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Posted by on October 3, 2006, 2:08 pm
Rob wrote:
> I would like to make a den in my currently unfinished basement and I
> have two issues I need to resolve in order to accomplish this:
>
> 1) The clearance on the ceiling in the basement now is fine unfinished,
> but putting in a regular drop ceiling requires 4 inches as I recall, and
> I'd like to not take up that much of the overhead space. Is there any
> other drop ceiling technology out there that requires less space? If
> not, is a drywall ceiling feasible in a basement? I am reluctant to put
> one in because having access to the piping and wiring above is
> important. Any thoughts?
Sound like your basement really doesn't have enough height; otherwise,
you would not be worrying about overhead space. If this is the case,
you may find that you are running out of headroom after you have added
a ceiling and raised the floor. Depending on how tall you are, you may
not like the result. This would be bad if you didn't like the result
after you have spent so much effort and money to finish the basement.
Nowaday, people build new houses with high ceiling basement
purposefully built to be finished later. When people bought old houses
that have low ceiling basement, they probably knock them down and
rebuilt the whole houses regardless if the basement are finished or not
-- at least this is what happens where I live (northern New Jersey).
This means the finished basement may have limited value from a buyer's
point of view. Actually this might cause a delay in selling your house
if you priced your house higher trying to recoup the cost of finishing
the basement.
My thinking is that if in doubt, don't finish the basement (given that
the basement has a low ceiling).
I have gone through this when I finished the basement in my house and
the finished basement ceiling height is not high. I am happy with the
result. But when I count the cost and the time invested on it, I have
a feeling that this project is not justified. If I could start this
over again, I would not likely undertake this project.
Jay Chan
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