Finishing a basement... ?

[DIbit]

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on contractors that finish basements. I am in the east end (Orleans)
I have heard contractors are charging $35-$55 a square foot.
I have about 1400-1500 square feet to do.

[atomic]

We used Jeff Allingham. He quoted less than 2 well known companies, and exceeding code in building materials. Tore our basement down to the concrete, reframed, drywalled, potlights, subfloor, laminate, paint and finish in 3 weeks.

We are very pleased with the finish and with his attention to detail.

allinghamrenos.com

[Ian]

Try André Gagnon. He's done the whole house for us (2 bathrooms, kitchen, living/dining,office and 2 bedrooms). He is very reasonable and does great work. You can reach him at 613 293-4104..................Ian

[Marcos]

We have just finished a complete reno of our basement including new electrical panel, complete bathroom and additional window and we were stunned by how much it costs to have it done by a reputable contractor. However, we did have some demolition work done also so ,that affects the price. Budget for at least 55.00 squ. ft. to be on the safe side.
Get a few estimates and dont take the cheapest guy as you do get what you pay for. All in all, we are extremally pleased with the results but it cost about 25,000 more than we thought. Unfortunatly, our contractor is here in Québec and does not work on the Ontario side and if he did,i would highly recommend him and his crew.
Good luck with your project.

[John]

Do the framing, insulation, subfloor yourself and save tons of cash, it's such easywork! Bring in the trades, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC and you are good to go!

[jeffc]

We used Norm Deslandes who owns Aspen Construction (613) 290-8963. He did our neighbours basement (he works with his wife) before ours and we were impressed so we got him to do ours. We had already done the framing and hired our own electrician and plumber so he did the drywalling, trim and doors. He has a great attention to detail and didn't cut corners. I would strongly suggest getting your basement spray foamed, its well worth it in the end. Our whole house is so much warmer now and our basement is toasty even when its -30 outside. We didn't put a subfloor in, just a good underpad and carpet and the floor is not cold at all, the kids play down their all winter. We used KinLar for the spray foam, they are great to deal with and had the best price.

[jeffc]

hey "John" - clear out your inbox!!!

[Gropper]

+1 for Kinlar spray foam! they did my basement and i am amazed at how much warmer my house is and how lower my heating bill is! great stuff

[John]

My box is now clear buddy.

[Kiwi]

Do the framing, insulation, subfloor yourself and save tons of cash, it's such easywork! Bring in the trades, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC and you are good to go!

While I totally agree with John, this work is NOT a beginner's job. All of this is foundation, so if you have no experience or don't do it right everything, else will fail. You should at least, and I'd say you MUST start the framing with knowledge of the electrical, plumbing and HVAC codes and requirements or those trades will have to un-do your work and this will add to your time and cost. If you have tools and basic construction knowledge then it should go well. Do not start without a plan, I mean diagrams, and decide what you can and cannot do by yourself. Best of luck, been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

[fundonny]

What is this spray foam stuff? I also need my basement, turned into my NFL cave. Don't want carpetting though, that's just a dust sanctuary. Can you spray foam below a floating floor?

[jeffc]

What is this spray foam stuff? I also need my basement, turned into my NFL cave. Don't want carpetting though, that's just a dust sanctuary. Can you spray foam below a floating floor?

Donny, it's a foam that you spray on the walls/rim joists that insulates the walls. It's much better than the pink fibreglass stuff as it fills every little gap, thus providing a better overall seal. The rim joists are a PITA to do well if you don't use spray foam and that is where most of your heat loss will be. You can't put in on a floor though. if you do laminate flooring, you can use flat pink foam fibreglass underneath it. You can also use a product called dricore.

I can't believe how good the spray foam works and how warm our basement is (the rest of the house too).

[bobblehead]

i had the garage ceiling spray foamed since my master bedroom is over the garage...it worked wonders. It went from the coldest room in the house to the warmest in the winter. Never thought about that for the basement...good idea.

[DIbit]

Thanks for all your input. My basement is unfinished and was thinking I would get the contractors to do the plumbing, electictrical, and framing/drywall. I was thinking of doing the flooring, painting and trim (baseboards, casing...).
Does everyone who gets their basement done, get an HVAC?

[John]

HVAC doesn't stand for central vaccuum, it's heating/ventilation/duct work and so on..

[DIbit]

Yes I know, Heat Recovery Air Condidtioning. My basement does have duct work done. I was thinking HRV.

[DIbit]

Yes I know, Heat Recovery Air Condidtioning. My basement does have duct work done. I was thinking HRV.

My Central vac is already installed in the basemt.
Anyone want to share pics of their Man Caves?

[jeffc]

Yes I know, Heat Recovery Air Condidtioning. My basement does have duct work done. I was thinking HRV.

are you 100% sure? I had duct work in mine but it needed to be extended and some additional cold air returns were required. This part is often overlooked but very important to ensure a properly heated basement.

[fundonny]

Ah, thanks for the reply about the spray foam. Basement is already drywalled and such so really only need flooring and a bar put in (plumbing is all there).

[Sakuraba]

HVAC stands for Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, doesn't it?

[jeffc]

HVAC stands for Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, doesn't it?

yes it does.

[fundonny]

Hope you don't think I'm jacking the thread, but figured maybe it could be a fountain of info for peeps doing their basements.

Anyone have experience with floating floors? Any suggestions? No way I could do it myself with my arthritis so I'd have to hire someone. If you know of a good alternative to a floating floor, feel free to suggest.

[Wilster]

Hope you don't think I'm jacking the thread, but figured maybe it could be a fountain of info for peeps doing their basements.

Anyone have experience with floating floors? Any suggestions? No way I could do it myself with my arthritis so I'd have to hire someone. If you know of a good alternative to a floating floor, feel free to suggest.

Donny , i changed my flooring in the basement to engineered hardwood. Essentailly it is installed the same as laminate , but is better quality .
Really easy to install , my neighbour (who does renos) and myself , did the whole basement in a day and a half .
I bought the Bamboo style from Home Depot , and it cost about $65 for 21 sqft box when i bought it on special .
You should check it out , a great alternative to laminate

[DIbit]

Donny , i changed my flooring in the basement to engineered hardwood. Essentailly it is installed the same as laminate , but is better quality .
Really easy to install , my neighbour (who does renos) and myself , did the whole basement in a day and a half .
I bought the Bamboo style from Home Depot , and it cost about $65 for 21 sqft when i bought it on special .
You should check it out , a great alternative to laminate

Funny you said that, cause I had 1300 of bamboo delivered in my garage for my mainfloor then returned it when we decided to get Jatoba.

[Wilster]

Funny you said that, cause I had 1300 of bamboo delivered in my garage for my mainfloor then returned it when we decided to get Jatoba.

Yeah , we had laminate in the previous house , and it was great until my dishwasher flooded the kitchen
The laminate floor absorbed some of the water around the edges and the floor panels bubbled and split .
I didn't want the same issues , and that was the reason that we chose the bamboo style engineered hardwood and the fact that it was considerably less expensive than traditional hardwood.

[Eldred]

Add Dave Brown to your list of potential contractor.. http://www.brownstonehome.ca/

We are currently having our main floor done. He'll sit down and go through with you of how you envision your place to be.
Intially the wife wanted to have all hardwood floor through out all rooms including the kitchen.. I was concern of moisture in high traffic area(moisture from sink, fridge, stove etc.) we have placed kitchen rugs on those places. He has now built mosaic tiles in place of the mats which embeded in the hardwood floor. They give easthetic looks and much easier to clean.. Just tell him what you like, he and his team will make it happened.

BTW; we were able to negotiate for what we think is a really good price by doing many of the prep works ourselves. ie removal of carpet, baseboard, general cleanup etc.

[atomic]

We went with dricore and laminate. The kids are 3 and 1 and I imagine that the floors will take some punishment over the next decade or so. Floors are cooler than the main floor, but I'm not wearing socks and I'm not uncomfortable.

[SGH]

Tom,

Did you install the Dricore yourself? I'm thinking about going that way with my basement. Seems a bit pricey, but do you feel it's worth it? My basement is dry, but does feel humid. Does the floor creek due to the number of seams/joints associated with Dricore?

[jeffc]

Tom,

Did you install the Dricore yourself? I'm thinking about going that way with my basement. Seems a bit pricey, but do you feel it's worth it? My basement is dry, but does feel humid. Does the floor creek due to the number of seams/joints associated with Dricore?

Personally I would not do dricore. Insulate the walls properly and your floor will be warm.

here is a good article as to why:

http://www.cqs.com/homeqa/dricore.htm

buy a dehumidifier if you basement feels humid.

[atomic]

Tom,

Did you install the Dricore yourself? I'm thinking about going that way with my basement. Seems a bit pricey, but do you feel it's worth it? My basement is dry, but does feel humid. Does the floor creek due to the number of seams/joints associated with Dricore?

No creaking anywhere. The floor feels solid and stable. We have a dehumidifier, but since the furnace came on, don't need it any more. We had the dricore as part of the quote for our reno...others quoted berber and underpad and charged about 15% more total cost.

I understand what people are saying about doing some of the demo/basic work themselves. But I've watched "professionals" install laminate floor at about 10 times the speed of someone doing it themselves. The crew had the floor installed in less than a day. It would have taken me at least a couple of days longer.

And Jeff, I chose dricore just to get a little space off of the floor. We've had laminate in a house with that green underpad, and the floor didn't feel great. The dricore made a nice platform and we are pretty happy with the results.