Weeks ago, when I fully believed the drainage company would easily resolve our basement issue, I let myself imagine what a finished basement might look like.
I had cunning bookcases concealing our support and sewage pipes. The air conditioning duct became an architectural feature. I decided on painted black beams, not a drop ceiling. And a barn door sliding over the bumped-out storage area.
Luckily, I only spent an evening on Pinterest puzzling this all out, because the next day I looked up ‘finished’ basement codes in my city.
Yeah, no, I will never have a finished basement. Not unless I want to tear holes in the basement walls for larger egress windows and exhaust vents. And God forbid a toilet or any plumbing goes down there; that’s another nightmare. And don’t tell yourself you can put a bed in a basement. That’s another set of laws.
So, after a few hours of fantasy I’m back to a basement for storage and painting. At most maybe some paint, maybe some fabric to divide up the space. That’s okay by me.
2 responses to “Not Finishing Any Basements”
Is it okay if your basement has aspects where it looks “finished” as long as you don’t try to sell it to someone as a finished basement? It seems like “no, you must leave your basement entirely naked unless you meet code” wouldn’t be that likely, but I don’t know. But it’d be nice if you could do some things, anyway, because I like the idea of cunning bookcase nooks…
KC – well, that;s the thing, Finishing the basement slaps 10K- 20K on the asking price for the house, I’m more charmed by that than the thought of a pretty basement. I supoose if it ever becomes dry I could do cunning things with room dividers and paint.