Basement finishing · Kirkwood
A Kirkwood walk-out basement turned guest suite
Drainage first, then 940 square feet with a legal bedroom, a bath and a bar.
- Budget band
- $88,000 to $94,000
- Timeline
- 11 weeks on site
- House
- 1978 split level
- Crew
- 6 on site at peak
Before and after
Where it started, where it ended
The brief
The owners' parents were moving from Florida and needed a self-contained space with its own entrance. The walk-out basement was 940 unfinished square feet with a sump that ran constantly and a musty smell that got worse every spring.
What made it difficult
Moisture readings on the north wall came back high, and the exterior grading sloped toward the house across a 30 foot run. Finishing over it would have been a warranty claim waiting to happen.
Ceiling height at the main beam was 6 feet 11 inches, an inch short of what Kirkwood requires for habitable space.
What we did
We regraded the north and east sides, extended two downspouts underground to daylight, and replaced a failed sump with a battery-backed unit before we framed a single wall. Moisture readings came back within range six weeks later and we started construction.
The main beam was boxed as a deliberate architectural element with lighting on both sides, and the rest of the ceiling was held tight to the joists, which put the finished plane at 7 feet 4 inches everywhere else. The inspector signed off on the beam as a permitted obstruction.
Outcome
The numbers that came out of it
- 940 sq ft
- Finished area
- 7 ft 4 in
- Ceiling height
- In range
- Moisture readings
- 1
- Legal bedrooms
The first thing they said was that we needed to fix the water before we spent anything on walls. Nobody else who bid it even mentioned the grading.
Gallery
Four more from this project
This project is in Kirkwood. We build across the St. Louis metro, from Chesterfield to Tower Grove.
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