Help me decide: to box or not box exposed water pipes underneath finished basement ceiling.
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Anonymous
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My basement in-law suit has a 7' finished ceiling. There are some exposed water pipes running along the ceiling (perpendicular to the joists). I am currently having a guy doing some minor renovations around there, in preparation for resale in a couple of years. I was thinking of simply repainting the pipes white to match the ceiling and be done with it. But he is suggesting we could do a small scoffing to conceal the pipes. It would be about a foot wide and just 5 inches below the finished ceiling. It would probably add $800 to the job.
There is also an exposed main sewer pipe, painted white. It actually doesn't look bad (ornate 80 year old cast iron). He suggests we also box it for a more finished look. That would probably be an additional $400. I should add that the rest of the $900k house looks fantastic and I should have no problem selling it when that time comes - homes with even less attractive basements have sold in days. But I agree that the exposed pipes in the basement are a bit distracting. So, just paint? Or soffits for a more finished look? |
Anonymous
| ^^ "soffits" not "scoffing." |
Anonymous
| Depends how nice you want your basement to look and how much cash you have to spend on that. I'd probably vote for covering them up if I had the money and had guests stay more than just once or twice a year. |
Anonymous
Thanks. I am actually using the suite as a play room - but my daughters don't complain about the pipes 
Given that I am selling in a couple of years, I don't want to spend much. That said, I do realize the boxes will be more attractive than the painted hanging pipes. |
Anonymous
| Tough call. Given the already low ceiling, not inclined to add any additional obstacles. Are the pipes near the wall, or would this soffit being running across the middle of the room? |
Anonymous
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Basement ceiling height shall not be less than 7 feet
above the finished floor. Structural members spaced 4 feet or more apart may project up to 6 inches below the required ceiling height. |
Anonymous
The pipes are couple of feet away from a wall. So it would be the wall, then 2 feet of 7' ceiling, then one foot of soffit (extending down about 5 inches, so the ceiling would be 6'7" for that one foot, and then again 7' ceiling for about 8 feet until hitting the opposite wall. The other issue is that, if the soffit is built, once you open the suite door it will be the first thing you see. |
Anonymous
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Wouldn't do it, sounds like it would make the room feel more cramped.
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Anonymous
Even if the downward projection is just 5 inches? |
Anonymous
| Do it. Exposed pipes are ugly. |
Anonymous
| Thanks for the replies. I'd be interested to know the opinion of a realtor about exposed pipes in basement bedrooms when the rest of the house is in great condition. Does it matter? A realtor once told me that a buyer decides to buy in the first couple of minutes... |
Anonymous
| ^^... In the first couple of minutes and, if the main levels of the house are in great shape, the buyer won't care much about the basement. |
Anonymous
| ^^^ in a popular neighborhood. |
Anonymous
| Interesting PP. I faced a similar dilemma but our ceilings were definitely too low for a box (prob 7' ceiling). We ended up rerouting the pipe so it was higher at a cost of $2k (!!) I did NOT want to do it-- I thought it was a waste of money and would have been happy to just paint it white and be done with it, but DH wanted to. |
Anonymous
OP here. Thanks. Our ceiling is actually 7' as well. I think we can make a very small box -- one foot wide, projection down only 5 inches. Did rerouting the pipes make a big difference visually? I can't picture whether it will in our case -- i.e. Whether a small box will be a big improvement over just painting them white. That's why I am curious about the resale aspect of this. |