of the rooms into a bedroom if needed. Putting a toilet and shower in would all depend on cost. Our house is around 6 years old. I want the basement to look nice, but don't necessarily need it to be high end. Anyway, thanks for the contacts you have all provided. I am pretty busy, but may try to get in touch with some of you. We need to clear some space in the basement first before I can have anyone out to do anything.
IMO I would atleast put a toilet in. Since it is a newer home, the plumbing should be ready to go for a toilet. If you are going to spend any amount of time down there I would suggest a half bath. This way you atleast have a toilet and a sink. The cost of that shouldn't be to bad.
I thought it might be a little more difficult, given that its not stubbed in for it. I'd have to cut concrete wouldn't i?
That very well could be that there isn't one there. I know that in the newer houses, some are put in because that gives them the option to finish the basement without having to cut the concrete. If you have this already, it should be a white plastic type of ring that looks like its sitting on the floor.
I just finished my and used friends to help. To be honest the framing and hanging drywall parts are really easy to do, its the wiring and all the "finishing" parts you need someone that is good to do. I luckily know a master electrician that did the wiring, A friend that knows how to wire coax and phone line, and another friend that was good at mud/tape and texturing which is the 1 part you can't afford to screw up if you want the seams to be invisible. I also paid some of these guys too for their time, it wasn't all "buddy work" but I probably got it done cheaper than using a contractor (I hope!)
This sounds bad but I also know a friend that just hired those "people" that hang around the parking lots at Home Depot to do his and just paid them in cash and they did a pretty good job on his.
This sounds bad but I also know a friend that just hired those "people" that hang around the parking lots at Home Depot to do his and just paid them in cash and they did a pretty good job on his.
This is one of those jobs you should try once so next time when you think about complaining about how expensive it so you'll remember how much you suck at it. Or you might find out that it isn't that bad and you get one more punch on the man card. Like somebody said before, the framing and drywall is the easy part. I'd go a bit further and say wiring isn't that bad but with that if you've never done it before find a buddy who has to to give you a hand. It's honestly not hard to do 90% of home wiring yourself if you're starting with no drywall on the walls. Unless you're putting in a 3-way light all you have to remember is white to bright and black to brass or you get knocked on your ***. White and black are the wire colors and there are silver and brass screws on the plugs and switches to keep things straight. In my opinion the hardest part of the whole thing is getting the drywall finished once it's hung.
