Black Decker The Complete Guide To Finishing Basements Stepbystep Projects For Adding Living Space Without Adding On Black Decker Complete Guide

Posted In: Basement Remodeling

Sonny Kokko says...

This book has the best, most detailed guide to remodeling your basement.This is more construction guidance than design, but there is good design info as well.The book has OUTSTANDING guidance on actually taking the project on and getting it finished.The author teaches a class in basement remodeling, and this experience has clearly provided him with a wealth of ideas on how to guide the novice to intermediate builder.If you are going to do the work, you have to have this book.

Posted on October 29, 2010

Tamela Kunze says...

This book covers everything from assessing your current basement, planning and the actual work.I'm just a regular home-owner handyman (non-professional) and I feel like I'm ready to tackle the project.One thing that was especially helpful was the Pro Tips.On almost all the pages, there's a tip that you may or may not have thought about.For the work, it goes over the basic steps to accomplishing the project (i.e. electrical, plumbing, drywall).If you have a decent amount of handyman inside you, this book will definitely enable you to finish or remodel a basement.

Posted on October 29, 2010

Dani Burston says...

I should warn that if you have no experience finishing basements it's not likely you'll be able to do a good job based on the readings of only one book, at least if you're obsessive like I am. However, of the books I've looked at this is one of the better ones.



What truly differentiates this from the other books I've looked at (Stanley's basement book and the 2007 version of this book--which unfortunately is still being sold at Home Depot instead of the current 2009, and a half dozen others), is its advise about insulation. FINALLY a book about basement finishing stops with the rubbish about batt insulation and vapor barriers, a technique advised against by pretty much all authorities on basement insulation (e.g. buildingscience.com) and talks about extruded foam boards. And not just foam boards, but a continual layer of foam, not the poor approach of furring wood strips against concrete and board between them. Also this book emphasizes and properly qualifies what it means to have a dry basement that can be properly insulated from the inside. Strange to me, though, is why it says not to seal the bottom of the foam where it touches the floor. I have recently done my basement with the foam and there is a good bit of air movement under the gap, plus the other resources I've found do indeed say it should be sealed off.



Be sure you aggressively insulate joist bays, too, with foam and caulking and/or great stuff spray foam.



Although finished basements have been around for decades, the contemporary approaches to them get around certain issues we're familiar with like moldy walls and that's why a book needs to stay abreast of current best practices and insulation is a key one of those.



My main criticism here is I am pretty sure the book still says that if roughing in an under-slab bathroom that a masonry blade can be used on a circular saw. Please do not ever try this. You'll need a dozen of them. Go with a diamond blade or even rent a wet saw and/or jackhammer. If you do not properly score the lines you'll end up with a huge section of concrete that has to be moved as cracks span out. I know this because it's what I went through recently. Masonry blades on a circular saw cannot possibly move efficiently the amount of material away to score the lines for a full basement rough-in.

Posted on October 30, 2010

Eliz Filarecki says...

I really like this one. Along with excellent information on framing, plumbing, and electrical; it has some very nice examples of what you can do with your basement. It has the best description of half-walls I have seen (I desperately needed that) and so much information it is amazing! Buy this book if you are an advanced do-it-yourself person and want to remodel of finish your basement.

Posted on October 31, 2010

Tommye Fernelius says...

Tons of full color photographs and drawings, and well-written text make this book a must-read for the amateur home-improver.This book isn't an exhaustive guide to remodeling, but it covers most of everything you'd need to know.For some specifics, like plumbing and electrical, it may be necessary to get a more detailed book on those subjects, if you're going to do that work yourself.Still, a great book, I'm already relying on it to do my own basement remodel.

Posted on October 31, 2010

Suzan Roberg says...

A basement can be as fine a living space as any other area of the house. "The Complete Guide to Finishing Basements: Step-by-Step Projects for Adding Living Space Without Adding On" is a home improvement guide for those who want to turn their utility room basement into a room to be enjoyed by the entire family, or just one person. Basements present their own challenges, such as moisture, lack of heat and light, among other issues, but many ideas are presented to remedy these. With extra advice on morphing one's basement into many types of more useful rooms, "The Complete Guide to Finishing Basements" is a fine choice for anyone who wants to make their bottom level something special.

Posted on November 1, 2010

Mika Gilio says...

A great book, with up-to-date information. better than most with more hands-on rather than "design" ideas.

Posted on November 1, 2010

Emory Diffee says...

This book covers, in great depth, basic framing and finishing techniques.In other words, it's full of information that's available in myriad other remodeling texts. That information is well presented, but it's nothing exclusive to this book.What I expected, and where it falls woefully short, is a good discussion of issues particular to basements.Water gets perhaps two pages, humidity/moisture nothing at all, slanting floors and floor drains nothing.He does mention egress windows and basement mechanicals.Overall, however, far too much space given to general building techniques (probably over 80% of the book), when in fact what I think is needed is a lot more depth and detail regarding issues related to basements.

Posted on November 2, 2010

Tiffany Wakeford says...

This is by far the best book I have ran across on this topic, very thourough and provides a real do it yourself vocabulary.Topics are covered in a logical order and really, this book will get you through 95% of your basement project.I would recommend another book for electrical and possibly drywall - as all that is dedicated to those topics in this book is a few pages.I found Home Depot's $12 1-2-3 Electrical book to be a great supplement and all you will need for even the most challenging wiring situations.I hired a plumber to save me some time on that aspect, so I can not speak to that part of the book, but it seems to give you the basics.



Now - the reasons I can not give this book 5 stars.



1 - Electrical - I live in suburban Chicago and this book simply is outdated.Codes here are much more strict then wherever this book was written.You need to run all wiring in EMT conduit here and use that as the grounding source - using the NM (romex) that is outlined in the book is a huge code violation here and I think the inspectors would laugh at you.And running conduit is a big project whc greatly lengthens the time described in the bookThus, most of the stuff talked about in the book in terms of supplies is not going to cut in some locales.



2 - His advice on insulation vapor barrier is COMPLETLY WRONG.They would make you rip out any vapor barrier if you put it up where I live.It does nothing more than trap moisutre in the wall, not allowing it to dry out.In essence, its like putting a plastic bag over your hand, after ahwile it starts to sweat and cant dry out.



3 - Framing basement windows.He goes from framing a real basment window to all of a sudden working on one above ground in the final carpentry work - totally different technique.



These things aside, great book.

Posted on November 2, 2010

Latosha Delano says...

This barely touches on those nice acid effects for cement that make it look kinda like stone that is gaining popularity.It told a little about it, but not enough to make me feel confident.Youtube really gives more info.

Posted on November 4, 2010