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How do you use your basement?
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Gadfly
Picture of Lisa
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quote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I guess my question is why I would choose to watch TV in the basement when the main floor is nicer, closer to the kitchen, and has windows?


I would not let Mr. Lisa put his gargantuan 70+" TV and accompanying surround sound system in the upstairs living room. So when he wants to watch a big sports game or we want to do a proper movie night, we go to the basement. But I would say 95% of TV watching is on the perfectly fine 30-ish" TV upstairs. All our video game systems are also hooked up downstairs so that is where the kids tend to hang out. LL#2 keeps his drumset and guitar setup down there as well. I would have loved to put a pool table down there, but due to the layout, we can't really fit one.

Remember that in Ohio, your garage workshop will be freezing for half the year unless you plan to insulate and heat it. We have a very small basement workshop for storing paint and other chemicals that can't freeze and for working on projects over the winter. We have a big miter saw in there that gets the job done for most things. Our table saw lives in the garage so we can drag it out to the driveway for big sawing projects but we don't tend to do those in the winter. The baement workshop was built where the bilco doors are so we can drag things in and out to the driveway when we need to although it is way less convenient than moving things in and out of the garage.

We have exercise equipment, a household file cabinet, and an extra fridge and pantry overflow storage in the unfinished part of the basement.

And when we finished the big family room, we also made a small home office with a closet that holds the wireless printer/fax, the cable modem and router, etc. Mr. Lisa worked down there for years but got sick of never seeing daylight so he moved his office to a guest bedroom and now that room is mostly unused. I suppose we could make it a guest bedroom if we ever had guests but technically it would need an egress window which it does not have.
 
Posts: 4422 | Location: Suburban Philly, PA | Registered: 30 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Beatification Candidate
Picture of rontuner
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Our last rental had an attached garage - a first for me. The temperature in the garage very rarely dipped below freezing - and that was only during the "polar vortex" cold spells. Otherwise, it was pretty comfortable to work out there during the winter months. I kept a pretty close eye on the temperature because we'd use it as an extra refrigerator during the winter...

There was a bedroom over the garage and only had one outside wall, so that made a huge difference.

Very different from our other garage experiences.


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Posts: 7603 | Location: chicagoland | Registered: 21 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pinta & the Santa Maria
Has Achieved Nirvana
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Our basement was my son's "wing," when he still lived at home, and is now a general hang-out and guest room. (It's a large finished space.) We actually thought about adding the stuff to make it a legal rental/airbnb but decided it wasn't worth the money.

I would plan on making it a grandkids space, eventually. So you guys can be the cool grandparents with the cool basement. Smiler
 
Posts: 35428 | Location: West: North and South! | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
knitterati
Beatification Candidate
Picture of AdagioM
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We have a half basement, finished. The other half isn’t dug out. There’s a laundry room behind a door. And then the finished room, which used to be a rumpus room when we moved in. It had a wet bar! But we had an electrical fire and had to redo the room. It’s just storage: 2000 record albums, 6 guitars, a couple bookshelves full of books.

A treadmill, which we used a lot last year, but not during the summer. Time to get back on that.

Oh, and a lot of carp the kids left behind, that needs to go to Goodwill. Someday.


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Posts: 9855 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 06 June 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Minor Deity
Picture of ShiroKuro
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quote:
It's a basement. It has the potential to get water. Assume it will at some point and plan accordingly.


This. This is our mantra, really. In Mr. SK's office, we replaced the flooring with those raised tiles that allow water to flow under them -- hopefully this is never needed, but if there's ever water in the basement again, this feature alone will make it sooo much easier to deal with.

We did a whole bunch of projects over the spring and summer this year, I should start a separate thread so as no hijack Steve's.

BTW one big difference for our basement is that it's a walkout on one side (w/ full sized doors that go to the outside). There's a nice window by the treadmill where I can see greenery. And Mr. has two nice windows in his basement studio, plus the outside door.

I think if we didn't have those details, I would like it down there a lot less.

So these details


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Pro tip for avoiding water hazards: The shelves that come with those plastic shelf units can be placed under storage cabinets or even just boxes to raise them off the floor just a bit. We use the ones that are open so the air can circulate a bit.





You can buy the shelf unit kits at one of the big box stores; they come in various widths/depths, and some of the shelves are more sturdy than others. It'll be obvious which ones can take some weight. HDX, Keter, Suncast, and Plano are some of the brand names.


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Posts: 38222 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I lay a couple of 2x4s under any boxes that are directly on the floor, but I like the idea of the plastic shelves under cabinets. See below.

IKEA has some nice sturdy utility shelves (they used to be called GORM, but they changed the name). The are all solid wood, but there are optional plastic caps to put on the ends of the uprights so that if the floor is damp, the wood stays dry. [ETA] the new name is HEJNE.


My basement can be a slight bit damp, but usually not wet. The foundation and basement walls are not sealed like they do now. Many years ago, my now ex-wife left a sprinkler on in the front planter for most of a day. The water seeped through the basement wall and made a puddle on the floor that I didn't discover for a couple weeks. The carpet was salvageable with some deep cleaning, but one bookcase with pressboard sides sucked up a bunch of water and was pretty ruined. Still, I dried it out, bleached off the mildew, and pressed it sort of back into shape. That one is now in the middle of the row instead of on the end, so the damaged part isn't visible.

We are also in radon country. I don't know if that is a problem in Ohio. If it is, get the basement checked. That's another reason I keep an exhaust fan running all the time. It's a 4" muffin fan like you'd have in a computer. I put a board up over the fireplace and the fan is in a hole in the board so it exhausts up the chimney.


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Posts: 30040 | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Gadfly
Picture of dolmansaxlil
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It is rare for homes here to not have a basement. We have a split level, with half of our living space in the “basement”. It’s a pretty common configuration. Liam’s bedroom is down there (when he was younger it was Rob’s office, but when he moved back here we wanted to give him a bit more privacy so we moved the office to the main floor.) My sewing area is down there. Or big comfy couch is down there along with the tv (we don’t have a TV in the main floor living room, though we recently put a small one in the bedroom that gets used maybe once a month). Rob works on his models sitting on the couch watching tv in the evening so he has a paint cart and table that he keeps close at hand. My hand sewing is also stored beside the couch so I can work on that while watching TV. We also have the furnace/washer dryer room (unfinished) and a storage area under the stairs (also unfinished) that also acts as a pantry.


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Posts: 4103 | Location: Ontario, Canada | Registered: 29 June 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
knitterati
Beatification Candidate
Picture of AdagioM
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quote:
Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I lay a couple of 2x4s under any boxes that are directly on the floor, but I like the idea of the plastic shelves under cabinets. See below.

IKEA has some nice sturdy utility shelves (they used to be called GORM, but they changed the name). The are all solid wood, but there are optional plastic caps to put on the ends of the uprights so that if the floor is damp, the wood stays dry. [ETA] the new name is HEJNE.


My basement can be a slight bit damp, but usually not wet. The foundation and basement walls are not sealed like they do now. Many years ago, my now ex-wife left a sprinkler on in the front planter for most of a day. The water seeped through the basement wall and made a puddle on the floor that I didn't discover for a couple weeks. The carpet was salvageable with some deep cleaning, but one bookcase with pressboard sides sucked up a bunch of water and was pretty ruined. Still, I dried it out, bleached off the mildew, and pressed it sort of back into shape. That one is now in the middle of the row instead of on the end, so the damaged part isn't visible.

We are also in radon country. I don't know if that is a problem in Ohio. If it is, get the basement checked. That's another reason I keep an exhaust fan running all the time. It's a 4" muffin fan like you'd have in a computer. I put a board up over the fireplace and the fan is in a hole in the board so it exhausts up the chimney.


The new name is HEINE?!


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http://pdxknitterati.com

 
Posts: 9855 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 06 June 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Has Achieved Nirvana
Picture of Steve Miller
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At this house I put a lot of effort in to building in workspaces and storage. I don’t think I’m going to do that at the new place, partly because we may be moving to the lake in a few years and partly because I don’t want to lug a bunch of lumber through the house and down the stairs.

I’ve been watching Craigslist and it looks like I can get metal industrial shelving units for about $50 each. 4 uprights and 8 shelves, 36”w x 18” deep. I can keep the bottom shelves 6” off the floor so that works, and I’m bringing a small roll of modified bitumen roofing material to put under the uprights to keep them from rusting. If basements are for storage, I want mine to be legit.

I’ve seen some prefab metal workbenches and tables that should work in the unfinished part of the basement, and the garage is small enough that a folding table might be the best option. Good info on the table saw - I think I’ll hang it on the garage wall.

It looks like the finished part of the basement will be a family room type space where my prized mission furniture will go, along with an office for Sharon. At some point I’ll partition off a guest BR and finish the bath as the rough plumbing is already there. I think it will make a great space for gaming grandkids, jam sessions, and hiding out watching YouTube videos that no one wants to see but me. I haven’t figured out where my cowboy stuff is going so maybe I’ll carve out a little more basement and create an office for myself.

We will arrive there early November and I like the idea of hunkering down in the basement while the snow flies. I may not surface before May.


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Posts: 35084 | Location: Hooterville, OH | Registered: 23 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I don’t know what the climate, ground conditions, and all are like, but you might just get yourself a hygrometer so you can monitor the dampness down there and take appropriate measures if it’s too damp. Mildew is not fun.


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Posts: 30040 | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of RealPlayer
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quote:
Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I don’t know what the climate, ground conditions, and all are like, but you might just get yourself a hygrometer so you can monitor the dampness down there and take appropriate measures if it’s too damp. Mildew is not fun.

I was going to say the same thing. Part of our basement got damp this past summer, and some leather and fabric items developed mold or mildew. Fortunately they cleaned up fine, but something to watch for.


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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray

 
Posts: 13890 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Has Achieved Nirvana
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Good advice! ThumbsUp


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Posts: 35084 | Location: Hooterville, OH | Registered: 23 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
(self-titled) semi-posting lurker
Minor Deity
Picture of ShiroKuro
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Yes to the hygrometer! We have three! One by the piano, one in the unfinished side of the basement and one in Mr. SK's studio.


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Serial origamist
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quote:
Originally posted by RealPlayer:
quote:
Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I don’t know what the climate, ground conditions, and all are like, but you might just get yourself a hygrometer so you can monitor the dampness down there and take appropriate measures if it’s too damp. Mildew is not fun.

I was going to say the same thing. Part of our basement got damp this past summer, and some leather and fabric items developed mold or mildew. Fortunately they cleaned up fine, but something to watch for.
Books do not fare well in dampness. AMHIK.


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pj, citizen-poster, unless specifically noted otherwise.

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Posts: 30040 | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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