Partially finishing a basement...

[Jdurg]

Okay, I know we have the finished basement thread here on the forums, but it really doesn't fit into what I'm looking into doing.  I have a smallish house with only 1,400 square feet and it is a Cape Style Home.  That means that the only access into my basement is through a set of stairs inside the house.  There is no bulkhead entrance from the outside.  My basement has had flooding and moisture issues before, and while the issues have been somewhat resolved, all it takes is heavy rain on frozen ground and it will get some water in there again.  As a result, I can not put down any finish flooring.  I'm also hesitant to use any materials down there which could be affected by the moisture.

However, I do want to finish part of the basement enough to make it a comfortable place to do some woodworking, and so that I can put some power tool stations down there (Table saw, router table, workbench, etc).  The ceiling is a pretty standard height with the exposed joists and plumbing/electrical wiring.

If you head down the stairs to the basement you face a wall with no windows (the front side of the house).  To your immediate right is the washer/dryer which will be staying there, and nothing to the left.  On the right wall there is one tiny window, the electrical panel, the sump pump, then in the corner is the 250 gallon oil tank.  Halfway across that wall is a bunch of shelving which will stay there.

Directly behind the staircase is the main chimney and the boiler/furnace.  Behind the boiler/furnace, and a little to the right, is the water pump.  So that whole left side of the basement is basically going to stay the same as it would be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much work to re-route everything.  The only real "buggers" on the right side of the room is a wood stove/burner in the center of the right hand side and some support columns down the center section of the entire basement.

So what I want to do is fix the windows in the basement and re-seal them as they seem pretty poorly installed and some better sealant and casing work should make them a bit more "tight".  I plan on renting a dumpster some time to put the old refridgerator, treadmill, and burner that are down there and only taking up space.  I'll then be able to also dump all of the garbage that has collected down there too.  I'm also going to need to bleach all the walls and the floors, then put another coat of drylock onto the walls and maybe even on the floor since the half I plan on using hasn't had flooding there.  (The flooding always happens in the center of the basement where no drainage is).  I would like to put something up on the ceiling to cover the joists/plumbing/electrical and add in a few fluorescent lights to provide better light for the area.

My question is, how much work is all of this, can it be done (putting in a ceiling on half of the basement and not the other half), and how much cash will all of this work entail?  It's certainly not something I can do all at once and I'll have to slowly work on the project, but I would like to get started.  The bug problem down there will go away as I have an exterminator coming next week to clear out an ant infestation and he said that as part of their normal treatment they'll clear out the basement of cobwebs and spider infestations as well.  (A nice touch.  It's a good extermination company I'm going with and when the inspector came by he said that he remembered treating this place before and although the warranty on the treatment had expired, he'd give me the renewal treatment fee instead of the full one.  So that saved me $100). 

My ultimate goal is to go and have myself a good work area to do some woodworking projects.  Once I started building my poker table and doing a pretty good job on it, I've just gotten the urge to do a lot more woodworking and would rather not have to use a child's play table as my workbench, and fight off spiders, cobwebs, and god knows what as I do my work.  I'd like a nicely lit place that I can go in and work when I want to, but not worry about any water coming in the basement and destroying everything.  All of my work benches would be built with pressure treated lumber and some masonry work to keep the base up and off of the ground.  I just have no idea how much work would be involved with this project and figured I'd ask some people who probably have done this before.   

[ChadTower]

Hard to answer such vague questions without pics... but it's pretty much critical that you solve the water and insect problems before you do anything else.  Water especially.  Sounds like you might want to go with a rubber type flooring if you put down anything.  That way it won't be destroyed by minor flooding.  Also put in lots of shelves and hooks so you can hang all of your tools and materials above floor level.

[Jdurg]

Hard to answer such vague questions without pics... but it's pretty much critical that you solve the water and insect problems before you do anything else.  Water especially.  Sounds like you might want to go with a rubber type flooring if you put down anything.  That way it won't be destroyed by minor flooding.  Also put in lots of shelves and hooks so you can hang all of your tools and materials above floor level.

Yeah, the water is a problem but it's not like I need waders to get through there.  If I can remember, I'll try and take pictures.  The plan is to take any type of table or surface or anything else and have it up off of the concrete floor so that if I were to get some flooding it would take catastrophic flooding to destroy everything.  I just plan on leaving the floor as concrete.  I'll try and provide some measurements and photos if I get a chance.

[ChadTower]

You want to solve that water problem anyway... that's really bad for the house and can be really unhealthy depending on what is in the water when it happens.

[myntik1]

Step #1 find the source of the water leak and address it. Check the prime offenders first:

Windows - I have the old ones embedded in concrete.  Somewhere down the line I will replace them, but I used Great Stuff around a couple of my crappy window frames and it kept Jack Frost's breath away.

Walls - drylok em.  Get the 5 gallon contractors bucket, otherwise you'll be back at HD every night.  If you have bare concrete walls it will soak the drylok up.

Floor - drylok (or the equivalent) on your floors.  You would be suprised how many house have water issues because of the floor

Gutters - make sure your gutters drain away from the house

Landscaping - add or remove the earth around you house if water pools near the foundation.

I did all of these things and waited an entire winter to prove to myself that my basement was dry.  In a little over a year I've had water in my basement twice and both times were in the past week.  So a little luck is also required.

And take this next suggestion to the bank because I wish someone schooled me on this -

Splurge and spend the extra couple of bucks per sheet and get the mositure and mold resistant drywall.  I laughed when I saw it but now that my basement has gotten moisture I'm kicking myself for not getting it.  I'm not sure how great it works but for an extra hundo I would have peace of mind. 

[Jdurg]

The water is caused by the water table rising above the level of my basement foundation.  There is nothing that can be done about it.  Nothing.  If the ground has frozen and we get rainfall or a lot of melted snow, it will flood.  I've talked with multiple contractors and they've all said the same thing.  Just don't put anything valuable right on the floor and avoid the center of the basement where the lowpoint is and the water sits.  It's only about 1.5 to 2 inches of water on the worst of days when there's flooding and that's it.

The walls are already drylocked, so I'd just be putting a few more layers on.  I guess I just want to see if it's worth fixing up one half of the basement to turn it into a woodworking area.

[MajorHavoc]

It's kind of a PITA but have you considered a french drain?  Once the trench is cut and graded, you could hide it behind false walls and as for the floor, you could use anything unless you really get deluged and your sump pump can't keep up.   Good luck.

[ChadTower]

The French drain gives up at the first sign of actual water, though. 

[Ed_McCarron]

The water is caused by the water table rising above the level of my basement foundation.  There is nothing that can be done about it.  Nothing. 

My parents had this problem.  A contractor cut perimeter drains around the walls, that dump into a sump.  Pumps take it away.

Works great until the powers out.  They had to get a sump pump with a 12v backup.

[RayB]

"only 1400 feet" he says.
 

[ChadTower]

That is considered a "smallish house" in MA.  Mine is smaller but most around here are much bigger.  They rarely build anything under 2000sqft here anymore.

[RayB]

Well screw you guys. 

[ChadTower]

Well screw you guys. 

6 of one, half dozen of the other.  The house is bigger but the yard is a postage stamp.  Or you pay $500,000 for it.  Or both.

[SavannahLion]

6 of one, half dozen of the other.  The house is bigger but the yard is a postage stamp.  Or you pay $500,000 for it.  Or both.

Three years ago, you couldn't find a house... any house, for under $500,000 in the city in CA. Now we have people wishing their house is worth $500K.

[Jdurg]

It's kind of a PITA but have you considered a french drain?  Once the trench is cut and graded, you could hide it behind false walls and as for the floor, you could use anything unless you really get deluged and your sump pump can't keep up.   Good luck.

That's actually what the basement has.  There's a drainage system in the basement with the french-drain style "boards" all around the perimeter and some drainage pipe buried into the concrete slab that goes into a sump pump in the floor.  For normal rain storms, humidity, etc. it does a perfect job of keeping the basement dry.  It's just when the ground is saturated and we get a good rain storm that the watertable rises up a bit and the flooding starts from the center of the basement where the lowest point it.  When it does flood, the center of the basement is covered in up to two inches of water at the lowest point.  I then just need to squeege it towards the sump area and out of the basement.  It's not horrific, but it prevents the basement from being finished.  Still, I think I can salvage some area to put a woodshop in.  Today, I finished the stain application on my table base and I just want to build a TON of things now. 

This will certainly be a long term project, but hey, I'm not going anywhere soon.  :p

[Chadwick]

As a former contractor who has built over 250 houses, I will echo what other contractors have told you; There is very little you can do about your water problem (going on what details you have provided).

[Jdurg]

Yeah, I've come to accept that and to just not put anything in the dead center of the basement.  The perimeter is in pretty good shape though, so that is where I plan on putting in some tables and benches and whatnot.  I'll probably even put those elevated rubber tiles on the floor to keep everything a few inches up off of the ground which is all that's really needed.