Is it worth digging down?

[Anonymous]

Our basement was unfinished when we bought our circa-1900 row house on Capitol Hill. After a few years, we finished it to the point where it was sort of usable: dry walled 2/3 of the room (we left the back unfinished and used it for storage and laundry), added recessed lights, a closet, and a very basic bathroom. Painted the concrete floors. The ceilings where we finished them are about 6’ 8”—maybe a little more. But in some spots, where pipes were lower, the dry wall comes down to about 6 feet. The back part of the basement has an open ceiling and the beams are about 7 feet above the floor.

Anyway, we’ve reached the point where we want to finish the whole basement to make it a true third floor, with a bedroom/office and a family room. Assuming we’re never going to rent it out, but we DO want it to be comfortable and attractive, should we pay an extra 50k or so to dig down and make the ceilings higher? We could probably move all the pipes to the side of the basement so that there are no more low spots in the ceiling. But assuming we end up with a whole finished 700 sf basement with 6’8” ceilings, with nice new windows, built in shelves, and new flooring, will we regret that we didn’t spend more and dig down?

I guess I’d love to visit some basements that are nice and finished but with sub-7-foot ceilings. Since I can’t, can anyone weigh in with their own experience?

[Anonymous]

I say dig down. 6'8" is really low and I think it will be a glaring issue if you make the space as nice as you say.

[Anonymous]

Compare the cost to just buying a house that already has this feature. If you're still coming out ahead, do it. the extra space is worth it.

[Anonymous]

Full height basements are always nicer. You could try to see whether there is scope to dig deeper without underpinning. That would be much cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Definitely dig down.

[Anonymous]

That’s a lot of money. Do you not have an above ground family room? We have a basement finished with 6’8” ceilings and seems fine for teenagers to hang out (though I guess the tall ones may bump their head)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s a lot of money. Do you not have an above ground family room? We have a basement finished with 6’8” ceilings and seems fine for teenagers to hang out (though I guess the tall ones may bump their head)

We’re in a standard three-room-per-floor row house so, while we have a well-used living room, we don’t have a family room. Our kids are on the cusp of teen-hood and I anticipate the basement would be where they and their friends would hang out (if we ever socialize inside again).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Compare the cost to just buying a house that already has this feature. If you're still coming out ahead, do it. the extra space is worth it.

We bought our house 15 years ago so we could put a ton of money into it and still come out ahead. But we are probably on the low end of HHIs in this neighborhood and money is most definitely an object for us!

[Anonymous]

Putting more money into the basement without digging it out would be a waste. Keep it as is or do it with the higher ceiling.

[Anonymous]

I have a 6'8" finished row house basement and it's nice and very useable, but I definitely wish the ceilings were higher. If you ever want to have the option of having a CoO for making it a legal separate rental unit, you'll need the ceiling height to be at least 7 feet for a legal bedroom/living area. Having one of those would definitely add value to your property, so it may make the cost to dig worth it.

But - if you don't - just know you can still have a nice and livable area. I'd recommend lighter floors and white paint to help open the space up. If you can do egress windows, that will also help to make the space feel brighter.

[Anonymous]

Its not worth it if you cannot comfortably afford it. I don't think its worth it.

[Anonymous]

We faced a very similar issue and did not want to dig down.

When we did fix up our basement we removed the ceiling everywhere except the bathroom and left the joists exposed making it feel more open and the ceiling higher. And we no longer had to work around the pipes that were lower. Our home is also old and we found a bunch of pipes that just weren’t needed anymore.

See first image here https://www.bobvila.com/slideshow/11-doable-ways-to-diy-a-basement-ceiling-51026

[Anonymous]

If you are putting money into the basement, make sure you install a legal egress if there’s not one already. It’s important for safety.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't dig in a basement that old. Part of living in a city means historic homes with lower ceilings in the basement. We have a 1920's bungalow that we finished with the drywall, it's 7 or 7"1, so low, but livable. For a family room, I would be a low sofa of the right scale for the room.

[Anonymous]

Would recommend you do it, but be cognizant that it may cost you much more than $50k.

We dug down and underpinned 3 feet for our rowhouse recently. Bear in mind you'll lose around 6 inches when you introduce a modern slab and gravel pit.

We were expecting to spend around $80k and ended up paying around $200k after the contractor we hired did such a poor job that our inspector recommended we fire him and then we were forced to bring in another contractor to redo a lot of that first contractor's work. It was a mess.

Another neighbor spent around $200k but did not underpin but we also know people who spend as little as $50k to underpin. Really luck of the draw with contractors as you can have a bad experience with one who usually

Be prepared to spend as much as we did... Even spending $200k it was worth it since we more than recouped that amount in value. Our basement is about 1000 sq feet and a nice finished basement in our area will add net around $300 per square feet in value ($400 per sq foot high ceiling finished basement vs. $100 per for a low ceiling, unfinished one) .