Guide to Attic or Basement Room Additions

When it comes to adding a bedroom, game room or "man cave" there are a couple different options. Each home has a different layout and some have attics, while others have basements, and still others have both or none. If you do have an attic or basement, there is a lot of things that you can do to your home to both improve your quality of life and your home's property value. If you are blessed enough to have both, there are even more decisions that you have to make. Some of these decisions are easy and come with very little thought to them, while others may be difficult. The basic layout of your home may be a huge deciding factor in which project you choose. Here are a couple things to consider and what you will need to do when you have decided.

The first thing that you will need to do is decide whether you will be doing a basement or attic redesign. This is often dictated by the type of room that you will be creating. You will also need to look at the value difference. According to a recent article by Home and Garden TV, attic revisions have a higher average return percentage when it comes to property value. The basement will still get you a little bit of extra value, but the attic will give you more of what you put in. Both of these revisions cost about the same, so the return on them will be very close. There are a couple things that will alter this logic, though. Many homes are built with smaller attics that are designed with storage in mind. This makes for a cramped living space, and in this case, a finished basement will be more prudent. Some houses have a large basement that can give you two or more rooms to add. This will cost a little more to fix up, but it will be like a whole other apartment under your house that can get you some added income or multiple additions. Each home is different, so the decision on which area to chose needs to be based on your home and the type of room that you want to create.

The type of room you desire should play a much larger role in the decision to go to the attic or basement. If you want to add a laundry room, pool table, or Jacuzzi room, you will want to go with a basement. If you desire an office or bedroom, the attic may offer a better view and quieter workspace. It is for these smaller rooms and more lightweight furniture or playthings that the attic is more suited for. If you are going to add some heavy items to the room, the attic may need to be reinforced, making it much more expensive than going to the basement. Size is another factor. Many attics will require you to walk through bent over. If the ceiling is not high enough for you to comfortably walk through, you may want to reconsider the attic. You will also need to allot for the extra insulation and new ceiling that you will need to install. Some larger homes will have an attic that will accommodate this, but not all of them will. Once again, the house will dictate which addition you can incorporate.

After you have decided which area you are going to refurbish, you can get started. The procedure is basically the same no matter which one you choose. There is a little carpentry knowledge needed to take on this type of project, so you will want to make sure you know how to use levels, hammers, saws, and how to plumb a door. If any of these are a little fuzzy, you may want to practice on some easier projects before taking on a complete room remodel. The first thing you will need to do is get your design together. You do not need an elaborate blueprint. All you will need to get started with this is a piece of paper. A simple sketch is the best place to start. When you start to get everything drawn out, you will want to keep in mind any outlets, water pipes, drains, and ducting. When you plan the ducting, remember that hot air rises. Cooling vents should be near the ceiling and heating ducts should be near the floor. This will help you to get a more uniform temperature throughout the room. After you get the preliminary drawings done on notebook or scratch paper, you can map it out on a piece of graph paper to make everything accurate. When you move to the graph paper, measure out the area that you will be working with and create a scale for the drawing. This will help you to plan what you need and give you a better idea of what it will look like and what you will have room to include.

Now that you have the drawing complete, it is time to move on to the construction part. You will need to go shopping for all of your supplies. Do not worry if you can not afford all of it at once. You can easily do this in phases. As long as you set a schedule and budget, you can spur yourself to the completion of the project. One thing that helps me is to keep the final drawing in plain sight, like on the fridge, to remind you of the goal. You will need to get some ¾" plywood for the flooring. If you are doing this in the basement, you will need to lay some 4x4 supports under the ply. This will allow you to run the ducting, pipes, and wiring under the floor and insulate it as well. If you do not add this cushion under the floor, you will find it very hard to keep heat in this area. For an attic rebuild, the existing support beams will be plenty to hold the flooring up. You will also need to factor in ¼" ply for the walls and ceiling. This will add some soundproofing, extra insulation, and an easier way to hang drywall to make it look like a room and not a basement or attic.

You can now get started with the building portion of this project. Like most building projects, you want to start from the ground up with this. If you do not have a level base, the rest of the room will be off. Keeping this in mind, do not be afraid to plane or sand off some of the bottom supports. If this is an attic fix, you can add slivers of wood to the low spots to raise them. You do not want to sand off the attic support beams. This can lessen the structural integrity of your home. Use a level about every five square feet. You want to check all over the floor for low spots. If there are any, you need to correct them by sanding the high points, or adding slats to the low spots. Once everything is level, you can nail it together. For the basement, if your boards are snug against the walls, you will not need to attach them to anything. If they are not, or if you want the extra support, you can always use concrete screws that are long enough to pass through the board and extend by an inch. This will be a little bit of a pain, but it makes for a more sound flooring. If the boards extend to all four walls, you will not have to do this, but it may be recommended if you live in an earthquake prone area. Prior to nailing down the plywood floor, you will want to lay any pipe, wiring, or ducting and the insulation that you will be using. Now you can tack down the floor.

Once the floor is in place, you can now get the walls set up. The walls will also need to have the supports behind the plywood. These will need to be attached to the basement walls. For attics, you can usually use the existing boards or walls. Just like above, you will need to map out any wiring and ducting that will pass behind the walls. It is easier to do this prior to attaching the walls. You will then need to install the insulation. After you have everything that needs to be behind the wall stuffed into place, you can attach the plywood walls to the studs. You can now install the ceiling as well. You do not need to use any supports under the ceiling plywood unless you plan on using a ceiling fan or have any wiring that needs to pass through. Whether you are in the attic or basement, there is usually some space here for that anyways. You will want to look at what you have to work with and what you want to install.

After you have all of the plywood in place, you can now install the drywall for the ceiling and the walls. You will want to do this in reverse order though. You will need to start with the ceiling and then the walls. This will give you a better fit and it is easier to work with like this. It also helps to give extra support to the ceiling tiles. After you complete this step, you can start with the carpet, plank, vinyl, or whatever flooring you want to use in this room.

That is all there is to it. Just some simple planning and basic carpentry is all you need to make a whole new room for your home. It is a rather simple task that many can accomplish. You may want to hire an electrician to run the wiring if you do not understand it as well as you need. You will likely need to add some circuit breakers so that you do not overload the current circuits. It is a lot easier to hire someone for this. They can run all the basic things for you and make sure it works without setting your home on fire or blowing out the entire neighborhood's power. The plumbing and ducting are fairly simple and can usually be done by you, but, once again, if you do not understand it, hire someone. It is better to pay the little extra now, than have to pay for a new home later.