New Basement Finishing Project - Some Questions

I'm beginning my planning and research stage of my undertaking. Some of the first questions Id like to post up for those who have experience with this sort of thing.

1) Should I pull permits and have the county inspect, then have my taxes esentially go up 30-50% or should I hire a subcontractor to inspect when I am done and get something in writing stating "work was done correctly" for resale and insurance puposes. I personally dont see any "real" reason to have the county inspect if I build to code or better.

2) Where exactly should the "firestop" materials go in the basement. It is very difficult to tell based on the county's recommended guidelines.

3) Ive seen many different recommendations for materials to use for firestops, what is the best value? Ive seen gypsum, plywood, fiberglass, and some kind of metal wool.

Thx in advanced..

 

I can answer 2 and 3. We opted to have the county inspect ours. I did this because at the time we filed for the county permits the law was not on the books that requires the escape window. If we had waited apparently we would have to have a walkout put in to finish our basement since we did not opt for one. From what I understand if you don't get the permits then if you go to sell the house and the home buyer asks for an inspection the building has to meet the current code at the time. That was my understanding anyway. So we just opted to get the permits. That was my reasoning at least. It could be flawed but better safe then sorry I say.

The firestop goes above the ceiling between the framing and the concrete foundation. Most builders just use left over drywall chopped into small peices laid overtop of the framing and the concrete foundation. The basic rule of thumb is that anywhere fire could make it up out of the basement you put a firestop. I some special material that is kinda like insulation made specifically for firestopping. It was a while ago but I got it at the industrial supply shop over by belfort furniture. If you go in and ask for firestop insulation they will know what you mean. It was pretty cheap and 2 bags of it more than covered my 20x18 basement with a closet. I only used a bag and a a quarter I think. I used the leftover as more insulation around the windows and stuff. You just rip off a peice and shove it between the 2x4 framing and the concrete at the ceiling level. This stuff was great because I could also push it into the cracks around the duct work and piping with no problem and I could really seal up the basement. The county inspectors saw the stuff and that I had placed it and didn't bother really checking to closely the rest of the room. I didn't like the idea of just placing chopped up drywall up there. That's exactly what VanMeter did for the rest of our basement though.

The Stuff is very hazerdous though. I had trouble with it. It's 100x worse than insulation. You literally feel the fiberglass all over. I learned real quickly that you need some good face protection and full body covering that is really thick when you go to put this stuff in place.

Other than being so hazerdous I'd say it was one of the better values in firestops that I looked at because of how flexible it was to get where it needed to go.

 

You could run into many issues if you do not get permits from the county.
1) If you go to sell the house, the fact that your basement is now finished but not approved/inspected by the county will probably be revealed. This can lead to all kinds of headaches. County could go after you for back taxes, require you to get it inspected properly, and delay the closing.

2) Possible issues with your insurance company if something were to happen to your house, such as a fire. I know the chance is remote, but your insurance claim could be invalidated by not having the finished basement inspected and approved by the County.
Just a few things to consider.

 

As someone in the building business get a permit as others said here serious mulitple problems can occur if you don't get one. The insulation looking stuff used for fire stopping is more then likey rock wool. It is also better then fiberglass insulation for sound proofing. Fiberglass insulation has very little sound deadening qualities and does very little for sound proofing, but everyone one thinks it does but as someone that has designed in home recording studios fiberglass does virtually nothing. I know you did not ask about soundproofing but I thought I would throw that in there. Of course the best soundproofing is floating a room within a room. I did that on Ice T's Home in Hollywood hills many years ago and you could stand next to the studio with the sound cranked way way up and you could hardly hear a thing. I have designed and used the same concept on other rock star homes on several occasions. Ok enough of that , but do get a building permit it could save major headaches down the road to possibly tearing it out.

Lee j

 

Yup that's it Rock Wool. The name just escaped me Thanks Lee. I knew it was something simple like that. You can't get it at home depot or lowes but that industrial place by belmont furniture does carry it. That's where I got it from. Not expensive at all. It really attacked my eyes when I used it. I had to find much better eye protection. The goggles I was using were not good enough.

 

Am I the only person with a problem with item#1? If you have added liveable space to your home, you are supposed to and do owe more property tax. That's just the way it works. To knowingly hide this fact isn't stealing from the county it's stealing from each property owner in this county. If the county needs $XXX to run and there are YYY homes, then if you aren't paying your fair share, the rest of us are paying your extra part. They won't be raising or lowering their budget based on your basement.

I realize that it may only be a fraction of a cent, but if you add up all the errors in the property tax records, it does amount to something. The county does not appear to updated tax records ever on these kind of errors, even when homes sell.

 

Thanks for all of the input guys, very valuable stuff. As I mentioned earlier, Im just in the planning stages. I will be hiring an architectural engineer to help with the floorplan and to make sure I can do some of the things I want to.

I really didnt want to go with permits, but to cover any expensive future liabilities, it may be a better idea to pursue them.

Rock wool doesnt sound like much fun to use. I understand two other acceptable materials are gypsum and plywood (though Im not sure how wood could be a firestop). I know gypsum is used in many other localities and is much easier to install.

Lee - thanks for the info on fiberglass insulation not dampening sound. I had heard so many things to the contrary and was thinking about using fiberglass insulation in the ceiling specifically to dampen sound. I've looked into several other options and may end up using some other material.

As I progress I will post so that other folks who are, or will be, doing the same thing can leverage my "lessons learned" and the input that others have thoughtfully contributed.