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How To Remodel Basements And Attics

Walls

The planks would require furring strips. Here again, planks plus furring strips increase the cost.

All of the foregoing items constitute expense which must be considered prior to the time remodeling is started. In this case, the total expense would be far higher than you might want to spend. There are few cases where such expense could be justified, even when a recreation room and a new, automatic utility room are the result. Does this mean that basement remodeling is not practical? Certainly not! Such remodeling can be planned so that initial expense is reasonable and so that later improvements can be added as budgets allow.

Fig. 3 shows a revised remodeling plan which provides a recreation room, at much less cost, and space where automatic utility equipment can be installed at a later time. Here are some of the economy measures, as shown in Fig. 3.

1. The old furnace is retained. It can be replaced at a later time.
2. New and automatic utility equipment is omitted. Such equipment can be added at a later time.
3. The fireplace has been omitted.
4. The original water-closet area is not to be enlarged.
5. Wood-frame partitions are to be used. They are cheaper to build and do not require footings.
6. Fewer pipe relocations and less new pipe are necessary.
7. Much less electrical wiring is necessary.
8. Asphalt tile can be applied to the old concrete floor in the recreation room much more inexpensively than oak flooring or furring strips.
9. No new windows are required.
10. No floor surfacing is required in the utility area.
11. No floor patching is required in the utility area.
12. Fewer new sewer lines are required.
13. New plumbing fixtures are not required.
14. New areaways are not required.
15. The only new vent pipe required is in connection with the relocated tubs.
16. The wood partitions can be left unfinished on the utility-area side.
17. The coal bin and closet are to remain. Thus, there will not be the expense of removing and disposing of them.
18. The finished insulation sheets for the recreation-room walls will cost much less than planks.

If you will study Figs. 1, 2 and 3 and, at the same time, review the discussion given for those examples, your own planning can proceed without fear of excessive expense or disappointment.