Tips for Framing an Unfinished Basement – Week 2 of the One Room Challenge

I hope you caught last week’s post, Basement Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise Room, where I introduced the project I will be undertaking for the One Room Challenge. Well, this is week two and I’m sharing how we (my husband and I) transformed our unfinished basement into a framed, wired, and ready-to-be dry-walled shell. On November 15, I will be revealing the completed basement yoga, meditation, and exercise room. This post is not a complete tutorial on basement framing, but rather a description of our experience and the best tips for framing an unfinished basement.

This Week’s Projects for the Basement Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise Room

• Finish decluttering the basement
• Frame the interior walls of the room
• Complete the electrical wiring (including inspections)
• Purchase primer, ceiling paint, and trim paint
• Research baseboard trim and mouldings for pillars
• Research sconce lights and make selections
• Research materials for window jamb extensions

Before Photos

Here is a picture of where we started with the basement. It was unfinished except for the framed and insulated exterior walls put in by the builder. There were no interior walls, flooring, or electrical. We used the space as an overflow area for extra furniture and a small area where the kids could play air hockey.

And this is where we’re going with the space in only 6 more weeks:

Decluttering

Decluttering is a never-ending battle, and a major battle was waged before we could get to the framing stage. I donated and sold most of the toys our children enjoyed when they were little. Our youngest is now 12, so it really was time to get rid of all the toddler toys. I also went through all my old craft supplies and donated what I didn’t need to crafters who were just getting started or those actively using these particular supplies. I also donated old books to a book sale.

Framing the Basement

We purchased our home directly from the builder over a decade ago and it came with an unfinished basement. However, the outer walls were all framed and insulated which saved us a lot of time. For the yoga, meditation, and exercise room, we only had to frame the interior walls and build a (massive) bulkhead for all the plumbing, ductwork, and gas line traversing the ceiling. My husband did a lot of this work, with my support. Prior to completing this work, we applied for a permit to finish our basement and submitted detailed structural and electrical drawings. We also had several inspections throughout the process for structure, electrical, and plumbing. Note that we completed the framing, electrical, and inspections just prior to the One Room Challenge start date as I didn’t want to be held up by pending inspections and possible re-inspections during the challenge.

Room Separators

We had only a few walls that needed to be built for this part of the basement. The first was the wall between the yoga room and the home office. We constructed the wall with a large opening for French doors. Since this is a basement and the office has only one window, I thought that having glass-paned doors would allow light from the brighter part of the basement to filter into the office.

Next, there was a small area under the stairs where we needed to extend the existing under-stair framing into the yoga room so it connected up to the yoga/office dividing wall shown above.

Bulkhead and Pillars

Finally, we framed out the massive bulkhead and created pillars around the basement ceiling support and ductwork/venting. This part was challenging and it took both my husband and I (and a lot of clamps) to hold everything together while we secured the bulkhead to the ceiling joists. The pillars were necessary to conceal essential infrastructure and they have the added bonus of creating separation between our family room and yoga room. You may be wondering about those promised tips for framing an unfinished basement? Those are up next.

This image shows one of the pillars we built to enclose one of the main house supports. A vapour barrier protects the wood from moisture that may be present in the concrete.

Tips for Framing an Unfinished Basement

Tip #1

Do an honest assessment of how you will be using the finished space. Do you want the rooms to be open to one another or are enclosed spaces essential? Think about if you want to add any special features, like built-in shelves, a fireplace, or French doors. What are your lighting needs? Do all your desires fit into your budget? Only once you know exactly what you need, can you come up with a detailed floor plan and structural and electrical drawings.

Tip #2

Decide which jobs you will do yourself and which to hire out. If you are handy, you can likely do the framing work yourself. You may want to consider hiring out the electrical work unless someone in your family is an electrician or electrical engineer. Create a timeline for completing the job.

Tip #3

Purchase or borrow copies of the building and electrical code for your area and become familiar with the contents. Apply for a construction permit and ensure that all your work is inspected and follows the code. This ensures that your finished space is safe and that your home’s warranty won’t be adversely affected by uninspected work. One thing many people don’t consider is that when you eventually sell your home, you will likely need to show that your finished basement has passed the required inspections. Don’t forget to consider air returns, air flow, and ducts in your design.

Tip #4

Invest in a good basement finishing book, like Remodeling a Basement by Roger German. This was how we figured out how to do just about everything. And for the next few weeks, swap out Netflix for YouTube basement finishing videos. Getting fully immersed in the world of basement finishing will inspire you to get working and instil confidence in you.

Tip #5

Once you have your plans completed, mark the locations of every wall to be built on the floor. Then, install a vapour barrier between where your wall framing will go and the concrete floor. This will help to prevent the boards from degrading over time due to moisture from the floor.

Tip #6

Buy the straightest lumber you can find. We ended up purchasing our 2 by 4’s and other lumber at Home Depot. We did a little sorting through the pieces in-store to ensure the lumber was straight and not warped. Working with warped lumber is extremely frustrating and the results will not be ideal. Also, make sure to store your pieces of wood in a dry, and not-too-cold location. We made the mistake of placing some of our board directly on our concrete basement floor and after several months of storage, the boards in direct contact with the concrete had warped. If you have to use warped boards, cut them into smaller pieces and use them where smaller pieces are needed. The warp is less noticeable in small spans.

Tip #7

Make sure you have the right tools for the job. A compound mitre saw is an essential tool for finishing a basement and we used ours to make all our cuts for framing. For versatility, choose at least a 10″ blade size and one with a sliding feature. Use screws not nails to assemble your boards into walls. And invest in a good power drill so you can quickly and easily assemble the walls. Don’t drill screws too close to the edge of the wood as it may split. And make sure to pre-drill all screw holes.

Tip #8

Measure carefully and assemble your walls on the floor before propping them up into place. This allows for proper and easy construction from a screw placement perspective. Check that the corners are square and then get a helper to move the wall into place and hold it while fastening it.

Tip #9

Consider moving some ductwork or plumbing if it will help to minimize the number of bulkheads you need to have. We moved some things to fit within the giant bulkhead we knew we were going to have to build. This way, we only needed one bulkhead in this space.

Tip #10

Plan your electrical work before framing so that you can add the boards in the correct places to support the electrical boxes.

Once you have finished the framing, it’s such a great feeling as a once-open space starts to resemble individual rooms!

Other Work We Completed

My husband completed the electrical work for the entire basement himself, including coordinating the inspections. He’s an electrical engineer and worked closely with the electrical code book for the province of Ontario. My role in this work was to choose the position of the lighting fixtures- both sconces and recessed lighting. We want the basement to be bright and functional so we chose to put in an abundance of light sources. I chose and purchased the pot lights and I am in the process of choosing some fabulous sconces to create the right mood for the space. Most of our lights are on dimmers and some have 3-way switches so they can be turned off and one from different rooms. This image shows some of the electrical wiring my husband completed in the space.

This is the existing ductwork that we enclosed in a pillar. We built the air return into the pillar and my husband did the wiring for sconces that will light this area of the yoga room.

I did my required work of purchasing paint and researching and sourcing all the materials needed for the windows and trim/moulding. Not all of it has been purchased yet so this will be one of my tasks this coming week.

Work Plan for this Coming Week

This coming week we have to finish the drywalling, taping, mudding, and sanding. I also need to ensure I have all my supplies for the window jamb extensions and trim work. It’s Canadian Thanksgiving this coming weekend and we have a lot of family coming from out of town, so we are currently working frantically to get everything done.

Summary

I hope you enjoyed reading about my tips for framing an unfinished basement. Thank you again for joining me on this journey and I’m really looking forward to sharing my weekly progress with you all. The final reveal is November 15, which is in just six weeks!! In the meantime, please check out the posts by the other participants here. Here is the link to week 3 of the challenge.