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psychomiko

Have I screwed up or not?

psychomiko
16 years ago

OK, this basement finishing thing is not near as easy as I thought. I am going to tell you what I have done so far and what i intend to do and hope you will tell me if I screwed up or not and how to rectify if I did. This website looks like it has very active members which is GREAT ! I am finishing a 31' x 14' section of our basement. Our furnace is Hi-eff with blower-driven fresh air and exhaust(2 pipes to outside) and our water heater is similiar (1 pipe for exhaust, noisy intake inside basement.) I put 1" styrofoam against the concrete and caulked the seams, then built 2x4 wall against that with using Pressure treated on bottom plate. wired lots of receptacles using 12 gauge wire (at least one every 12 foot, one on each wall all gfci protected and cable/telephone jacks also in boxes. I have R-13 installed in the stud walls, plastic vapor barrier over that and then 1/2 regular drywall with at least 1/2 inch gap above floor which is concrete sealed with Zinser primer. I have 3 6" ducts tapped into my main supply trunk run to 20" from the outside walls in the ceiling with adjustable dampeners (4x10 vents) 6 recessed lights evenly spaced to center up in my future suspended ceiling tiles, controlled by 2 3-way light switches.

Plan on using indoor/outdoor carpet or carpet tiles and rugs for flooring. our ceiling joists are 91 inches, I plan on keeping it as high as possible maybe tying the runners 3" from bottom of joists and using 2x4 with split (look like 2x2's) reveal joints for ceiling.

Need to figure a cold air return though, figured I could tap into stud bays on other side of wall by furnace and put it low on opposite wall from supplies on ceiling, problem is I have Romex running through that wall horizontally, should I just run duct down other side of wall and then punch through with duct and put grille on other side about 8-10 X 14.5? I have(3) 4x10 supplies = 120 sq inches, return air grille should be approximately same size in square inches as total supply right? This is currently my 'problem" I am working on. This has been a slow going, the'ol lady is.... well.., b#*ching to be precise, but I don't have a lot of time to finish this, much less think myself to sleep at nite. I GREATLY appreciate any replies as maybe some of you know my situation or have been through it surely! I do sweat every decision and think I should've now had someone else do it all, am I wrong? BTW, our basement has a walkout so the rear wall is completely above grade and the sides 50% total. This is the most active forum I have seen since I have been looking for help, so I'll be waiting.

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