Unfinished basement
 

Its looking like I'm working with 79" overall height. Worth finishing it yes or no?

Constructed in 1955, small cape, does not take on water, zero moisture issues. A few settlement fractures(west side of foundation) but they are not wide or deep and I've been monitoring the width/depth for a year+ with no further deterioration.

Thinking fill cracks/fractures with hydraulic cement. Let cure, dry lock the whole thing, glue pink rigid to walls, frame out from there: pt bottom plate and standard framing or metal? What do the pros say?

79" - 3/4 for strap - 1/2 sheetrock - 3/4" minimum for total flooring and that will be your finish height. According to my outdated MA 08' code book, habitable basements must have a ceiling height of 7'0" or 84". You may be able to get a "pre-existing non-confirming variance but that's up to your local AHJ.

If you have any duct work or other obstructions to go around, use wood and stick build it. You'll likely find your walls are way out of plumb. Start so the new walls are level and at least 1/4" off of the concrete walls and have the walls sprayed with closed cell foam. That will give you superior vapor barrier and you can get up to R25 in a 2x4 wall.

Steel studs are good but a pain to frame around difficult locations and it makes wiring more difficult IMO.

I assume it's not a walk out basement...
so your Lighting choice makes it bright and happy rather than dark and gloomy.
If you have a furnace down there .... you'll need to build a separate furnace room around it with plenty of ventilation options.
I've even built a oil tank enclosure to make that disappear. I don't like the glue idea because it might give off fumes
(just keep that in mind)even when seemingly dry (i don't trust it)

better to 22-shoot nails into the concrete for strapping imho on 24 or 16 centers
to attach your wall treatments to... then you can use 4x8 sheets of silver styrene board insulation of what ever thickness
you need and it goes up real fast @14.00 per sheet.

Thanks for the quick responses, very informative Liv2fish.

Finish it,enjoy the extra space. F the code.

x2, ^ what he said

FIGHT THE POWER! Down with the machine! :lama:

CONFORM !! You rebel scum!

Lots of people do it and nobody will be the wiser unless you have to sell it down the road - could make id difficult.

Also, consider this: If you have a fire that happens to start in the basement, your insurance CO will likely deny your claim due to the illegal renovation. That's the reality. And god forbid, someone dies in that fire...

Permits are really your best protection from risk and liability.

Vic I have a framing gun, compressor and finish guns if you need to borrow them.

Sounds reasonable Vic, after the dryloc and ridgid insulation, see if you can get those pink studs that are fire proof and resist mold or blue ones that resist mold. Mold resistant sheetrock would be a good choice also even though the basement is dry, putting up walls, can and will trap moisture especially with no air movement.
I;m sure that height will be fine for you, I'm not sure if they sell doors that short for vertically challenged people though, you may have to cut down a 6'-6".

Vic,
sorry for my bad flip phone picture :rotflmao:

I put the ceiling tiles between the rafters in my basement , saved on height but cost me more on tiles..
I just used a sawzall and cut and moved up the X supports to install my molding to hang the tiles

I think a better pic would help ...lol :call: if needed

Sounds like the response of a contractor, but it is 90% BS.
A good idea is to use the cement board(?) that you would use for tile in the bathroom for the bottom 2' of the wall board.This will not wick moisture in the unlikely event of a water intrusion.Also,you can usually skip insulation as the temperature in a basement typically does not vary much more than 5* seasonally.

Neva
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I left the sheetrock up one inch just in case of water, trust me we have water all year long, plus you can hide this easy so that it can not be seen .
We did have a flood , fast forward a year of maybe longer, wife said we have mold because of the flood that we could not see... I cut away 4 ft up and found zero mold. Pain in the arse to re sheet rock .
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

lol :no2: