Are you excited to get going on your basement renovations? Great! You should be. Renovating a basement can be an exciting project, as it greatly expands your living space and increases the value of your home. But before you start putting up drywall, you need to consider a few design aspects of your basement. Answering these questions will get your basement renovations off on the right foot.

  • What type of flooring are you planning to install? There are advantages and drawbacks to any type of flooring. The two most common for a basement are carpet and a type of hardwood flooring. Normally, the hardwood flooring is a composite material that looks a lot like hardwood, but is not. With carpet, you keep your floor a little softer and likely more comfortable, especially in colder months. With hardwood or composite flooring, you can clean the area a lot easier, which may make the difference if you have young children. If you choose carpeting, consider a tougher type of carpeting so that it can withstand stains and spills.
  • How will your ceilings look? There are two schools of thought with ceilings. The first is the drop ceiling, which used to be very common in basement areas. Basement renovations with the drop ceiling involve installing racks on the ceiling where pieces of board will be hung. The result is a nice ceiling, often with recessed lighting, that is easily accessible to run cables and wires from time to time. A drywall ceiling is another option. The result of a drywall ceiling is a uniform look that makes the basement look very nice and comfortable. The downside of a drywall ceiling is that the basement renovations will take more time, as you need to use compound and sanding to get a smooth finish.
  • Finally, are there any windows in your basement? Many basement windows of older houses are standard windows, which may not be the safest or the most weather-resistant windows that you can find. Instead, take the time to replace them with glass block windows, which are very thick. This affords you a little more privacy, as well as more protection from outside elements.

If you are looking at basement renovations, think of these things beforehand. A lot of these decisions need to be made before you start renovating, so that you can plan accordingly to fit in those plans.