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Article author:

Chris Emard

Release date:

February 23, 2021 • • 2 hours ago • • 3 minutes read Photo by Makaule /.Getty Images / iStockphoto

Where does the homeowner go from here after creating a basement area for physical fitness by simply shoving the existing mix of boxes and various stored goods into the available free space?

Well, up to this point the investment in this decent basement living space has been minimal. The entertainment center was successfully set up with a two-way signal distributor, 50-foot cable, and a television that you confiscated from the guest room.

Along with some shelving and strategic trash stacking, this has kept renovation costs under $ 100. Pretty reasonable so far, but you’re standing on a simple, hairline cracked concrete floor, staring at a wall still stained from a previous flood, with minimal distraction from the dust and cobwebs that occasionally fall from the exposed plumbing while trying to complete a series of dumbbell presses.

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With these training conditions no different than in the early days of fitness at the local YMCA, where concrete floors and walls enclose an environment of sweat and stale air. Although there were no cobwebs, the sweat that dripped down the colleague’s forehead frowned.

So the room has only a limited attraction.

Unless your goal is to bring the old hardcore workout crew back together and I would really recommend you not to go down that route. If someone other than yourself is going to be participating in your basement fitness initiative, you may need to re-evaluate the basement renovation budget.

In general, the concrete walls and floors will not get in the way of project completion significantly unless you have natural water infiltration and the occasional build up of water on the floor, which means you need to approach this situation well before looking at any swatches.

Otherwise, the only problem with floors and walls is deciding whether you are leaning towards vinyl or carpet tile and where the electrical outlets are. In most cases, the challenge in designing a load-bearing basement living space lies almost exclusively in the ceiling.

There are essentially two situations to deal with.

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One: headroom. Basements in most homes built over 30 years ago were considered both storage areas and places to improve the slap shot on rainy days. Without foresight to expand the living space of the house into the basement, pipes and pipelines for pipes and pipelines were therefore laid around and under support beams, thereby lowering an already impaired basement ceiling height.

Second, with storage space in mind, electrical wires, plumbing, and mechanical conduits followed independent paths, creating a mess of cables and ducts that are not in the vicinity to be locked into a ceiling grid system.

So if you want to solve the low ceiling problem, or at least find out what alternatives there are to potentially re-routing the plumbing and plumbing fixtures, you need to contact a mechanical housing company.

Older houses often have problems with heating and cooling, as uneven heat and climate distributions make some rooms too hot while other areas are too cold. Regardless of the ceiling height issues related to your future finished basement space, a revised plumbing plan could be something the entire home could benefit from.

If your oven is more than 15 years old, there are certainly quality of life improvements that could be achieved by replacing an aged oven with a newer, more efficient unit. Plus, stoves are no longer those giant devices that have to occupy the center of your basement space. Today’s units are more condensed, with plumbing to match your home’s exact specifications, and air quality and humidity control systems that provide a healthier living environment.

As a result, and with plumbing available in a number of round or rectangular configurations, a convection oven could be relocated to an area that is less “in the way”.

More about basement renovations next week.

Good building.

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