South Hadley MA: Basement Bonus Room
-
- It is wired for Dolby 7.1 sound. All the insulation makes for an excellent listening room.
-
- All done! We really discourage using drywall for a basement ceiling since it’s easily damaged by leaks from above and may need to be removed in order to access pipes or wires. So we tacked up 4×4 panels of a nice 1/4″ plywood with simple wood battens that can be easily removed if needed. We coated the pieces with a light white pickling stain we concocted of linseed oil and alkyd enamel white paint to allow the natural grain to show.
-
- The ceramic tile floor has a great, rustic wood look. Someone seems very happy with it!
-
- Our remodeler, Dan, sure did a nice job laying out the ceiling!
-
- It looks great now, but it wasn’t always like this!
-
- Before laying the new tile floor we took another sensible step to protect against any moisture coming from the concrete floor. We installed 1/2″ Wedi board, which is a piece of rigid polystyrene with a fiberglass reinforced face on each side. It is strong, lightweight and provides insulation under the tile as well as an excellent subtrate for tiling. We use it with nearly all our tile jobs now.
-
- With the entry to our backs we are looking at the hall and bathroom. The new windows are in and make an enormous difference in comfort! You can also see that we have put sound-deadening insulation in the ceiling. It’s a mineral wool product that is easier to work with than fiberglass (no itch!) and provides the additional benefit of being fire-proof!
-
- The new walls have been filled with R-13 insulation. Combined with the R-10 foam board, this gives the wall a better than R-23 insulation rating without any thermal bridging to create cold spots. This was taken before the new windows arrived.
-
- Looking back toward the entry the closets along the garage wall are gone and we framed a new wall against the existing garage wall. We did this so we could add more insulation and to create more space for running all the electrical and audio-visual cables. Some of the old HVAC supply duct was removed to shorten the run and allow a smaller soffit over the TV. The room is still serviced by a single supply duct and with the insulation we added the room stays very comfortable even with an undersized air supply.
-
- In this and the next few shots you can see how we framed new, straight walls that allowed for adding plenty of conventional insulation. To protect the framing from any moisture coming through the masonry we first adhered sheets of rigid foam insulation on the exterior walls.
-
- Some detail on the A/V wiring in progress
-
- This is looking at the wall shared with the garage against which had been built some simple closets.
-
- Down with the ceiling
-
- We weren’t sure what we’d find behind the paneling. What we discovered was that the paneling was stuck to the walls without insulation or an interior vapor barrier, but, surprisingly, little mildew as the foundation’s original waterproofing appeared to be working.
-
- The basement had a decidedly 1970s feel with brown paneling, red indoor-outdoor carpet, a cardboard tile ceiling, composite vinyl tile flooring and little insulation.
