Finished Basements

The least expensive way to add real living space

An addition means foundation, framing, roofing and siding before you have gained a single usable foot. A basement already has all four. Finishing it is the highest return per dollar available to most houses in Butler and Sedgwick County, and it does not change your footprint or your roofline.

What a basement finish includes

• Framing and layout, including rooms, closets, and working around the mechanicals
• Egress windows and window wells where bedrooms are going in
• Insulation and drywall
• Bathrooms, including tile showers and the plumbing to reach them
• Wet bars, kitchenettes and built-in cabinetry
• Flooring in tile, plank or carpet
• Drop ceilings or drywall ceilings with access where you need it
• Trim, doors, paint and lighting

Deal with water first

Finishing over a basement that takes water is throwing money away. Before framing starts, Alec looks at where water has been getting in: grade sloping toward the house, gutters dumping at the foundation, a crack in the wall, a failing sump.

If your basement has a water problem, he will tell you that up front rather than burying it behind new drywall. Sometimes the fix is simple and cheap. Either way you want to know before, not after.

Egress and bedrooms

If you are putting a bedroom downstairs, it needs a code-compliant egress window, meaning a second way out that a person can actually climb through. This is worth getting right. It is a safety item, and it is the first thing that comes up when you go to sell the house and want that room counted as a bedroom.