Finishing electrical work in basement, IDEAS?

[Negativecreep0]

Hey guys i need some ideas ASAP, my electrician is coming in two days to finish the basement. What are some things i definately need in a kick ass basement, Im adding outlets all over of course, also plenty of dimmer switches which are controlled by remote. What else is there? Gimme some ideas or new technologies that arent common known thanks in advance

[Harry Potter]

An escalator to the ground floor. Comes in handy after a few beers.

[menace]

is a secret room controlled by a tip over light shade an option?  I so want one of those in my basement...

[saint]

Do you have all the outlets outside you want, say for holiday lighting?  Having him do it now while there's still easy access before the basement is finished is a good idea.

If you're doing a game room or anything where you might want lighting up high, say to illuminate artwork, you might want outlets above the ceiling (if you're doing a hanging ceiling) so you don't have cords dangling down.

If you have any particular needs, you might want to specify what outlets go on what circuits. I.E. these three outlets on a dedicated circuit because I'll be running my arcade cabinets on them.

Have you done a walk-through to verify every outlet, switch, etc is where you want it? Remotes are nice, but if you walk into the room when it's dark and the light switch is on the right when you normally want it on the left then it can get minorly annoying. When we did our basement I laid everything out on paper, and it looked great, but when I walked it after installation I realized I missed putting a switch in one location I would have liked.

Have you measured the potential load vs. the amperage on the circuit? If you're putting a lot of electronics in one area on one circuit, you might for instance want a 20 amp instead of a 15 amp circuit.

Is your electrican doing your low voltage? Have you put phone drops/cable drops/network cabling drops everywhere you might want them?

What's going in your basement, what equipment, what types of rooms?

--- saint

Hey guys i need some ideas ASAP, my electrician is coming in two days to finish the basement. What are some things i definately need in a kick ass basement, Im adding outlets all over of course, also plenty of dimmer switches which are controlled by remote. What else is there? Gimme some ideas or new technologies that arent common known thanks in advance

[saint]

There's always X-10 of course, and the superior Insteon stuff (http://www.smarthome.com/). All kinds of fun home-automation stuff you can do.

Do you have all the outlets outside you want, say for holiday lighting?  Having him do it now while there's still easy access before the basement is finished is a good idea.

If you're doing a game room or anything where you might want lighting up high, say to illuminate artwork, you might want outlets above the ceiling (if you're doing a hanging ceiling) so you don't have cords dangling down.

If you have any particular needs, you might want to specify what outlets go on what circuits. I.E. these three outlets on a dedicated circuit because I'll be running my arcade cabinets on them.

Have you done a walk-through to verify every outlet, switch, etc is where you want it? Remotes are nice, but if you walk into the room when it's dark and the light switch is on the right when you normally want it on the left then it can get minorly annoying. When we did our basement I laid everything out on paper, and it looked great, but when I walked it after installation I realized I missed putting a switch in one location I would have liked.

Have you measured the potential load vs. the amperage on the circuit? If you're putting a lot of electronics in one area on one circuit, you might for instance want a 20 amp instead of a 15 amp circuit.

Is your electrican doing your low voltage? Have you put phone drops/cable drops/network cabling drops everywhere you might want them?

What's going in your basement, what equipment, what types of rooms?

--- saint

Hey guys i need some ideas ASAP, my electrician is coming in two days to finish the basement. What are some things i definately need in a kick ass basement, Im adding outlets all over of course, also plenty of dimmer switches which are controlled by remote. What else is there? Gimme some ideas or new technologies that arent common known thanks in advance

[ChadTower]

I've been poking through the X10 stuff but damn it's expensive now.  I have a few places where I want automated curtains but it's like $300 a pop now for the motor and track...

[Negativecreep0]

In my basement will be one Showcase cabinet, 3 pachislo machines, an entertainment center stacked with recievers game systems cable boxes + a 60" SXRD tv. There will be drop lamps for over the pool table and a drop lamp for over the poker table.....

[billf]

Are your drop lamps the type that are hard wired or do they have plugs?  I had my electrician install an outlet above my pool table (and above my drop ceiling).  My pool table light is a beer themed light (Miller Lite) and came with a plug and "pull-on" chain.  Cord winds its way up the hanging chains, above the drop ceiling and plugs into the outlet.  This also worked out for a Miller Lite clock I had as well.  Corded clock, cord goes up into the drop ceiling area and plugs into the same outlet.  Worked out good for my situation.

Also, its a good idea to add extra telephone, coaxial and network lines (or conduit chases) for future use.  I know I wish I had done that.  Pain in the neck to add a telephone line later when you change your mind on its location.   

[CCM]

Definitley phone, cable, network lines.  Also, speaker wire, if you are going to have surround sound...  Running the wires after the fact is no fun if you drywall the ceiling.  If, on the other hand, you are going with a drop ceiling, any type of wiring is pretty easy to do after the basement is finished.

[Otraotaku]

oh.. one of those electronic turntable Bookcases that are controlled by the Godly BYOAC book...  *sigh* "yeah!"

[rdagger]

I prefer running the electrical in conduit.  That way you can easily make changes after the drywall is up.
It's also a good idea to run conduit for the low voltage too.  I added about a mile of low voltage (CAT5, Coax, alarm wire, audio, video etc...) when I remodeled my house.  And of course when it was all done, I could have used more CAT5 in my office, more Coax behind the entertainment center and my computer.