Thanks for your time. Bought a house 7 mo. ago with a faux wood panel finished basement. Wife is okay with it but I think it looks very cheap and worry about how it may affect resale in 18 months when I move again. In your opinion(s), do you think it would improve the value of my house to finish the basement in drywall? I have a friend who has drywall experience and will help me out. Otherwise, every thing is there in the basement since it has been finished once before. FYI, home is in Fredericksburg, VA.
Happy Holidays!!!
Replies
As long as you are doing some of the work yourself, I wouldn't think you could lose. if you think it looks tacky - then chances are your prospective buyers will to.
The only thing you may run into is that the infrastructure behind the paneling is not up to your standards - ie: electrical, framing, insulation, etc.. You may open it up and decide that's it's not worth spending the time to do a proper drywall job unless you also tackle some other issues; now you've got yourself a larger project.
Basements are a wonderful opportunity to really suprise folks - "Wow, you have a nice house!" Not - "Wow, nice basement!".
JT
I was thinking of an acoustic ceiling for our basement but was told it is pretty pricey. Can you give me any cost data for yours?
Depends on whether you are going to do it yourself, I guess. To start with, if you go to home depot, they have a handy "calculator" that will help you figure out how much of each component you need to do your ceiling.Much of the cost differences is in which tile you choose. I like to use the 2x2 tiles that have a "lip" around the edge, which results in the tiles being a tad bit lower than the grid itself. That seems to visually make the tiles more prominent than the gridwork - a little cleaner looking. It does create more work though - every single tile that's cut for the edges and such will have to have a new lip cut into it.Julian
In Fedricksburg you could have a horse stable in there and still make good money. Houses anywhere around there are going to increase in value for the work you are doing.
Makes me laugh, thinking of all the sheets of paneling I installed back in the seventies. It was THE hot item back then. Some of it was real veneer stuff too. The simple, easy answer is to paint the paneling. Looks decent and fits the circumstances/perceived problem.
Did every house in the world get a paneled basement in the 70's? My last basement had dark paneling for wainscotting and black painted 1x4's above that at angles with stucco in between for the swiss chalet look. Ugly as sin, but some carpenter spent a lot of time putting that stuff in.
66822.7 in reply to 66822.4
"Did every house in the world get a paneled basement in the 70's? My last basement had dark paneling for wainscotting and black painted 1x4's above that at angles with stucco in between for the swiss chalet look. Ugly as sin, but some carpenter spent a lot of time putting that stuff in."
Worse than that, many cheaper new homes were fully paneled with the stuff. It's a quick fix. As fast as sheetrock to install and when it's up, it's done.
Have you tried finding paneling recently?
I've had a couple of jobs over the years that needed maybe one piece of paneling ( each). Its almost impossible to find, although I know a place that will custom make it.
I've resorted to staining some ply myself to get a job done.
I agree with whoever said that if you think it looks tacky then someone else will too. It seems like given your area,the fact that you have a friend willing to help, and the fact that you will be doing some of the work it would be a smart move.
I bought a rental house last year and had the same type of basement. I painted the paneling a light beige and trimmed in white, installed new carpet. It turned out very nice got lots of good compliments.
Near,
I think some of the buyers will agree with you and some will agree with your wife.
SamT
If you can keep your costs to a minimum, then it's worth it.
When the magazines talk about increased resale value after a remodel of a certain room, they are using full "retail" prices in their discussion. Meaning, a full kitchen remodel gets you back 80-90% of the money you put into it. So if you put in $20 grand then your house should go up in value around $16 to $18 grand. The $20,000 cost assumes you are paying full price for all of the work though; no personal work, no buddies helping out or licensed guys doing side-work.
I believe basements will get you back around 50% of your costs. So if you spend $5 grand for what would cost others around $10 grand, then you're just breaking even.
You also have to look at what your time is worth. You sound like you want to increase the value of your house to make some money when you sell it. This is how you would get "paid" for the work you would personally do on the basement. If you finish the basement and it appears to be a $10,000 remodel, your house will go up in value $5,000. If it only cost you around $4,000 in materials and your house only goes up $5,000, then you're only making $1,000 for your efforts. Is it worth it to spend the 30-50 hours on the basement for a grand?
If you plan to use the basement and you'll enjoy it, then I say go for it. But if you're just looking to make money off of your sale, then I would be careful. Your time may be better spent elsewhere. Maybe a fresh coat of paint and some new trim will be all it needs to not scare away prospective buyers.
I'm in the process of remodeling my kitchen. It will end up costing around $18,000 to finish what would have cost around $35,000 for someone else to do it. I know, I'm not making a lot of money on this for my time. But, I know that we don't have plans to move anytime soon and we will thoroughly enjoy the new, larger space. For us, it's a matter of personal enjoyment and not so much about resale value.
Sorry for the ramble and I hope this helps,
Joe
Thanks for the advice so far. Let me be a little more detailed on what I hope to accomplish. With houses staying on the market a little longer, I want to attract as many potential buyers as possible. I am not looking to make more money on the house; I don't want future buyers to walk away because of the basement.
The basement has the stud wall and electrical runs, HVAC runs, etc so, to me, it would *seem* that I would be swapping the wood paneling for drywall. Thanks for looking.
Near,
I would paint rather than replace, if asthetics is your prime concern.
Opening up a wall can create many surprises. Painted paneling avoids that issue and, IMHO, looks quite nice if done well and the paneling is not in bad shape.
Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
why replace and why open?
if it's painted drywall over paneling he wants ... just skin the paneling with drywall.
glue and screw ... and mud rings for the junction boxes.
drop the ceiling if need be and away ya go.
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Then you have to remove trim and reinstall, make extension jambs for casing, mud rings, etc.For me personally, if I was going to all that trouble I would R&R instead of just skimming over.I think most prospective buyers will walk into a basement and say "wow this place is dark and reminds me of the 70's" or "oh, a nice finished basement" regardless of the wall finish. Paint can do marvelous things to paneling.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I would consider putting primed MDF bead-board panelling over what you currently have, then painting it. Its very "in" right now, and the paint on it makes it look like a professional job, not the "trailer house" look of the 70's.
Here in Oregon, it costs about $20 for a 4x8 sheet. I figure time you put up sheetrock, you are at about $10-12 for the same area, plus you do't need to worry about the structural issues.
My teenage daughter went to a friend's house and commented how "cool" their basement was. I said of course it's cold it's Winter. She rolled her eyes and said "No Dad, they have this really neat dark wood paneling, it's soooo cool!" She asked if we could put some up in her room, at which point I rolled my eyes and left.
If you can wait a few years to sell the place, people like my daughter might pay extra for that "designer" paneling - LOL!
It probably has shag carpet, a low acoustic ceiling, beanbag chairs, lava lamps and the village people on the record player! Its amazing what comes back around...
Drywall is cheap enough to make it worth the fix, as long as you are confident with the abilities of your friend.
Justin Fink - FHB Editorial