James Gumbart

argh, lost everything because I had a url...retyping this...

So I'm planning on buying a new house soon (hopefully) and one of my goals is to put a home theater in the basement. I need a bedroom in the basement as well. The problem is that the egress window is located in the only long rectangular area down there (opposite the side with the stairs). Therefore I have to put the bedroom at least partially there. So I was thinking of running the theater from top to bottom instead but then I have a problem with a support being in the middle back half of the room.

So I ask you: what would you do? Is installing another egress window even an option? Or would it hurt the structural stability of the house? What else could I even do?

I hate this; it's almost the perfect area for a theater...but I have to have the bedroom too...

James Gumbart

Here's a picture:

http://home.insightbb.com/~jcg137/houselayout.jpg

Jim Tressler

James.. The structual integrity is no big deal to overcome.... however, it may be expensive in doing so. Will this be a new build for your or is it a market home? It looks like a stock house built by a production builder and assumming it will be built for you, I would check with them to see if they can modify the foundation for you. Some builders will do it (for a fee of course) others will not.. If it is a market (ie.. already built) then it will be a large (read.. $3000 and up) to cut the foundation and replace it with steel for strucutral integrity of the sill plate. Its not a hard thing to do for a contractor - just takes some time and is a little messy. You could always just add the bedroom without the egress and call it a "study" to get around the code issues. But I dont recomend that as I have seen many people burned with it when they go to sell the house and market it as a bedroom basement. As always, your mileage may vary. Hope that helps and good luck.

jim

James Gumbart

Hmm...I wasn't sure about the legality of using it as a bedroom but without it having an egress. I guess if I get around the initial inspections, it might be okay...

But your point about reselling might be important (I'm looking at 5-6 years). Maybe people would be happy with a 3 bedroom house, maybe not?

And yes, it's not being built for me specifically. Unfortunately, the basement walls are prefab so the window cannot be moved.

Well, have people been able to work around the supports easily or will it just be an eyesore?

Jim Tressler

james.. I have seen a lot of nice basement finishes using the support poles.. check out the member theater section for ideas.. You may want to check with your local inspector on the code issue.. some allow the egress window in a hall and some not at all.. but very few. good luck .. keep us posted

jim