Now it is soon time to start planning for the daughter's room in the basement and I wanted to check with you what you recommend doing down there. The conditions are as follows.
The room will be built in a corner of the basement, which means there will be two exterior walls. On the outside of these walls, there is a platon mat, but without insulation. The floor consists of the concrete slab. In the ceiling, there is wooden ceiling paneling.
Two new walls will be installed, one of which will have a door. There is a very large water-filled radiator that is functional, which might need to be reduced in size.
How do you recommend I build the walls and floor? It is not very high ceilings, so I don't want to build too much height-wise if it's not necessary.
I have had moving boxes standing there for several years without signs of moisture from underneath.
I gratefully receive all tips and ideas on methods.
A small thing that my building committee made me aware of is that bedrooms should have two possible exits (for fire risk). Whether it's a rule or not, I thought it was very thought-provoking, maybe for you as well?
Bedrooms in the basement can be quite unpleasant, I think... there's almost always poorer air quality, ice-cold floors, poor light entry, etc. I assume the floor isn't insulated either if the walls aren't? It might be worth breaking up and insulating the floor and also digging outside and laying insulation outside the Platon sheet if it's going to be a long-term bedroom. Then you can lay underfloor heating and any flooring of choice without any problems. But it's quite a bit of work to pour a concrete slab...
I insulated a wall on the outside of the laundry room a few weeks ago and it actually goes quickly to dig if you take it in stages... that is, you fill in as you lay the panels. I dug about 1.3m deep so an XPS panel went down in height. But I have clay soil and gravel the closest 50cm to the house so it was easy to dig and possible to dig a narrow trench...
It works perfectly well to have a bedroom in the basement. A window can be nice to have, at least during the summer months. In winter, it is dark outside during the time spent in the room anyway. A major advantage of a basement bedroom is the coolness in the summer. Make sure there is a fresh air vent so it becomes ventilated. Add a ventilation gap at the bottom of the door so it ventilates even when the door is closed. The floor is preferably platon + parquet, which gives warm floors. You do NOT need to break up and insulate. Totally wasted work. If you are going to insulate on the outside, the most important part is above ground. Below ground level, the ground insulates sufficiently. You can paint or wallpaper the exterior walls directly on the plaster or frame (metal or wood that is plastic-coated from the concrete) + gypsum boards (but no insulation there that can trap moisture). It is good if the air can circulate a bit behind the boards, i.e., not tight against the floor/ceiling. The interior walls can just be framed (metal or wood) and clad with gypsum. Avoid wood directly against the concrete floor, at least have plastic between them if so. If the radiator has served a larger space, it might be an idea to "divide" it into 2 smaller ones, one of which in the bedroom.
One more thing. Check for any radon. If it's a radon area, it tends to have significantly higher levels in the basement, which is not so pleasant.
I completed a similar project myself about five years ago, one bedroom for my daughter and one for my son, both in the basement. The house was built in '57, with low ceiling height, uninsulated walls and floors, yet a dry basement without the "basement smell."
Here’s what I did:
The floor in my son's room got a Platon mat + 14 mm wood floor, ventilated skirting boards. If the ceiling height had been higher, I would have added insulation as well, but it turned out great without it, warm and cozy, thick wood flooring is perfect for basement floors. Forget laminate, I have that in the kitchen and it’s freezing cold in the winter, (but it's durable and therefore good as a kitchen floor). We’re very pleased with the floor in my son's room!
The floor in my daughter's room kept the old glued (linoleum?) tiles from '57. With new floor paint, the floor looked nice, but gosh, it’s so cold in the winter. I've placed thick rugs to walk on the floor without risking frostbite. This room feels colder and "rawer" than my son's with Platon + wood floor.
I have filled and painted the exterior walls (after removing thick layers of wallpaper and patching plaster where needed). It's more than sufficient in a dry basement.
I've built new interior walls with steel studs and double gypsum, soundproofed with stone wool. It turned out well!
I bricked up a former doorway with Leca and brick.
Installed a new water radiator in my son's room, (the old one was too small). I think the new radiator combined with the new surfaces makes the whole room look new and nice.
Attached are a couple of pictures of my son's room:
I completed a similar job myself about five years ago, a bedroom for the daughter and one for the son, both in the basement. The house was built in '57, with low ceilings, uninsulated walls and floors, but still a dry basement without "basement smell."
Here's what I did:
The floor in the son's room got Platon mat + 14 mm wooden floor, ventilated baseboards. If the ceiling height had been higher, I would have added insulation as well, but it turned out great without it, warm and cozy, thick wood flooring is perfect for basement floors. Forget laminate, I have it in the kitchen and it gets freezing in the winter, (but it’s durable and therefore good for kitchen floors). We are very happy with the floor in the son's room!
The floor in the daughter's room retained the old glued (linoleum?) tiles from '57. With new floor paint, the floor looked nice, but gosh, it's so cold in the winter. We’ve put down thick rugs to be able to walk on the floor without risking frostbite. This room feels colder and "rawer" than the son's with Platon+wood floor.
Outer walls, I skim coated and painted, (after removing thick layers of wallpaper and repairing plaster where needed). It’s perfectly adequate for a dry basement.
New interior walls I built with steel studs and double gypsum board, soundproofed with rock wool. It turned out well!
I bricked up a former door opening with Leca blocks and brick.
Installed a new radiator in the son's room, (the old one was too small). I think the new radiator combined with new surfaces makes the whole room look new and fine.
Attaching a couple of pictures of the son's room:
[image][image]
Nice! I'm planning to do something similar - however, I've thought about framing up with steel studs and gypsum even against outer walls (feels like it's cozier(?) In a bedroom).
How does it work with the upturn? Haven't really understood it.
Nice! Planning to do something similar - though I intend to use steel studs and drywall even against exterior walls (feels like it's nicer(?) in a bedroom).
How does the upturn work? Haven't quite understood it.
Thanks! It's now almost 18 years since the photos were taken.
