Enclosing under the deck for more room ?

We are considering enclosing the area underneath our deck to create more living space. It would be about a 12' x 25' room off of our existing basement. We have a flat stone patio under our deck and would most likely put padding and carpet over top of it.

Has anyone done something like this? Did you use a product called Dry Space to do it? Any ballpark pricing?

 

Make sure to submit your plans to the Modifcations committe before you start work!

 

If you are adding a additional (enclosed room) then you should not use dry space. Dry space just channels water from the upper deck so it doesn't fall through to the area below.

 

I think you'll find that the flat stone patio really isn't. Adding carpet and padding will only emphasize the bumps that are there. If you're going to do it right, you really need to pour a new floor that is above ground level by a few inches, so that water will not wick through the padding and carpet.

And I agree with the previous comment on 'Dry Space'. If you're going to make it a 'living space', you really need to have a proper roof put on the area.

FWIW ... we had the deck and screen room below built at the same time, this insured that we had the maximum space in the room, an actual roof structure, as well as allowed that if we wanted to turn it into a full three season porch, the infrastructure (gasline and/or electric) was in place.

I would suggest thinking about redoing the entire deck as I suspect you have some supports that fall about 3 feet from the end of your deck, and that's taking up space that you could be using.

 

I am not sure what you are going to use this room for. 3 season maybe you could get away with working with existing. If it is going to be year round then you almost have to start from the beginning. Another words tear it all down and build a new structure with a proper foundation and roof that will not leak. I would not do this without a permit and I doubt the county would approve a year round conditioned space using the existing unless the patios foundation has frost footers and a real roof. Get a building permit because Not getting a building permit is a very stupid thing to do because the county could make you tear it down etc. Another reason when you sell the home they will check to make sure you got all required permits and approvals. At least a good real estate agent and homeowner will. Besides it is real easy to find out if you got the proper approvals and inspections. Loudoun has changed dramatically in the last 20 years on this stuff and they will get very tough if you don't follow their proceedures. Loudoun inspections are now some of the toughest around and rightly so. People do very dumb things sometimes when they don't know what they are doing.

Lee j

 

We would definately get HOA & County Permits - foolish to even attempt to do it otherwise

We have a few inches of concrete and then the PA flatstone on top of that but I understand your point.

The Dry Space product was mentioned to me as a cost saving way to make a year round room below the current deck and screened-in porch. We were told there would be insulation between the DrySpace product and the ceiling drywall. We wanted additional living space off the basement. Tearing it all down could easily take a $30k job to $70k+

Perhaps a less complex project like building a storage room extending out the back of the garage would be more feasible. Our garage doesn't have the room above the garage, so going up might be another option but we could spend $100k real quick going that route.