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Message |
    
Former Cowgirl
Citizen
Username: Formercowgirl
Post Number: 38
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 8:10 pm: | 
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We're carefully budgeting our limited renovation $$$ in advance of moving to a new home. As of right now, the home doesn't have a decent family room/play area. The two possibilities in our mind are:
1. finishing a meagerly partially finished basement. It currently has a work room, a storage room and a john , all with walls and doors, but no walled off room for furnace, boiler and oil tank. We'd have to add lighting, at least 2 walls and a door to section off the dangerous machines, and flooring.
OR
2. turning a 3-season enclosed porch into a room of the house, which would include building walls (with insulation?) and adding those floor heaters. The porch currently has those ceiling to floor windows that are supposedly good for 3 seasons, but not winter.
In the end, the amount of living space would be about the same in either space. Any thoughts? Experience? Is one definitely way more expensive than the other?
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peteglider
Citizen
Username: Peteglider
Post Number: 1901
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 8:16 pm: |
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What ages are your kids? If young, I'd suggest a first floor playroom, near the kitchen, is a better choice. If a bit older, then downstairs is a great way to hide toys and mess. If teens -- well if you build a "secluded" basement room -- well you can imagine ;-)
Good luck and welcome! |
Jersey Boy
Citizen
Username: Jersey_boy
Post Number: 550
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 8:52 pm: |
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I'm super cheap and this is what I'd do:
Buy a garage heater for $350. Put it in the three season room.
http://www.nextag.com/wall-mounted-electric-heater/search-html?nxtg=326e0a200506 -388E6895B552D83D
Put in insulated curtains.
Voila, four season room.
You only need to heat this room when they're in it. The wall mounted unit is up high so no little burned hands (even with a finished room and baseboard heater you have to address this issue.) In a few years they'll play differently, want to be in their bedroom, why make such and expensive change before you've moved in? Besides, as I've discovered, the house may have other plans for your money.
Good luck and tell us what you decide.
J.B. |
Daniel M. Jacobs, PP, AICP
Supporter
Username: Conrail
Post Number: 112
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 10:26 pm: |
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Please don't forget the fact that the conversion of a one-season porch into a three-season porch may increase the taxable area of your house . . . it happened to a neighbor of mine and was a nasty surprise.
- Daniel |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 11258
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 4:26 am: |
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There are all sorts of code issues for finished basements, including ventilation for the furnace/waterheater and a rule that they have to be four feet from any combustible material.
A finished basement if you have teens is great. OUt of sight, out of mind. 
However, a first floor den or family room will get a lot more use for most people. |
Zoesky1
Citizen
Username: Zoesky1
Post Number: 1441
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 9:56 am: |
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I looked into having a screened porch converted to a year-round room, in which floor-to-ceiling screens would be replaced with walls and a bank of windows, a french door would be added to the deck, and new flooring, drywall, baseboard heating and electrical outlets would be installed. I got estimates ranging from $15K to $25K for a smallish 8 by 10 room. I was amazed at the cost. In the end, my dad (a skillful do-it-yourselfer) came up from Maryland and did it himself over the space of a few weeks, and we spent about $5K for materials. I sold the house last year and it added greatly to my home's value and appeal as a den/home office/sitting room (I didn't need it as a family room, since we already had one). But again, it is not cheap. On the other hand, I have had basements finished from scratch, and in my humble opinion that's a bigger hassle and costs at least the same if not more. Plus then you're always running up and down stairs. So I'd go for the porch conversion if I were you. |
Zoesky1
Citizen
Username: Zoesky1
Post Number: 1442
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 9:57 am: |
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Correction --- I'd say my room was more like 10 by 12 or 13 feet, not 8 by 10. It's hard to guesstimate because I sold that house in August and don't live there anymore.... |
Shanabana
Citizen
Username: Shanabana
Post Number: 313
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 5:17 pm: |
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You said you have windows, but no walls? Just columns? Well, you could get quotes, depending on what kind of windows you want, up to 40k...But, that would be for real high-end stuff all around. Beware that most of the basements in this area get water from hypostatic (?) pressure in heavy rains, and that may be why the basement was never fully finished. I was very wary of "finished" basements when buying--carpets could hide leaking, mold, etc. A finished basement had little appeal to me. However, I love our "sunroom"...
We use our "sunroom" for our kids and down-time. It's basically the TV room, thankfully ushering that eyesore of a boob-tube out of the livingroom. It's got original widows, so it's cold in the winter. We use that caulking stuff around the windows to keep the cold out, have drapes, and have even used that plastic sheeting to keep out cold air. I think insulating underneath and in the ceilig will help, if we ever get around to it.
Welcome!
Try benchmark-interiors.com if you need a contractor. |
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