Finishing Basement

graysonbasil

I am finishing my basement in my 8yr old home. One office (no outside windows), one hallway, then one huge media / pool table room (outside window and exterior door). The builder never ruff plumbed for a bathroom so that is for a later date.

The question I have, is my great (media / pool table) room is able to have 9ft ceilings with a tray around the perimeter. (no issues there)

With all the bad location of the plumbing from the builder and due to the 8 inch HVAC, there is no good way to make a 9 ft ceiling in the office, but the hallway could have a 9ft ceiling with a bit of work to the hvac.

My plan is to have sheet rock ceiling in the media room, but drop ceilings in the office since there is sooo much going on up there.

Hallway is still a TBD

So my questions are...

1. would it look silly for 1 room to have 9 ft ceiling SheetRock, then one room 8ft drop ceiling?
2. would Sheetrock vs drop ceiling increase the value of the house.
3. would 9ft ceiling vs 8 ft ceiling increase the value of the house
4. should I build a tray on one side of the hallway to hide the hvac. That would enable me to have 9ft ceilings in the hallway as well.

My wife calls me crazy for over thinking this, but I am somewhat a perfectionist and I will not be able to enjoy my new area if I know I could of done something different but choose the easy way out.

I am doing most of the grunt work and hiring out the specific trades (ie electrical, plumbing, sheetrock)

NHtransplant

One way to save some height on the drop ceiling is to use the style that actually attaches to the floor joist above.
If all the pipes, HVAC, etc is located up between the joists you can install that and save a lot of height. The way it works is there are runners that attach to the joists and then there are T-bars that snap into them to hold up the tiles. It looks good and it's easy to install. I have installed it twice personally. I found the system at Lowes, it is called CeilingMax.

sdsester

Do you need an alternate egress as you convert this basement or will local code and the inspector let the one exterior door and window fly?

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

homeprova

You do not need an additional egress if your basement has an escape route of 30" wide x 36" tall. You're perfect if you have an exterior door.

graysonbasil

the builder did not ruff plumb for a basement bathroom. I have a plumber who will plum a 1/2 bath (sink, toilet, pump, etc) for 3200$. My home is worth 225k without the finished bathroom.

Is it worth the cost?

drtbk4ever

I can't speak to what that will or will not do to your property value, but personally, if you have finished space down there, it would be nice to have a bathroom. Especially after a few wobbly pops with the boys while playing pool.

I got a rough estimate from our plumber to move our roughed in plumbing 5 feet, and it was between $2500 to $3000. So I don't think the cost is outlandish.

And I should add that it will be a whole bunch easier to do prior to rest of the basement being finished.

__________________
Bill

A DIY Noob that knows just enough to be dangerous.

chongololo

I'd say go ahead with the bathroom rough in at the same time as the rest of the construction and then it will be done. It keeps the mess to a minimum.
I don't know about value to your house based on ceiling height and drop ceilings. Try to box in the mechanicals in a tight and space efficient manner if you can.
The variation in ceiling height is usually not a huge deal in a basement, try to plan the transition so that it looks like it fits and doesn't look haphazard.
Usually, the taller the ceiling the better the basement will feel even it means a little more work.
I recently finished my basement and put as much mechanicals up in the joist bays as I could ,then just boxed in or soffited the ones that I couldn't. It looks just fine.
Good luck.

FoundationArmor

I would actually start by calling a local Real Estate agent. They would best know the answer to those questions. As a recent home buyer, I would say a difference in ceiling height is not a problem but a difference in the look of the ceiling may. I would want to have easy access to all pipes and plumbing so a drop sealing for me personally, would be preferred.

One thing I can say is before finishing your basement, make sure you seal it with a waterproofing concrete sealer. We see a lot of homeowners who have had to rip out off their walls and rip up there flooring because of moisture issues. When I looked at homes the first thing I noticed was the basement. If it had a musty smell, I wanted nothing to do with the home!