Hello all,

I just wanted to share some work I did to my basement over the winter.

Here are some before photos:

Our basement is partially finished. The front half had carpet and some low spots. We had the drain back up a few years ago and the carpet got soaked. I trashed the pad and dried the carpet completely. The floor did not slop towards the drain and the drain did not work anyway, so I capped it to prevent water from backing up again.

The back half is the mechanical/storage area. You can see that I built multiple storage units as well as attaching pegbard to the walls.

My goals with the renovation were:

1. Organize/declutter - We had way too much stuff. I asked family members if they wanted some stuff first. Anything remaining was donated to Goodwill. All the old electronics were properly recycled. Staples takes most electronics for recycling. In our area, the Salvation Army will take tube TV's and attempt to sell them. Any that don't sell are picked up by a recycler.

2. Refresh both the finished and unfinished areas. The carpet was musty, the floor was uneven, and there was an small area under the stairs that served no purpose. The floor in the unfinished area was red concrete with all kinds of paints and stains on it. The walls are blocks with a popcorn-like concrete finish.

The process:

In the unfinished area, I painted all the walls with drylok. We do not get water, but the concrete in spots would have a bit of dampness to it. The drylok prevents the dampness and the gray color gives the walls a cleaner look. On the floor, I put down garage floor paint. I used the Behr 1 part expoxy and it worked great. It was easy to use and the finish is tough. I used the white, in part because it was the only color at my local Home Depot, and also to brighten up the room. I added the blue/gray flakes so it would not be solid white.

In the finished area, I removed the carpet and cleaned the floor. I used self leveling concrete to fill some low spots. I enclosed the area under the stairs and added a door to make it a closet. In the future, I may add a sink and toilet to make it a bathroom. For flooring, I chose vinyl plank flooring. I painted and reused the existing trim. We purchased a new couch to replace the futon. We bought a new TV for the living room and moved the old one to the basement and mounted it.

I will have to take a photo of the completely finished product. In these pictures there was still a bit of work to be done.

Overall, the project cost about $1,500 plus a new couch and a new TV for the living room.

I would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have!