Finished basement

Take the time and money to finish off the walls like in the living area of your home.  While it may seem over kill in the long run you will be glad that you did.  There is nothing more frustrating that looking at your layout and wishing you had taken the time for those details before you built it. 

If you have the time &

If you have the time & resources to finish the room, do it. Which of the 2 pics below would you rather have as your hobby room? A finished room helps limit dust and bugs, while increasing the house value.

Finishing

I’m absolutely planning on finishing the basement. It is a walk out basement, I think I’m going to frame and finish the three walls above grade and leave the wall entirely below grade “unfinished”. Reason being, the house has had moisture issues in the past, and I’m confident those issues are taken care of, but I’m still uneasy with completely covering that wall. 

Probably attach 2x2’s to the wall and mount layout directly to those as well as the backdrop.

I agree with Alan 10000%

You will not regret doing the basement. 

It is well worth your time and expense.  

Also, finishing the basement will also allow you to install that extra brace or two in the wall to help support your layout.  

I have photos of my progress if you interested.

Andy H

Minooka, IL

Hard work? You betcha.Wife

@Alan, painting the walls in your finished room to a light sky blue would make the room nice for layout.

Hard work? You betcha. Wife and I have been doing our basement ourselves and doing it right. We've worked on it on our days off for about a year now and it's been quite a drain on us and our finances - we ain't made of money, as they say.

We hired a contractor to do the electrical and plumbing (basement full bathroom and very useful utility sink). We did all the drywall install, taping, mudding and sanding, drop ceiling, etc.

Here are some progress photo's starting with the basement at move-in and up to late summer.

Walls and ceiling beams sanded and painted:

Basement bathroom

Ceiling lights are in - LED flat panel lights. Mainly floor and baseboard to go in yet. We are nearing completion, hopefully by end of October or early November. Looking forward to layout construction.

Agreed - Hard Work

But very rewarding.  You already know that.  

Here are a couple pics of the work I did in my layout room before beginning construction.  I'm glad I did!  The carpet was there, so I left it.  The bottom half was bead board because of previous moisture.  But that problem is solved so I drywalled it.  There were only two light fixtures, so I increased that to 8.  And I added new circuits for layout power, layout lighting, and night time lighting.  Then I painted everything blue and added some wispy clouds.

And 5 years later . . .

jimfitch…. Chose to go with a

jimfitch….

Chose to go with a neutral basic color to get the house reappraised. No pictures, but the walls are sky blue now.

I gotta ask the OP

So was the coal/wood furnace that was removed the primary furnace for the house or an auxiliary unit? What are you doing for heat now that it's gone? Someone was joking over on Randy's thread about not needing a furnace when his was slightly in the way, but I don't suppose you really did that.

Back in college I and a roommate rented a 2BR townhouse apartment that had a very old and inefficient furnace. We were warned before renting that the heating bill would be equal to half the rent or more if we used it. So we didn't. We invested in a kerosene heater like this:

We only ran it when we were there and awake and always with a window cracked open, letting the place cool off overnight. It only took it about 15 minutes to warm up the whole 1500 square foot apartment, and we were spending only maybe $20/month on kerosene at the time. It paid for itself the first month vs what the furnace would have cost to run.

But the things are definitely dangerous, lots and lots of cases of fires and CO poisoning. We took precautions and survived. Now I can't remember what I did with that heater, I got rid of it a move or two later I think.

@E Dub Ya

No, the furnace that was removed was the remnant of the original heating system for the house that was original to the house when built in 1962. The previous (and original) owners had a heat pump and central air system installed in the late 90’s with all new duct work. Also, there is a secondary breaker panel and plug for a whole house generator, so all we need is to buy a generator and have it installed (and connected to the gas line).

If I wasn’t building a layout, I probably would have left it for now. It was in the way AND it hadn’t been used in 20 years, time to go bye bye! 

If it was easy

I guess if it was easy it would have been done long ago!

After a year of constant work, nearing completion

Allan, ah, so the finished photo wasn't quite finished then.  Light sky blue seems to compliment layouts in lieu of a good scene backdrop.

Here are some more progress photo's.  The basement bathroom is basically finished save hanging the mirror over the sink.  My wife did all the tiling - and I did the shower curb, pan, cement board and drywall, and painting.

Now that the bathroom is done, we've moved back out to the train room and the LED flat panel lights (dimmable) are in and working (4k temp) and most of the ceiling tiles are in.

Yesterday we ground down a ridge along the cement floor expansion crack to level it for the flooring that is soon to go in.  We have a bit more of that and then we will clean up the room for the floor installation.  Those are the lines running across the floor seen in the pre-finnishing photo.

We should be ready for the final inspection in a few weeks and then layout construction can commence.

Yes, it is...

Basement prep is hard work, but it is well worth it.

Randy

Nearing completion

Hey Jim,

 That is looking like a perfect "home" for a great model railroad! You and your wife are quite the team. When does the benchwork start?

Hope to start mid-late Nov

Hi Rick,

I hope to start the Bench-work sometime in November.  The drop-dead date for final inspection is Dec 12 from memory, but I think don't have to have the floor finished for the inspection to be done.

The first two bench-work sections are basically ready to drop in place as the core/starting point for the new layout.  They will form 16 feet of the staging yard under the main yard.  The other bench-work framing saved from the old layout will need to be modified to fit into this layout plan and I'll have to buy additional lumber to complete it. 

I've stock piled some Peco turnouts toward this layout and will add as necessary.  While I have the general track plan drawn out, I also do some fitting and then I will know better what turnouts are needed where.

Back when we started fall of 2018, we did some work in the fall and then pulled a permit from the county last Dec.  Once the permit is pulled they give you six months and you can't get it done in that time you can apply for a six month extension giving up to 12 months to get the basement completed.  Being that we've been doing all the work on weekends and days off and we are amatures, learning as we go, it's been very time consuming and we ain't spring chickens. 

Plus we've been paying as we go for materials like drywall, mud, tiles, and all the other materials that really add up.  But we also want to add equity to the home and if we hired contractors to do it all, it would be MUCH more expensive, maybe 20-25k in this area, and the value added might barely offset the costs.

Anyway ...

Once you pull the permit you schedule the rough-in inspection so they can make sure the framing, electrical, plumbing, mechanical (bathroom venting) etc. is all done according to code, before it is covered up by drywall and ceiling.  Then when the ceiling and walls, bathroom, etc is done you schedule a final inspection.

Layout building needs to wait until the final inspection.  We need to get the floor in too, which I've been told you can get the final inspection even with a concrete floor.  Of course I don't want to install the floor with the layout going up!  If all goes well, we should be done by early-mid November.

I have to grind off a ridge in one more expansion crack - the darn diamond disc cost more than the angle grinder needed to level the ridge in the basement concrete floor where the expansions cracks are.  One that is leveled we can work on the faux-wood floor tiles and baseboard.  It's almost 700 sq ft of floor to install. 

I'm envious of these people who have huge 2,000 sq ft basements but I'm pleased with the layout plan that is designed to make most efficient use of the space.  It's a single track mainline with two 20 foot sidings and minimum 32 inch radius, most larger, and a good sized yard and staging.  Continuous running via a helix.

After washing the concrete

After washing the concrete floor and painting on a prep liquid and a liquid adhesive, the vinyl faux wood floor is finally going down.  Yeah, finishing a basement is a lot of work.

Seeing the floor

Planning on the final

Planning on the final inspection at end of October.  I spoke to the inspector who did the "rough" inspection (inspection for electrical, plumbing, framing etc. before the drywall goes in, and he said the floor doesn't have to be installed for the inspection nor a door on the utility room.

Yeah concreate counts.  Which

Yeah concreate counts.  Which is good because the I am designing a store that has a concrete floor in it...

-Doug M

Vinyl laminate

I was planning on painting the concrete floor and using rubber tiles around the perimeter of the layout. After seeing your laminate flooring, I just might go that direction. Locally, the water proof vinyl laminate is considerably more expensive than the regular laminate hardwood, running around $50 a box or more. That's a decision I won't have to make immediately, but I'll definitely have to look into.

Wanted finished look for eventual home sale.

My wife and I wanted the basement to have a finished look for eventual sale (sweat equity etc.) but I do plan to put down some rubber tiles and maybe some carpet tiles for traffic and comfort.  

We got the vinyl planking at Lowes and it was fairly economical - I think it was $100 per 64 planks and we had some coupons for a good discount.  Under a dollar / sq ft. 

Vet Discount

Lowes offers a 10% discount to any vet. Take your DD214 to the customer service desk and they will get you registered. After that anytime you shop just mention it and using your ph# they can call you up. In this area it at least covers the sales tax.

Jack

My wife and I wanted the

 It always amazes me how people plan their entire lives around the future. Not being critical, mind you - just a personal perspective.

I always planned for living in the present. House is decorated to my taste, not what I think buyers will want at some undefined time yet to come. Sometimes that works out for the best; sometimes not.

There were a few specific things I planned for the future, like retirement, But mostly, I plan, and planned, for the present. 

And even something like retirement can be overdone. I knew guys in college who chose their job based on the retirement packages the companies offered at the time! They often turned down better paying positions or more interesting work for retirement security. That backfired more often than not, because of the drastic changes in retirement approaches (401k's, pension plans frozen or scrapped, etc.). I really started focusing on setting up my retirement when I turned 50.

If we take it to the extreme, why do anything at all? We're all going to end up taking a dirt nap someday anyway.

Anyone see anything extreme? Didn't think so,

In northern Virginia, stores regularly ask if I am a veteran.  "No, I'm chopped liver."  But I did get 20% off using coupons I had.

I make no apologies that there are two benefits to finishing the basement fully, 1) nice train room for as longs the good Lord blesses us with this home, and 2) adding value as eventually we will need to sell and down size.

Nothing extreme about that.  

sensitive folks

There is some very sensitive folks on this forum....Can't we all just get along!!