Do’s and Don’ts of basement development

Making use of the basement is one of the main building trends in the recent years, gaining more and more attention from people who were previously sure they can’t make their house any bigger. Using a basement to your advantage and changing it for whatever room you seem to lack and wish for is the best idea for extending without working too hard on it. The ideas for the basement can be endless and you probably already know what you want to do there. Here are some of our do’s and don’ts for any basement development project.

Do: think open space

There’s so many ways you could use your basement and only one tip that can make it actually work – don’t close it off, dividing into rooms and putting up walls! Although you could want some privacy in some areas, treating the basement as an open space will allow you to get more natural light (if you have light wells, obviously), but it will also make it look so much neater and easier to access. Think about your plans for the basement and how you can fit them nicely in an open space.

Beginning of the basement development. Source: https://dickwhittingtondesignandbuild.co.uk/basements/.

With most projects it turns out to be easier then you initially thought it would be.

Don’t: underestimate the construction process

Even if you cut out on putting up walls and dividing the free space into actual rooms, you still need to remember that a basement might look like the perfect starting point, when in fact it does need some construction work done. Example? Lining the walls, plastering them and securing the area from dampness and cold.

Basements are usually not that warm and if you planned to put a living room, an office or even a gym down there, you will need some heating and insulation to keep you going in the colder months. Also, forgetting that the walls need to be properly prepped before you paint them is a rookie mistake that will cost you some quickly cracking paint in the future.

Do: consider the aesthetics

It’s easy to go overboard with decorating the basement since for years it has been a place of all clutter and mismatched furniture. If you’re designing the space remember that you will now be using it more often and it can’t repel you every time you go down the stairs. Keep the style of the room same to the style of the whole house or go bold with some modern architecture, but don’t be tempted to go all out on the decorations and accessories. Hanging up some reflective mirrors and surfaces, painting the room light and keeping it all a little subdued will make the space look bigger and better!