cheap decorating ideas for unfinished basements

finishing a basement is a big project butit is not a hard project. hey guys, what's up, this is jason and i'mthe ceo, head writer, editor, photographer and cat poop cleaner upper from "i finishedmy basement.com" today i'm going to give you big picture story of "how to finish a basment"in 4 minutes or less. ready? alright here we go. so there are 6 major phases to basement finishingand there are 4 setup phases and 1 really, really important phase in the very, very beginning. let's start with the 6 major phases and thenwe'll come back to other ones. alright, phase number 1, framing.this is the part with the wood. 2x4s to be

exact. you frame your walls - windows, beams,poles art niches, built in bookcases and a bunch of other stuff this is the bones ofyour basement and it's the first thing that you have to do. number 2, electrical. this is the part withthe wires. you wire your lights, plugs, ceiling fans, and any of those fancy workout machinesyou bought off of craiglists. i know you did it cause i did it too there's one sittingdown in the basement right now and i've never ever used it. number 2, plumbing. this is the part withthe pipes. if you want a bathroom or a sink in your basement or a sink to wash your dog,you're going to have to install some pipes

to makes sure that everything thats clearand clean gets where it's suppose to go and everything bad and brown goes where it issupposed to go. number 4, drywall. yes, you guessed it. thisis the part with the drywall. all of your work gets covered up and everything startsto look like a real room. there's going to be dust everywhere and your wife will probablybe yelling at you. but it's going to be worth it, it's going to look great. alright, number 5, doors and trim. now we'regetting somewhere. putting your doors in means that you actually have a room. number 6, flooring. you've got carpet, you'vegot tile, stained concrete, you can put down

laminate, there's vinyl there's cork. there'sabout a zillion different flooring options you can go with except for real honest hardwoodyou do not want to put that in your basement. so those are the top six, there's a bunchof little guys in there, but those are the major ones. before you can start any of those though you'vegot to do the four "setup" phases. water and moisture. - you don't want do allthat work to your basement just to watch it flood next time johnny "big storm" rolls intotown. you also don't want to constantly smell like your high school locker room. don't worry - there are specific steps youcan take to fix water problems in your basement

and it in 99% of the cases it's not goingto cost a bajillion dollars. you can get a dry, good smelling basement. trust me. alright, setup phase number 2, designing andplanning. you need a basement design and a work plan. these are fun, this is the dreamingpart, the skies the limit part. this is the oprah giving out gifts to the audience part. section 3, budgets. now, unless you're crazyrich you need a budget. you can't just throw money out the window. this is boring, notso fun part. unless you're a great big nerd like me - then you really love tracking stuffand writing it down in a spreadsheet. part 4 of the setup phases, permits and inspections.you weren't going to skip this part where

you? of course you weren't. you gotta getpermits and inspections. it's not as scary as it sounds. this is a huge investment, you'reputting thousands of dollars down. you don't just want to walk in there and throw it upand not tell a soul. somebody who's a professional needs to check it out. alright, so those are the four setup phases,we've covered the six major phases. now it's time for the most important thing. this isthe first thing you should do. this is the thing you should do this weekend. screw that,how about today. the most important thing you should do is to start. you shoudl startnow, start this weekend, start with a couple of test projects. build a small work bench.build one test wall. you don't need a bunch

of fancy tools. you don't need a permit, youdon't need a plan, you don't need a design or a budget or any of those things to frameout a small wall, or to build a workbench or a storage shelf. start today, build up your confidence, getused to your tools. prove to yourself that you can do it. i promise you, you build thatsmall wall and work bench then you can go into the major phases of finishing a basement. hey i'm jason from i finished my basement.comand i hope this overview helps you finish your basement. thanks.

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