Our basement redo

So if you recall earlier this year we dealt with my grandma's basement flooding and renovation.

 

Guess what we started on now... drum roll please.

 

 

Our basement.

 

Not because we have nothing else to do. Not because we have buckets of $100 bills to work on this.

Because the person we bought the house from decided to disguise a crack in the wall, behind a finished wall.  After our very moist spring, we kept find the carpet wet in the finished part of basement. So we tore the carpet up, to keep the mold at bay. Then we noticed the river coming from the wall, which trailed to the floor drain ( formerly) under carpet.

 

We had a basement water proofing company out, who gave us some ridiculous quotes, but until we tore the wall down, we wouldn't know what we were actually dealing with.  

 

 

Before Walls coming down, carpet around floor drain already out .

storage area, we will miss you.

Laundry room ( wall was chopped up, when water to the floor drain got out of control )

So once we had some free time, and the help of a contractor, we dug into the drywall and discovered this lovely crack in the foundation, that someone else "tried" to  hide.  Thankfully instead of having to install new drain tiles ( what the waterproofing company initially was wrong with the basement --without seeing behind the wall ) we just have to have some fancy crack repair done.

This was the lovely "crack" that was hidden behind the wall

First view of basement

basement current state after wall came down, which forced the ceiling and all walls down

sorry garbage men.. nasty drywall had to go somewhere.
 

So before the foundation fix, we have to clean/paint/sanitize the wall, as it has some residual of the constant leaking.  Once the foundation fix happens, then we start on redoing the basement. It's going to stay open now, and not be so compartmentalized as it was made by the previous owner.  More pictures to follow as we progress.

Our biggest fight disagreement  is what to do with the floor. Carpet is not a good solution anymore. With our history and that basement, it needs to be something that can be easily mopped up. Contractor suggested tile. Tile is $$ for the amount that has to be done. ( I can see why a contractor would suggest it though, more $$ in his pocket ). 2nd suggestion was epoxy on the floor, 3rd linoleum 4th is like a faux wood, glue down stuff.  

The 2nd disagreement will be what color to paint ( ha )  now that the walls are down, and staying down. We actually have daylight coming in from 3 windows..  So it won't be so dark and dungeon-ey as before.

So our basement will stay mostly open.. with tables that can be set up for parties. Hoping we can swing.. new furniture upstairs. and our leather couches upstairs will go down. We already have a big screen TV for the basement, we have a wine fridge, and pop corn machine..

To make the most of the space, we will hang some sort of curtain system, to hide our laundry area, when not in use.

When I have the mock up ready, I will post.

What have you done in your basement ? I would love to hear what you've done to your basement.