Finishing a Basement

[Commie]

How do you go about finishing a basement if the ceiling height is already only 6 foot with all of the water and electric lines running across the top of the ceiling. Is there a way to drop the floor? I'm assuming that the floor could be tore up and dropped but you would have to leave 1-2 feet of original laid cement around the edges for the foundation? So basically you'd drop the center of the floor and dig down than recement while leaving the outer edge as is for structure purposes.

Any input? Is it even possible or no way?

[Motrv8d Steve]

wow that sounds like a lot of work. I'm no contractor, but I have remodeled my house (took out walls, added sheetrock, put in new appliances, etc.).

Seems to me the cost of taking out the basement floor would be prohibitive. If you could even do it. Call your city's building permits desk and ask them if you can modify an existing foundation. I would think "no."

[SexOnWheels]

Just run a very thin tile like as in industrial tiles. They are also used on garage concrete floors, like the black and white tiles you see on horsepower TV's shop floor.

Aslong as no one is too tall you should be alright.

[SS#1531]

My uncles house had a crawl space and he dug out the floor to make it a full basement. It's an extreme amount of work, very difficult, and expensive. And he did all of the work himself since he's a contractor. IMO it's not gonna be worth it.

[Motrv8d Steve]

what are your plans with the space if you can do it?

[TommySS]

Use thin sheetrock and stained firring strips to cover the seams