Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Homer Modeling Show brought you by Edge
Construction online. Edge Construction Company dot com. It's all one
word Edge Construction Company dot com. Great website and resource
to learn more about Edge Construction or telephone number six
so eight six three six three three four three the
number six three six Edge and joined in study this morning.
Bye mister Mike tw Wig of Edge Construction. Mike, how
you doing this week? Great Sean, It's good to see you.
(00:20):
And uh, we're gonna talk basements this week.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We talking about let's go to the basement.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Yeah, we're going basement projects and some I think one
of the one of the notes says anything but boring
basements and real quick too about basements and kind of
using that that title, basements are a place people can
do maybe a little you know, kind of step out
of the lane a little bit. Now, you don't want
to get too crazy generally, but that is kind of
an area that allows a little bit more flexibility as
(00:47):
far as designer. Am I off on that, No, it is.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And you know, if you go through the design process,
either if you're building a new house or yeah, maybe
reviling your kitchen, you're gonna you're gonna see a lot
of different product, a lot of options. And the one
of the issues that we notice people haven't is they'll
they'll see stuff that they really like, but they might not.
They might feel like it's a little too risky to
(01:11):
put on the main floor, a little too wild. Maybe
I don't know what what it is about it, but
a lot of times if we're doing the basement, we'll
see those things show up down there because I think
it's like a lot of people feel like it's an
area where you can take some chances on design.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
It's kind of like a bonus space, like like we're
lucky enough here in Wisconsin. Most homes are I say
a lot. I think that most probably the best ways
and do have basements. It almost feels like it's like
this extra little gift that that it's like, if you're
gonna if you're gonna do it, you got this space,
why not why not kind of step out a little
bit and do it in that area.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I don't think it's a bad idea either, because you
know it's it's a a basement definitely has a different
kind of feel. I mean, we do everything we can
at the very least match the finishes in the upstairs
in the rest of the house, but it still feels like,
I don't know, it's cozy. And the trend has been
(02:08):
for a while, other than the last maybe few years,
to be pretty conservative on design, especially in the basement,
and now it's like people are stepping out of the
out of the box a little bit and it's a
place where you can do a little more.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I think of the basement too is and we'll touch
on some of the great benefits to modeling in the basement.
There are also unique challenges though is and obviously all
challenges can be overcome, but there are certain things when
it comes to planning basement design, especially on what you
guys are doing at edge construction, addressing some of those challenges,
some of those unique environments of basements, and when you
(02:41):
talk about on the overall finish and the quality of things,
you want to make sure all that stuff you're putting
in there, you're doing the just like without every other
project you guys do at edge construction, you're really addressing
some of those underlying issues and basements can have some
unique considerations and challenges, can't.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
They They do, and you know it's not like you
get into whatever vintage your house is. If you've got
an older house, then we've got challenges everywhere. I mean,
we were working on some stuff downtown right now, some older,
older buildings, and you know, it's a whole different host
of problems. But the theory is the same. So I'll
tell you what theory is. Design needs to make sense
(03:19):
for people that weren't standing there in the old space.
You know, like when you're when you're looking in a
basement and you've got low ceilings and a bunch of
heat runs running through there, and then you're like, how
do we light it?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And we need another window. You need to you need to.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Design this comprehensively so that it makes sense down the road.
I think the worst thing I'd probably like this too.
I if I designed something and all my all my
friends and relatives could come and look at every project
we do and kind of second guess.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
You, Like, that's my nightmare. I don't want that to happen.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
So you know, when you're designing, like like I said,
it needs to make sense to those people that didn't
go through the process of design. So that's such an
advantage to work with a good designer because they'll they're
going to help you avoid those pitfalls, and they they
want we sort of have this saying internally, you know,
(04:12):
it's all that design is is really about how that
space is going to feel later on when it's done.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And so, okay, how do we how.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Do we if we've got low ceilings and we've got
a bunch of soffits to deal with, how can we
maybe we can light this and make it feel better.
Maybe we need to add another window to make this
feel better. There's a lot of stuff like that that
you can do to uh to uh fancy things up.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
We mentioned too, depending on when the home was built
and what you experienced down there. Correct me, I'm wrong.
A lot of modern homes, if there if the base,
even if the basement's unfinished, they oftentimes will kind of
have a have the intent that this spacement space could
be finished. I think the house I grew up and
it was like a one hundred probably it's probably coming
(04:55):
up on two hundred years old. Now, there was never
an intention that anybody's ever put your beats down there
and some potatoes to keep them and to keep them fresh.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I was our house. We have an old farmhouse in
the country. Have been there for over thirty years. My
wife has joked, if I can see the tornado coming
at us, I still don't know if I'm going down.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So it sounds like we have some so.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
With modern stuff, though they do often times they do
think of even if the basement isn't part of the
new build finished, they still do kind of today, this
is probably gonna happen someday.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Oh definitely, And you know it's it's okay. We look
at the eighties kind of when I got rolling in construction.
The at that point even we were we were seeing
builders starting to rough in plumbing for a potential bath.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
At some point, and.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Maybe nine foot ceilings down there. We're getting rolling where
people are like, you know what, in case we ever
do something, we'll add another foot tooth foundation roles. But
if you look at back in the fifties and even
some of the forties houses where they start pouring foundations,
we've done a really fun, nice job of finishing some
(06:10):
of those basements because they've got it's almost a normal situation.
You've got the poured wall, you got eight foot ceilings.
You get a way to make this work. It's when
we go a little bit older that we start to struggle.
Sometimes we've got stone walls to deal with. Sometimes we
don't have headroom. I believe the code is you got
to have eighty four inches seven feet ceiling height in
(06:35):
more than fifty percent of the space that you want
to finish well. I mean there's some houses that we
have tried to get permits to do basements on in
the last year or two around Madison Proper where they
were built in the sixties and had an eighty inch
ceiling height, and it's like, well, listen, I understand the
reason for codes that one I'm a little unclear on.
(06:56):
I would love to pin those people down and go, listen,
why did you write this? Because, Uh, what we're trying
to do is improve this house and give them a
little bit more living space. And if we can do
it safely and and logically, I think there should be
some exceptions. But some of those things have got a
little tougher. We actually on the on the staircases, on
(07:17):
the stairwells. If we're looking at a house that's over
fifty years old, chances are the stairs going to the
basement are not going to be code. A lot of
times they work pretty well, like you know, it's it's
it's it's okay, and and home owners are asking us, hey,
well you can you fix this up? Well, it depends
(07:39):
if we're if we're talking to the in specter, and
the code says basically what the code says, if you
touch it, you bought it. So there's nothing in between.
There's there's full compliance with the code on stairwells, and
then there's there's there's what it is now, and up
until now that those stairways have been kind of grandfathered in,
I guess so we we do we can to make
(08:01):
them a little nicer, but a lot of times there's
not a lot we can do.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
It's just thick. When you mentioned some of the I
think of when I was younger, I go to my
friend's houses that had quote unquote finished basements that were
done in the seventies and eighties, and the standard was
not what it is currently. And a lot of times
that wood paneling, maybe a drop ceiling, but nothing was
really refined or really finished like that was perfectly acceptable,
(08:25):
like a checker tile floor, and hey, maybe I got
a bumper pool table down there. It's a happening place.
People's standards are very different now compared with them, aren't
they right?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And you know some of this is code driven.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Okay, if we're gonna put drive all up everywhere, we
have to put in outlets and lights per code. If
we're drawing that ceiling, were inspects will want us to
put to make sure it's.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
He did right.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
So if you're going through all this stuff and insulation
is subject to inspection and keeps on going down the list.
So you know, if you're gonna make this this investment,
then uh, then we start talking about design because you know,
you know, you know, you want to do this every
even twenty years, right, you want to get it right
the first time and have it last a long time.
So it's it's really worth having that great design and
(09:20):
going to be honest, it doesn't cost that much more
to go to a really nice level of finish than
doing a crappy love for the finish. I mean, it's
it's kind of the same amount of work. So, like
I said, I I always beat the drum for for
good design and designers the value of designers, but they
can really help you navigate that process.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Talk it this morning with Mike two Egg, owner of
Edge Construction, teleph number six so eight six three six
three three four three that number six three six EDGE.
You can learn more online the website Edge Construction Company
dot com. That's Edge Construction Company dot com. And one
of the things I want to ask you about to
Mike is as we as we talk about finishing basements
and and updating and remodeling basements, there is a there
(10:00):
are some cost savings that are available because some of
the major parts of building a room are already there,
aren't they They are.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
And you're talking about a roof and a foundation, so yes,
that stuff is there. And if you look at just
a cost to do anything, the construction cost a lot
of times when we're finishing basements, it's almost like another house,
a little smaller house down there. We've got a great room,
(10:30):
we've got a kitchenette, we've got a bathroom, we might
have a bedroom or two. It has all the elements right.
Lucky for you, when you do your basement, most of
the time the heating system was sized enough, size big
enough to handle that basement space. That basement space, by
the way, is a little bit easier to heat and
cool because you're in a fifty five degree hole in
(10:50):
the ground. Okay, so it's easy to cool obviously, doesn't
heat up quite as much, and it doesn't you know,
if it's tembelow zero and your furnace quip work, and
if you went it down in your base, Okay, you're
not gonna be comfortable, but you won't freeze to death.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I don't think.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Maybe eventually you would, but so yeah, it's got a
bunch of advantages there. We were looking this week just
internally at the cost to build new houses from ten
years ago, fifteen years ago, and we were, you know,
for a long time, one hundred and fifty bucks a
foot was just a kind of a standard, and now
we're about double that. Just the cost has gone up
(11:26):
so much in the last few years. And when it
really makes doing this basement space attractive. Okay, you can't
do basement space for what you could five years ago either,
but you have all these basic things that are in
place really helping you out.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So it's a it is a great buy.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
We have a lot of people that come in and
they think they want an edition, and we're like, well, listen,
if we can get you eighty percent of the way
there by finishing your basement and show you what the
possibilities are down there. I think that's that's a pretty
good buye. I mean, additions are you know talk about
cost editions are are are quite a step up in
(12:03):
that and so it's really worth looking at that basement space.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Do we see people then, you know, maybe looking at
some of those those saving potentials for a basement remodel
saying if I can save you know, twenty percent, or
I can save X number of hours, maybe spending it
on things that may seem I don't I'll use the
word frivolous, but you know, may seem a little more fun.
Is saying you know what is is we're going to
do this. We're gonna we're gonna get a really good
(12:27):
remodel done. But we're also since it is a little
more of an affordable option, maybe we'll get the nice
pool table or the and have that kind of rec room,
kind of that that space of things that kind of
you don't need, but gosh, they'd be a lot of
fun to have.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
It is fun.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
There's there some of that fun stuff. It's making its
way back in I. Throughout my career in construction, I
see us get more practical and utilitarian in our design,
and then you go through these times where where the
fund sort of creeps back in.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And I was at.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
A trade show maybe this summer, I think early summer,
and one of the vendors there had, you know, the
shuffle board things they had.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Sean's making face right now, you want one bad?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I love shuffle board. That's one of my favorite games.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yeah, well, these things, a pool table, shuffle board, all
these elements that they had. They were a vendor there.
There were works of art. I mean like some of
the stuff. The craftsmanship was really cool. I wouldn't say
it was overpriced. I felt like he got a lot
for your money. And the biggest crowds, by the way,
we're in that area.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
We have all this cool construction. You a got cabinets.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Now I'm gonna go over here and play pool and
shuffle board. So yeah, I think that stuff is We're
starting to see that a little more.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
It is some of this too, driven by folks staying
longer where they are, is saying, you know what is
we're going to be here for twenty thirty years. Maybe
generations passed they didn't think that way, but I think
a lot of folks are saying we're gonna stay. Let's
make it a little more deive to being like a
destination spot in our house.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Oh yeah, I'm sure COVID had something to do with that. Right,
people are spending maybe too much time in their houses.
I don't know, but there is this kind of turn
and burn philosophy that we had for quite a while
in the nineties and early two thousands is up here
to have gone away. By the way, I think this
is super healthy for housing when I don't know if
(14:25):
there are still flip flip shows on TV, I hope not.
By the way, I you know, if you're in construction,
you don't really like that kind of philosophy. I'm going
to put in the cheapest stuff just to saddle the
next person with it, who's going to probably tear it
out and do something else. And so this this thing
where we're not moving every five years or seven years, right, Yeah,
(14:49):
there's a lot of incentive to make in your space,
making your space better.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
How do you with the basement? Obviously, I think of
heat rising is our heating systems, and I don't think
of it. Asked you this before. Are heating systems for
basements designed different than maybe on the main floor or
is it still the same concepts that I'm just kind
of overthinking it just out of there.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, I mean, part of it's just for convenience. So
so in you're upstairs, you'll have your heats will be
coming out generally on the outside of your house, and
your return airs will be on the inside of the house.
And so the theory is he has heat rises, but
your returns are low. So heat's coming out of your
events gets drawn towards the return across living space.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It will rise.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's always gonna be warmer up by the ceiling than
down below. The convenience part comes in for us and
for the heating people, and there's other reasons.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
To do this.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
So so if you look at a finish basement or
our finished basements, the heat, the heats will be coming
out of the ceilings. So every time you there's a
there's a six inch galvanized pipe behind the ceiling there
that runs and feeds that heat run. Every time you
put put an elbow in there, make it right, you know,
hard right or left, you lose some efficiency. Okay, So
(16:06):
we could in theory pipe up, put our elbow on,
head down to the heat run, go all the way
to the outside wall and pipe back down. But we
have another elbow eight or ten feet more of pipe,
so you start to lose some of your efficiency. So
we drop on the heat out of the ceiling because
it's it's probably the best of that we can do,
and then our returns are obviously low. We tend to
(16:30):
do central returns in the basement, meaning we'll have, you know,
instead of having returns everywhere, we're going to draw to
one spot that's that's fairly nearly.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
To the furnace. So I think some other things help.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
If you insulate those outside walls, even if you don't
have to your your basement will feel better and heat better.
About half the basements we do now have a separate
thermostat down there. So if you're not gonna be down
there for you know, till the weekend or something, why
heat it, you know, and then then you can do
whatever you want whenever, when are you gonna use the space?
Speaker 1 (17:01):
I knew i'd get something from I think I've ever
asked you that before, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I
wonder what the answer to that is. Obviously everything there's
there's a lot of design and planning that goes into
every aspect of the basement. We're going to talk more
about basement remodels and some of the great things that
they're able to do at Edge Construction. Of course, if
you haven't had a chance to check out the website
Edge Construction Company dot com, a lot of great examples
(17:23):
of some basement projects they've done at Edge Construction. Don't
forget also to check those links, whether it's Facebook, Pinterest,
How's How's is a huge one houzz links right from
Edge Construction Company dot com. But think about doing server modeling,
whether it's the basement, kitchen, maybe you're thinking about doing
an addition something like that. My team would love to
talk to you. Augut just pick up pone give a
call six O eight six three six three three four
to three that number six three six Edge and of
(17:44):
course Edge Construction brings you the Homer Modeling Show right
here on thirteen ten WIBA. This is the Homer Modeling Show,
brought to you by Edge Construction Online. Edge Construction Company
dot com. Great website to learn more about Edge Construction.
Also some fantastic take links there Pinterest, Facebook and House
what a cool resource houses. Just head on over to
(18:05):
Edgeconstruction company dot com. Check out those links, but think
about doing some remodeling itself. One number six so eight
six three six three three four three that number six
three six edge. We'll talk about a whole bunch of
different things. Then we start talking about food during the break,
and I recall in that last segment you mentioned folks
with basements a lot of times oftentimes are almost making
like little apartments down there. Does that include things like
(18:25):
they're kind of putting food preparation areas in basements kind
of I mean pize so ovens maybe, yes, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I mean okay, if I was going to do it,
that would be and by the way, the majority of
my cooking would probably be on that. But there are
like air fryers, right, Like people are into that. We
have an air frier thanks to our in laws last year,
and it's like amazing that somebody like me can actually
make something in an air fire.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Pretty simple.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, I think it's more about that, Like it's pretty
rare that we put a full on stove oven that
kind of stuff down there. But dishwashers, microwaves, built in
appliances like that used to be almost all BEV fridges
Now I'd say it's like fifty to fifty full sized fridges.
(19:16):
And I get it, Like, I don't know why we
have so much stuff, but an extra fridge is just
super handy, even if it's not just for pops and
beers in the basement and so some storage, yeah, maybe
some liquor. I don't know what people are putting down there,
but it's more like that. And I think like a
(19:38):
Madison has this, it's a large group of people that
aren't from here, right, so they maybe came for school
and stayed. They might be from the East Coast. Seemed
like there's a lot of East Coast people here whose
relatives come and stay, and they might stay for a
couple of weeks or longer or shorter, And so a
(19:59):
space like that gets pretty valuable. Where so Sean and
I are in the same team. We need to be
away from peoples once in a while.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Is that what we decided?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yes, And so in a basement, you know, if you're
staying at somebody's house, I don't know, I always feel
weird walking into their fridge and grabbing something, or going
into their covers and getting some food, some chips or something.
But a basement space can be a little different, so
I think it's a little more casual and if somebody's
staying there, it can be almost like a little apartment.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Do we do we still see too, as we're talking
about kind of having those you know, those smaller appliances
and other things. Do we also see wet bars? Is
that still? Is that a thing again? I feel like
still a thing. I feels like it kind of ebbs
and flows. Are those making a comeback?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Yeah, wet bars are making a comeback. And there's even
other reasons for that. People have hobbies there. There are
people that are into making things and they're crafty and
they paint and they do other stuff. And it's really
nice to have have a sink in the basement, even
if you're not cooking stuff. But uh, people that entertain
(21:07):
a lot, So it's it's a it's a wide range
of things. And and the wet bar, I think you
know when you when you really get looking at it, Okay,
the dry bar. The only difference is it doesn't have
a sink. You've got cabinets, you've got probably a fridge,
you might, but you a wet bar. It gives the
option to have some some plumbing for a dishwasher. It
gives you if even if you're just putting the sink
(21:29):
in the counter tops already there, it's not really that
much more to run a couple of pipes and usually
we can get to it fairly easily and and have
a sink there. So, like I said, a lot of
us and if you got kids, I don't know about
u about medicine, but every kid I've ever seen makes
messes and nice it is.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
What about flex space? Do we still when you're talking
to about you know, you have company over and if
it's you know, like the in laws or somebody staying
with you for a couple of days, there's a couple
more days then throughout the year that that's not going
to be used as a small apartment or whatever. Do
we still see a big desire for flex space in
the basement.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
We do, And so flexible space in the basement right
now usually looks like a bedroom slash office. Like that's
I would say that's the most common thing that we're
seeing to where people are doing a Murphy bed or
or some other system to where they can sort of
(22:31):
convert maybe move back and forth. And so that's pretty cool.
I always think valuable space does more than one thing
in an abasement. That's pretty important because you know, you
know your relatives might come once a year. It's not
like you need this to be a full on apartment
for them when they come all the time. But it's
very nice to have that space when you need it.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Were you telling me that like Murphy beds have gotten
like the companies that make them a lot better about them?
Was that were you? And I have been a couple
of years since we've this come up but came up,
But I feel like last time it came up on
the show, I thought you had mentioned that there's some
really good manufacturers out there of Murphy beds.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
There are, and a lot of options, And so most
of the time now, like like in my past and remodeling,
when somebody said they wanted a mercery bed, I groaned
a little bit because it usually meant we'd have to
get to order a bunch of parts and make something
and you didn't know exactly what it was, you know
if it was going to work and turn out, And
that system has been normalized now most of the time
(23:33):
home owners are we kind of set them up. We
might block things in the wall for them, but they're
handling that themselves the kids coming. They're easy enough to install.
I'm sure there's probably a Swedish company that makes those
or something. But there's another company I want to talk about. Yeah,
and it's and coincidentally it.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Is called Murphy.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Murphy Doors on a few seen these, so they are
the kings of the hidden door, the bookshelf door, some things,
and if you want to go down rabbit hole, go
on their Facebook especially, go on their website and you
can find these things. So we most of the time,
if we do something like this where it's a hidden door,
we're not buying their cabinet, like we're not having them
(24:14):
make us a cabinet for a few reasons because mostly
because of the materials they use, and we might want
custom sizes or looks we want to we want to
match finishes with some of the stuff that's already there.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
But we can buy their hardware.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
And it's it's I don't want to say it's easy
to use, but it's it's very doable for us to
do this. We have one coming up. It's gonna be
about a six foot wide sort of double bookcase and
the double bookcase is basically a French store that it's.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Gonna be all.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
So I'm trying to talk to the homeowner into you know,
you pull the book and like a nineteen twenties movie
or something, and so yeah, you pull the book, things
up and up. There's other kind of hidden switches, some
really cool hardware out there now where you can reach
up underneath the shelf push a you know, if your
(25:08):
shelves are stained, the button can actually be staying to
match the shelves. So it really wouldn't see it at
first glance unless you knew it was there. That you
can unlatch that way too, And there's a lot of
cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Do we see it. It's as we're kind of going
down this avenue. Do we see a lot of people saying,
you know what, I want to make this like like
a personal escape. I feel like life is chaotic, it's
very hectic that I think. I think universally we all
feel like there's a lot demanded of us, and like
having that place where you can almost call it like
a retreat or just someplace where you can say, you
know what this is, you know, maybe my space or
(25:39):
grown up stace where we can just like open the door,
close the door, sit down and have a cocktail or
just decompress. I mean, we are we seeing stuff like that.
We are a little bit.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
We have a library room that we're oh that we
have coming up. It's pretty much gonna be all customed
made in our shop. I love stuff like that. I like,
I think we are you know, so we need I
need this like space sometimes where I can get away.
One that we did a couple of years ago was
in a basement space, very big basement finish. We had
(26:09):
already worked on this house two or three times. It's
a near West Madison house and because of COVID this
it's the guy of the couple, as an exec for
a company in town, ended up in a basement office
but it was more like finished basement already space and decided, hey,
(26:30):
you know, I'm gonna at least spend half my time
down here going forward. He actually had us build a
hallway into his room. So it's like it kind of
goes It's counterintuitive, like usually we're trying to get rid
of hallways. We see him as wasted space. This thing's
made this room, you know, ten feet farther away from
finish space. And he's probably going on, I need to
(26:50):
get away from every but you know, he set it
up for gaming and he has a beautiful office in there,
and we did some really nice cus some touches in
there just to make it feel better.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
That's it's we talk about to the design and like,
if you can imagine it, it can be done. And
that's part of the fun about going through the process
of doing remodeling and doing a basement. You know, you
want to do a basement project, turn that thing anything
but boring for your basement. Definitely a great day to
pick phone. Gave a call at Edge Construction, but thinking
about doing some projects. Six O eight six three six
three three four three that number six three six Edge.
(27:24):
Of course the website edge Construction Company dot com. That's
Edge Construction Company dot com. Edge Construction brings you the
Homer Modeling Show right here on thirteen ten wuib I.
This is the Homer Modeling Show, brought to you by
Edge Construction online. Edge Construction Company dot com. That's all
one word Edge Construction Company dot com. Dolph number six
O eight six three six three three four three that
(27:47):
number six three six Edge and Mike. It fits perfectly
into our conversation about basements. But I do feel like
one of these weeks we should do uh do I
don't know. I don't think the term man cave is
the thing anymore, but like whatever they are, like yeah,
like like do like maybe we should do a show
one of these weeks talking about like just like personal rooms,
(28:07):
escape rooms, parent rooms, just like the decompression spaces, because
I know, you get a.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I mean, it's super fun for us to build stuff
like that. Yeah, but I understand why the trend is.
You know, we talked about flex space a lot, and
it probably makes a lot more sense to make a
room that can do more than one of the practicality.
But it is like, I think there's a little mini
trend coming here where people are thinking, you know what,
I want to make this exactly like the picture.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
In my head.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
You were talking earlier too, and this is as we're
talking about basements, you're talking about stairs, and it seems
like it's this is one of those areas when we
think about the works you guys do at Edge Construction,
I think of like main floor staircases and some of
the you know, see those projects online at Edge Construction
Company dot com. How beautiful. They are basements, as you mentioned,
(28:57):
older basements very utilitarian oftentimes with those with those staircases.
Are we seeing folks take the time to because we
were talking to about like libraries and would work it stuff.
Do we see anything like that going on with basement
staircases or are they Are they a little maybe a
little more utilitarian or what? What's what's kind of the
trend there?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, not not so much. And I get I get
it so like like to me the carpenter and me
when I when I walk into a house, I sort
of want to see a staircase. I want to see
something that took.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Some effort, the grandeur, right right.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
I mean it doesn't have to be like you know,
Victorian age and crazy, but I think it's a good
focal point for upstairs.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Most of the time. I mean, we've improved them where
we can.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
You know, for a long time, the staircase stairway to
the basement was just like a tunnel. You get out
of this tunnel at the end, there's the door you
walk out, Okay, you're down in this finished space. So
we try to open them up when we can or
if we're especially if we're building this basement out at
least at least have it be as open as possible,
(30:04):
and that part, that part's there's there's ways you can
do this and.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Not have to go over the top. I don't know
if I'm making sense.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
No, you're making purpose sense. I will say I've seen
projects where you guys do go a little under the
stairs seems like a place to if we're talking about
obviously the basement itself a lot of area to kind
of be unique and stand out. I've seen a few
projects you guys have done at Edge Construction where the
area under the stairs just seems to like it seems
to be like we're gonna do something really cool, whether
(30:34):
it's a playhouse or something there. Wine storage, I feel
like you guys have done some really.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Cool Yeah, so the wine storage, you know, it's sort
of an odd space, like it's not really great to
put shelves up in right for storage because the stairs
angle down, and you know, like then you what are
you gonna do? Get on your hands and knees and
go put stuff on those shelves. We've done the wine
thing because there are there are self contained wine fridges
(31:02):
that can hold I don't know one hundreds of bottles
of wine that can actually fit in there, keep them
at at the right temperature, protect them, and so for
people that are really into that, it's just a really
nice option.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
For us.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
It takes almost no effort. We're going to put power
back there for you and and make sure you have
enough room to get that thing in there. It's not
it's as far as customizing that space. Like sometimes that
stairwell is kind of in the middle of finished space.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Like if if your house has.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
A stairway that's in the in the middle of the house,
maybe maybe U shaped stairway, you end up with that
space and it feels wasteful to that try and do
something with it.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
So we have done.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Kids rooms in there, Like we've done a couple where okay,
you got to be under four feet tall to get
in there, let's say, and we have painted the the
you know, drywall to painted it, floored it with the
paint that you can right on with with I was
gonna say crans, but that's.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Don't write on your pate.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
But with chalk and you can you do different things
and it's just like a little cubby, a little hideaway.
We did one recently where it was a hideaway for
some cats. So I've never got in there after it
was done to see if the cats actually went in there.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I don't know. I hope they do. Took quite a
bit effort to do this, so but yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
There's, there's, there's, there's and and you know when you
get online, you want you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
The house before.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
That area is is a is a fun area to
customize and people have come up with great ideas, and
that's a great clearinghouse for those ideas.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Really fun use of space and and that's I think
that's probably one of the more exciting areas aspects of basements.
It's just like you never know what you're gonna come
up with, and there are things that are necessary in
a basement. A lot of homes have utilities and other things.
You got your hot water, your furnace, those type of things,
and that's all. It sounds kind of like goodness, but
it's an important part of design. Isn't to make sure
(32:58):
that that you're keeping those areas functional.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
It is and you know, in.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Anything that's over over twenty thirty years old, we're probably
fixing some of past sins that we find down there,
whether it's something as simple as as insulation, or it's
not uncommon for us to find several different types of
plumbing pipe tiny with each other. Like we had this idea,
(33:25):
so we're going to tie in with this, and we
started off with the galvan eyed, then we went to copper,
and then we went to PVC, and then we went
to the red and blue pecks type stuff, and so
it's at some point it's time, like the galvanized. I
really don't like leaving that pipe in people's basements. If
you want to be really grossed out, open up that
pipe and look and see what's inside. It looks like,
(33:45):
I don't know, something nasty has grown in there. Sometimes
I'm sorry if I'm freaking out. But so there's things
that we want to fix down there. A lot of
people that watch the TV shows on remodeling think like
the problems are always we hope up a wall and
we found, you know, things aren't supported.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Well.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Once in a while we find that, but it's not
as common as you think. Uh, it's really common for
us to open up the wall or look at the
electric work in the house, and I would say a
lot of the surprises we find are electricity because in
the life of a house. Somebody's always got a brother,
an uncle, or a dad or that's or husband or
whoever that's that's messing with electricity, adding on to circuits,
(34:28):
put another outlet in, and so that stuff needs to
be fixed too. We don't want to cover up anything
that we find there.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
That just seems so super Ea. No, I know my
limit on that, aside from switching a light switch or something.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I will not What's interesting with with electrics sometimes is
the more you know, the more you go. You know what,
I'm gonna leave this to somebody that knows what they're doing,
because you know, it's it's the process of adding an
outlet somewhere. Yeah, it's not that big a deal. My
own brothers have done this, and I'm like, are you
sure you know what you do? I mean, I mean,
we're an electrical contractor. I'm very familiar, so obviously I
(35:03):
would know most of the time what's being done.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Right or wrong.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
But uh uh here, I know I have it quite often.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
So but this is the thing.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
So like, uh, like I said, half that work down
there is behind the walls and behind this feeling, and
we want to we want to make sure that we're
up to day on things.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Do we still see laundry in the base? Where? Where?
Do where does the laundry room stand these days?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Mike, You know that's kind of a funny thing.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
For so long we've just it's just been ingrained in
us that we have to have a first floor laundry.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
And we have done now.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
The past few years, three or four projects a year
where we're we're putting the laundry down in the basement.
And the reason is, uh, you've got some space. So okay,
we we see the pictures online there's nice, big, open
laundries most of the time in the first floor. It's
(35:56):
just not built for that, Like you'd have to lose
like a bedroom or something to do that. Where where
homeowners are going you know what, Yeah, I've got to
truck my stuff up and down the stairs. It seems counterintuitive,
but I can have the laundry I want down there,
and we've done some very cool laundries. You know, I
can't cook, but I can't wash clothes, So I do
(36:16):
appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
One talking this morning, would like to an owner of
Edge Construction. Yeah, because it seems like it went from
down to up to now back down again.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Well, I mean, you know, the great majority are still
the thinking is up there or or maybe both, Like
it's not like we're we're we're taking this this laundry
out that's upstairs. It's just maybe we're doing it. We're
doing another one in the basement.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Do we see and one final area we haven't even
talked lighting, which I feel like we need to do
like a whole other show just on basement, like we
do one hundred shows on lighting and specific. We'll get
to that in a minute, but I want to ask
you about about bathrooms and and and spaces like that.
Do we see like like full on baths going on
in basements? And are we also seeing things that What
(36:59):
got me thinking about this is I've seen in laundry
rooms folks putting tubs for their pets because you know,
you got like an active dog and tis the season
they get all muddy and you don't want to run
them through the house, so you go downstairs at the
basement hold them down. Or are we we're seeing that
type of type of plumbing stuff going in three time?
Speaker 3 (37:17):
I mean, but it's I don't want to say it's rare,
but it's kind of rare, and I think the reason
is a lot of times we're doing a bath in
a basement, it's it's a walk in shower. You know,
it's pretty common now to have a handheld in there also,
and it's just a great place to hall your muddy
kid in there, your muddy pet in there, and wash
some of.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
That stuff down the pain.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
So one interesting thing even mentioned the bass. I thought
you were going a different direction. But for a long time,
basement bass were very utilitarian, kind of plane looking, and
if you look at the ones we've done in the
past few years, it's pretty common now to have tile
and some of the nicer things down there. So I
like that trend too. I think, you know, it's it's
(38:01):
I realize why people do things the way they do
it like, but you know, I also want something nice
to look at. I want I want the field to
be right, and you know, when you've got more options
with the tile than you do with some of the surrounds,
it's it's.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
It's pretty cool stuff too. We talk about, you know,
doing a basement project and what goes into it and
the design and the planning. It's a really good day
to give them a call at Edge Construction. Start that
conversation six O eight six three six three three four
three that number six three six Edge. You learn more
online Edge Construction Company dot com. That's all one word
Edge Construction Company dot Com. Or of the Homer Modeling
Show next with Edge Construction right here on thirteen ten
(38:36):
wuib A. This is the Homer Modeling Show brought to
you by Edge Construction online. Edge Construction Company dot com.
It's all one word Edge Construction Company dot Com. Talking
this week about basements, basement remodeling, some of the great
things that go into basement remodeling and the design and
really a great space to to remodel. And Mike before
(38:58):
we wrap up this week, I know you guys see
a variety of different types of basement and whether it's older, newer.
Some that are are complete remodels, some that are are
starting from you know, he's got the poured walls of
a concrete slab and you're good to go when you
kind of first address that stuff. When you're looking at
those space, I've got to guess things like making sure
that it's stays. You know that water, you got a
(39:20):
good barrier, their insulation. You're talking earlier there are some
things that are I know, this stuff is super fun
to talk about. There are some things that are less
glamorous that are absolutely vital to a successful long term
basement remodel, aren't.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
There, Yes, Because you know you got the roast clutter glasses.
At first, You've been looking online. You see all these
great spaces and if I come in, I'm going, well,
you've got there's there's three cracks in your basement. Well
we need to address that. And we've had some big
rains this year. Not so much this year, but at
least the last half of the summer has been pretty dry.
(39:52):
But I want to know how long you've been there
to kind of one in my head, I'm trying to
evaluate have they been here long enough to know if
they're based is going to have a leak somewhere and
so sometimes there's evidence of that. I can just look
at the floor and go, you know what, I can
see where something was cleaned up here. But we need
to talk about egress, right, That's another thing that we
(40:14):
haven't talked topped much. And so drain Tile. Those companies
that have been working overtime in the past bunch of years,
it seems like doing drain tile around old basements. That
is not a gimmick, That is not a that is
not a ripoff. That is something that most of the
time needs to be done unless you're on a gravel
(40:35):
hill and you just have not much risk of moisture
ever coming in, You're not going to want to make
this investment in that basement, is my point. And not
sure that you and not be sure that you have
those problems.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Solved with that stuff too. And you mentioned, you know,
especially older homes getting that drained tile. Are newer homes
a little more water tight or are they still a
little is there is there still room for that conversation
about drain tile and other things.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Well, so there are builders that in town that that
that I'm pretty familiar with on how they do it
and what their waterproofing strategy is and who they use
to waterproof and what their warranties are, and they will
fill you in on all that stuff. I do want
to make sure that I that I'm doing my due
(41:19):
diligence there also, And so if there's if there's if
there's problems, you know, you can bet that I'm gonna
point them out.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
One final thing as we were talking earlier about heat.
We didn't touch on insulation. Insulation is needed in an abasement,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
It is so on those new builds where you've got
a couple of inches of rigid insulation on the outside
of your foundation, it meets the the our requirement, so
technically you you don't have to do insulation on the inside.
I still think it's a really good idea, just because,
like I talked earlier, you're in a fifty five degree
(41:54):
hole in the ground, and so whatever, however, whatever you
can do to insulate yourself from that that dirt outside,
I know what meets the R value levels. It's really
worth putting some insulation on the inside of that, just
to you know. Concrete is never warm when you put
your hand on it. It's always chilly, So you want
to you want to separate yourself from that.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
You never hear anybody complaining about the more comfortable space,
for sure, So that's the great thing, and looking about
thinking about making that comfortable space. Today is today, pick
up phone. Give a call at Edge Construction Mike. The
team would love to work with you. Love to talk
to the telephon number six So eight six three six
three three four three, that's six three six. Edge the website,
Edgeconstruction Company dot com, and of course Edge Construction brings
you the Homer Modeling Show right here on thirteen ten
(42:34):
wib
This is the Homer Modeling Show brought you by Edge
Construction online. Edge Construction Company dot com. It's all one
word Edge Construction Company dot com. Great website and resource
to learn more about Edge Construction or telephone number six
so eight six three six three three four three the
number six three six Edge and joined in study this morning.
Bye mister Mike tw Wig of Edge Construction. Mike, how
you doing this week? Great Sean, It's good to see you.
(00:20):
And uh, we're gonna talk basements this week.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We talking about let's go to the basement.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Yeah, we're going basement projects and some I think one
of the one of the notes says anything but boring
basements and real quick too about basements and kind of
using that that title, basements are a place people can
do maybe a little you know, kind of step out
of the lane a little bit. Now, you don't want
to get too crazy generally, but that is kind of
an area that allows a little bit more flexibility as
(00:47):
far as designer. Am I off on that, No, it is.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And you know, if you go through the design process,
either if you're building a new house or yeah, maybe
reviling your kitchen, you're gonna you're gonna see a lot
of different product, a lot of options. And the one
of the issues that we notice people haven't is they'll
they'll see stuff that they really like, but they might not.
They might feel like it's a little too risky to
(01:11):
put on the main floor, a little too wild. Maybe
I don't know what what it is about it, but
a lot of times if we're doing the basement, we'll
see those things show up down there because I think
it's like a lot of people feel like it's an
area where you can take some chances on design.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
It's kind of like a bonus space, like like we're
lucky enough here in Wisconsin. Most homes are I say
a lot. I think that most probably the best ways
and do have basements. It almost feels like it's like
this extra little gift that that it's like, if you're
gonna if you're gonna do it, you got this space,
why not why not kind of step out a little
bit and do it in that area.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I don't think it's a bad idea either, because you
know it's it's a a basement definitely has a different
kind of feel. I mean, we do everything we can
at the very least match the finishes in the upstairs
in the rest of the house, but it still feels like,
I don't know, it's cozy. And the trend has been
(02:08):
for a while, other than the last maybe few years,
to be pretty conservative on design, especially in the basement,
and now it's like people are stepping out of the
out of the box a little bit and it's a
place where you can do a little more.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I think of the basement too is and we'll touch
on some of the great benefits to modeling in the basement.
There are also unique challenges though is and obviously all
challenges can be overcome, but there are certain things when
it comes to planning basement design, especially on what you
guys are doing at edge construction, addressing some of those challenges,
some of those unique environments of basements, and when you
(02:41):
talk about on the overall finish and the quality of things,
you want to make sure all that stuff you're putting
in there, you're doing the just like without every other
project you guys do at edge construction, you're really addressing
some of those underlying issues and basements can have some
unique considerations and challenges, can't.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
They They do, and you know it's not like you
get into whatever vintage your house is. If you've got
an older house, then we've got challenges everywhere. I mean,
we were working on some stuff downtown right now, some older,
older buildings, and you know, it's a whole different host
of problems. But the theory is the same. So I'll
tell you what theory is. Design needs to make sense
(03:19):
for people that weren't standing there in the old space.
You know, like when you're when you're looking in a
basement and you've got low ceilings and a bunch of
heat runs running through there, and then you're like, how
do we light it?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And we need another window. You need to you need to.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Design this comprehensively so that it makes sense down the road.
I think the worst thing I'd probably like this too.
I if I designed something and all my all my
friends and relatives could come and look at every project
we do and kind of second guess.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
You, Like, that's my nightmare. I don't want that to happen.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
So you know, when you're designing, like like I said,
it needs to make sense to those people that didn't
go through the process of design. So that's such an
advantage to work with a good designer because they'll they're
going to help you avoid those pitfalls, and they they
want we sort of have this saying internally, you know,
(04:12):
it's all that design is is really about how that
space is going to feel later on when it's done.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
And so, okay, how do we how.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Do we if we've got low ceilings and we've got
a bunch of soffits to deal with, how can we
maybe we can light this and make it feel better.
Maybe we need to add another window to make this
feel better. There's a lot of stuff like that that
you can do to uh to uh fancy things up.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
We mentioned too, depending on when the home was built
and what you experienced down there. Correct me, I'm wrong.
A lot of modern homes, if there if the base,
even if the basement's unfinished, they oftentimes will kind of
have a have the intent that this spacement space could
be finished. I think the house I grew up and
it was like a one hundred probably it's probably coming
(04:55):
up on two hundred years old. Now, there was never
an intention that anybody's ever put your beats down there
and some potatoes to keep them and to keep them fresh.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I was our house. We have an old farmhouse in
the country. Have been there for over thirty years. My
wife has joked, if I can see the tornado coming
at us, I still don't know if I'm going down.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So it sounds like we have some so.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
With modern stuff, though they do often times they do
think of even if the basement isn't part of the
new build finished, they still do kind of today, this
is probably gonna happen someday.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Oh definitely, And you know it's it's okay. We look
at the eighties kind of when I got rolling in construction.
The at that point even we were we were seeing
builders starting to rough in plumbing for a potential bath.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
At some point, and.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Maybe nine foot ceilings down there. We're getting rolling where
people are like, you know what, in case we ever
do something, we'll add another foot tooth foundation roles. But
if you look at back in the fifties and even
some of the forties houses where they start pouring foundations,
we've done a really fun, nice job of finishing some
(06:10):
of those basements because they've got it's almost a normal situation.
You've got the poured wall, you got eight foot ceilings.
You get a way to make this work. It's when
we go a little bit older that we start to struggle.
Sometimes we've got stone walls to deal with. Sometimes we
don't have headroom. I believe the code is you got
to have eighty four inches seven feet ceiling height in
(06:35):
more than fifty percent of the space that you want
to finish well. I mean there's some houses that we
have tried to get permits to do basements on in
the last year or two around Madison Proper where they
were built in the sixties and had an eighty inch
ceiling height, and it's like, well, listen, I understand the
reason for codes that one I'm a little unclear on.
(06:56):
I would love to pin those people down and go, listen,
why did you write this? Because, Uh, what we're trying
to do is improve this house and give them a
little bit more living space. And if we can do
it safely and and logically, I think there should be
some exceptions. But some of those things have got a
little tougher. We actually on the on the staircases, on
(07:17):
the stairwells. If we're looking at a house that's over
fifty years old, chances are the stairs going to the
basement are not going to be code. A lot of
times they work pretty well, like you know, it's it's
it's it's okay, and and home owners are asking us, hey,
well you can you fix this up? Well, it depends
(07:39):
if we're if we're talking to the in specter, and
the code says basically what the code says, if you
touch it, you bought it. So there's nothing in between.
There's there's full compliance with the code on stairwells, and
then there's there's there's what it is now, and up
until now that those stairways have been kind of grandfathered in,
I guess so we we do we can to make
(08:01):
them a little nicer, but a lot of times there's
not a lot we can do.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
It's just thick. When you mentioned some of the I
think of when I was younger, I go to my
friend's houses that had quote unquote finished basements that were
done in the seventies and eighties, and the standard was
not what it is currently. And a lot of times
that wood paneling, maybe a drop ceiling, but nothing was
really refined or really finished like that was perfectly acceptable,
(08:25):
like a checker tile floor, and hey, maybe I got
a bumper pool table down there. It's a happening place.
People's standards are very different now compared with them, aren't
they right?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And you know some of this is code driven.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Okay, if we're gonna put drive all up everywhere, we
have to put in outlets and lights per code. If
we're drawing that ceiling, were inspects will want us to
put to make sure it's.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
He did right.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
So if you're going through all this stuff and insulation
is subject to inspection and keeps on going down the list.
So you know, if you're gonna make this this investment,
then uh, then we start talking about design because you know,
you know, you know, you want to do this every
even twenty years, right, you want to get it right
the first time and have it last a long time.
So it's it's really worth having that great design and
(09:20):
going to be honest, it doesn't cost that much more
to go to a really nice level of finish than
doing a crappy love for the finish. I mean, it's
it's kind of the same amount of work. So, like
I said, I I always beat the drum for for
good design and designers the value of designers, but they
can really help you navigate that process.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Talk it this morning with Mike two Egg, owner of
Edge Construction, teleph number six so eight six three six
three three four three that number six three six EDGE.
You can learn more online the website Edge Construction Company
dot com. That's Edge Construction Company dot com. And one
of the things I want to ask you about to
Mike is as we as we talk about finishing basements
and and updating and remodeling basements, there is a there
(10:00):
are some cost savings that are available because some of
the major parts of building a room are already there,
aren't they They are.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
And you're talking about a roof and a foundation, so yes,
that stuff is there. And if you look at just
a cost to do anything, the construction cost a lot
of times when we're finishing basements, it's almost like another house,
a little smaller house down there. We've got a great room,
(10:30):
we've got a kitchenette, we've got a bathroom, we might
have a bedroom or two. It has all the elements right.
Lucky for you, when you do your basement, most of
the time the heating system was sized enough, size big
enough to handle that basement space. That basement space, by
the way, is a little bit easier to heat and
cool because you're in a fifty five degree hole in
(10:50):
the ground. Okay, so it's easy to cool obviously, doesn't
heat up quite as much, and it doesn't you know,
if it's tembelow zero and your furnace quip work, and
if you went it down in your base, Okay, you're
not gonna be comfortable, but you won't freeze to death.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I don't think.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Maybe eventually you would, but so yeah, it's got a
bunch of advantages there. We were looking this week just
internally at the cost to build new houses from ten
years ago, fifteen years ago, and we were, you know,
for a long time, one hundred and fifty bucks a
foot was just a kind of a standard, and now
we're about double that. Just the cost has gone up
(11:26):
so much in the last few years. And when it
really makes doing this basement space attractive. Okay, you can't
do basement space for what you could five years ago either,
but you have all these basic things that are in
place really helping you out.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So it's a it is a great buy.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
We have a lot of people that come in and
they think they want an edition, and we're like, well, listen,
if we can get you eighty percent of the way
there by finishing your basement and show you what the
possibilities are down there. I think that's that's a pretty
good buye. I mean, additions are you know talk about
cost editions are are are quite a step up in
(12:03):
that and so it's really worth looking at that basement space.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Do we see people then, you know, maybe looking at
some of those those saving potentials for a basement remodel
saying if I can save you know, twenty percent, or
I can save X number of hours, maybe spending it
on things that may seem I don't I'll use the
word frivolous, but you know, may seem a little more fun.
Is saying you know what is is we're going to
do this. We're gonna we're gonna get a really good
(12:27):
remodel done. But we're also since it is a little
more of an affordable option, maybe we'll get the nice
pool table or the and have that kind of rec room,
kind of that that space of things that kind of
you don't need, but gosh, they'd be a lot of
fun to have.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
It is fun.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
There's there some of that fun stuff. It's making its
way back in I. Throughout my career in construction, I
see us get more practical and utilitarian in our design,
and then you go through these times where where the
fund sort of creeps back in.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And I was at.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
A trade show maybe this summer, I think early summer,
and one of the vendors there had, you know, the
shuffle board things they had.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Sean's making face right now, you want one bad?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I love shuffle board. That's one of my favorite games.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yeah, well, these things, a pool table, shuffle board, all
these elements that they had. They were a vendor there.
There were works of art. I mean like some of
the stuff. The craftsmanship was really cool. I wouldn't say
it was overpriced. I felt like he got a lot
for your money. And the biggest crowds, by the way,
we're in that area.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
We have all this cool construction. You a got cabinets.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Now I'm gonna go over here and play pool and
shuffle board. So yeah, I think that stuff is We're
starting to see that a little more.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
It is some of this too, driven by folks staying
longer where they are, is saying, you know what is
we're going to be here for twenty thirty years. Maybe
generations passed they didn't think that way, but I think
a lot of folks are saying we're gonna stay. Let's
make it a little more deive to being like a
destination spot in our house.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Oh yeah, I'm sure COVID had something to do with that. Right,
people are spending maybe too much time in their houses.
I don't know, but there is this kind of turn
and burn philosophy that we had for quite a while
in the nineties and early two thousands is up here
to have gone away. By the way, I think this
is super healthy for housing when I don't know if
(14:25):
there are still flip flip shows on TV, I hope not.
By the way, I you know, if you're in construction,
you don't really like that kind of philosophy. I'm going
to put in the cheapest stuff just to saddle the
next person with it, who's going to probably tear it
out and do something else. And so this this thing
where we're not moving every five years or seven years, right, Yeah,
(14:49):
there's a lot of incentive to make in your space,
making your space better.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
How do you with the basement? Obviously, I think of
heat rising is our heating systems, and I don't think
of it. Asked you this before. Are heating systems for
basements designed different than maybe on the main floor or
is it still the same concepts that I'm just kind
of overthinking it just out of there.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, I mean, part of it's just for convenience. So
so in you're upstairs, you'll have your heats will be
coming out generally on the outside of your house, and
your return airs will be on the inside of the house.
And so the theory is he has heat rises, but
your returns are low. So heat's coming out of your
events gets drawn towards the return across living space.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It will rise.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's always gonna be warmer up by the ceiling than
down below. The convenience part comes in for us and
for the heating people, and there's other reasons.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
To do this.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
So so if you look at a finish basement or
our finished basements, the heat, the heats will be coming
out of the ceilings. So every time you there's a
there's a six inch galvanized pipe behind the ceiling there
that runs and feeds that heat run. Every time you
put put an elbow in there, make it right, you know,
hard right or left, you lose some efficiency. Okay, So
(16:06):
we could in theory pipe up, put our elbow on,
head down to the heat run, go all the way
to the outside wall and pipe back down. But we
have another elbow eight or ten feet more of pipe,
so you start to lose some of your efficiency. So
we drop on the heat out of the ceiling because
it's it's probably the best of that we can do,
and then our returns are obviously low. We tend to
(16:30):
do central returns in the basement, meaning we'll have, you know,
instead of having returns everywhere, we're going to draw to
one spot that's that's fairly nearly.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
To the furnace. So I think some other things help.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
If you insulate those outside walls, even if you don't
have to your your basement will feel better and heat better.
About half the basements we do now have a separate
thermostat down there. So if you're not gonna be down
there for you know, till the weekend or something, why
heat it, you know, and then then you can do
whatever you want whenever, when are you gonna use the space?
Speaker 1 (17:01):
I knew i'd get something from I think I've ever
asked you that before, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I
wonder what the answer to that is. Obviously everything there's
there's a lot of design and planning that goes into
every aspect of the basement. We're going to talk more
about basement remodels and some of the great things that
they're able to do at Edge Construction. Of course, if
you haven't had a chance to check out the website
Edge Construction Company dot com, a lot of great examples
(17:23):
of some basement projects they've done at Edge Construction. Don't
forget also to check those links, whether it's Facebook, Pinterest,
How's How's is a huge one houzz links right from
Edge Construction Company dot com. But think about doing server modeling,
whether it's the basement, kitchen, maybe you're thinking about doing
an addition something like that. My team would love to
talk to you. Augut just pick up pone give a
call six O eight six three six three three four
to three that number six three six Edge and of
(17:44):
course Edge Construction brings you the Homer Modeling Show right
here on thirteen ten WIBA. This is the Homer Modeling Show,
brought to you by Edge Construction Online. Edge Construction Company
dot com. Great website to learn more about Edge Construction.
Also some fantastic take links there Pinterest, Facebook and House
what a cool resource houses. Just head on over to
(18:05):
Edgeconstruction company dot com. Check out those links, but think
about doing some remodeling itself. One number six so eight
six three six three three four three that number six
three six edge. We'll talk about a whole bunch of
different things. Then we start talking about food during the break,
and I recall in that last segment you mentioned folks
with basements a lot of times oftentimes are almost making
like little apartments down there. Does that include things like
(18:25):
they're kind of putting food preparation areas in basements kind
of I mean pize so ovens maybe, yes, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I mean okay, if I was going to do it,
that would be and by the way, the majority of
my cooking would probably be on that. But there are
like air fryers, right, Like people are into that. We
have an air frier thanks to our in laws last year,
and it's like amazing that somebody like me can actually
make something in an air fire.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Pretty simple.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, I think it's more about that, Like it's pretty
rare that we put a full on stove oven that
kind of stuff down there. But dishwashers, microwaves, built in
appliances like that used to be almost all BEV fridges
Now I'd say it's like fifty to fifty full sized fridges.
(19:16):
And I get it, Like, I don't know why we
have so much stuff, but an extra fridge is just
super handy, even if it's not just for pops and
beers in the basement and so some storage, yeah, maybe
some liquor. I don't know what people are putting down there,
but it's more like that. And I think like a
(19:38):
Madison has this, it's a large group of people that
aren't from here, right, so they maybe came for school
and stayed. They might be from the East Coast. Seemed
like there's a lot of East Coast people here whose
relatives come and stay, and they might stay for a
couple of weeks or longer or shorter, And so a
(19:59):
space like that gets pretty valuable. Where so Sean and
I are in the same team. We need to be
away from peoples once in a while.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Is that what we decided?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yes, And so in a basement, you know, if you're
staying at somebody's house, I don't know, I always feel
weird walking into their fridge and grabbing something, or going
into their covers and getting some food, some chips or something.
But a basement space can be a little different, so
I think it's a little more casual and if somebody's
staying there, it can be almost like a little apartment.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Do we do we still see too, as we're talking
about kind of having those you know, those smaller appliances
and other things. Do we also see wet bars? Is
that still? Is that a thing again? I feel like
still a thing. I feels like it kind of ebbs
and flows. Are those making a comeback?
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Yeah, wet bars are making a comeback. And there's even
other reasons for that. People have hobbies there. There are
people that are into making things and they're crafty and
they paint and they do other stuff. And it's really
nice to have have a sink in the basement, even
if you're not cooking stuff. But uh, people that entertain
(21:07):
a lot, So it's it's a it's a wide range
of things. And and the wet bar, I think you
know when you when you really get looking at it, Okay,
the dry bar. The only difference is it doesn't have
a sink. You've got cabinets, you've got probably a fridge,
you might, but you a wet bar. It gives the
option to have some some plumbing for a dishwasher. It
gives you if even if you're just putting the sink
(21:29):
in the counter tops already there, it's not really that
much more to run a couple of pipes and usually
we can get to it fairly easily and and have
a sink there. So, like I said, a lot of
us and if you got kids, I don't know about
u about medicine, but every kid I've ever seen makes
messes and nice it is.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
What about flex space? Do we still when you're talking
to about you know, you have company over and if
it's you know, like the in laws or somebody staying
with you for a couple of days, there's a couple
more days then throughout the year that that's not going
to be used as a small apartment or whatever. Do
we still see a big desire for flex space in
the basement.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
We do, And so flexible space in the basement right
now usually looks like a bedroom slash office. Like that's
I would say that's the most common thing that we're
seeing to where people are doing a Murphy bed or
or some other system to where they can sort of
(22:31):
convert maybe move back and forth. And so that's pretty cool.
I always think valuable space does more than one thing
in an abasement. That's pretty important because you know, you
know your relatives might come once a year. It's not
like you need this to be a full on apartment
for them when they come all the time. But it's
very nice to have that space when you need it.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Were you telling me that like Murphy beds have gotten
like the companies that make them a lot better about them?
Was that were you? And I have been a couple
of years since we've this come up but came up,
But I feel like last time it came up on
the show, I thought you had mentioned that there's some
really good manufacturers out there of Murphy beds.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
There are, and a lot of options, And so most
of the time now, like like in my past and remodeling,
when somebody said they wanted a mercery bed, I groaned
a little bit because it usually meant we'd have to
get to order a bunch of parts and make something
and you didn't know exactly what it was, you know
if it was going to work and turn out, And
that system has been normalized now most of the time
(23:33):
home owners are we kind of set them up. We
might block things in the wall for them, but they're
handling that themselves the kids coming. They're easy enough to install.
I'm sure there's probably a Swedish company that makes those
or something. But there's another company I want to talk about. Yeah,
and it's and coincidentally it.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Is called Murphy.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Murphy Doors on a few seen these, so they are
the kings of the hidden door, the bookshelf door, some things,
and if you want to go down rabbit hole, go
on their Facebook especially, go on their website and you
can find these things. So we most of the time,
if we do something like this where it's a hidden door,
we're not buying their cabinet, like we're not having them
(24:14):
make us a cabinet for a few reasons because mostly
because of the materials they use, and we might want
custom sizes or looks we want to we want to
match finishes with some of the stuff that's already there.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
But we can buy their hardware.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
And it's it's I don't want to say it's easy
to use, but it's it's very doable for us to
do this. We have one coming up. It's gonna be
about a six foot wide sort of double bookcase and
the double bookcase is basically a French store that it's.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Gonna be all.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
So I'm trying to talk to the homeowner into you know,
you pull the book and like a nineteen twenties movie
or something, and so yeah, you pull the book, things
up and up. There's other kind of hidden switches, some
really cool hardware out there now where you can reach
up underneath the shelf push a you know, if your
(25:08):
shelves are stained, the button can actually be staying to
match the shelves. So it really wouldn't see it at
first glance unless you knew it was there. That you
can unlatch that way too, And there's a lot of
cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Do we see it. It's as we're kind of going
down this avenue. Do we see a lot of people saying,
you know what, I want to make this like like
a personal escape. I feel like life is chaotic, it's
very hectic that I think. I think universally we all
feel like there's a lot demanded of us, and like
having that place where you can almost call it like
a retreat or just someplace where you can say, you
know what this is, you know, maybe my space or
(25:39):
grown up stace where we can just like open the door,
close the door, sit down and have a cocktail or
just decompress. I mean, we are we seeing stuff like that.
We are a little bit.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
We have a library room that we're oh that we
have coming up. It's pretty much gonna be all customed
made in our shop. I love stuff like that. I like,
I think we are you know, so we need I
need this like space sometimes where I can get away.
One that we did a couple of years ago was
in a basement space, very big basement finish. We had
(26:09):
already worked on this house two or three times. It's
a near West Madison house and because of COVID this
it's the guy of the couple, as an exec for
a company in town, ended up in a basement office
but it was more like finished basement already space and decided, hey,
(26:30):
you know, I'm gonna at least spend half my time
down here going forward. He actually had us build a
hallway into his room. So it's like it kind of
goes It's counterintuitive, like usually we're trying to get rid
of hallways. We see him as wasted space. This thing's
made this room, you know, ten feet farther away from
finish space. And he's probably going on, I need to
(26:50):
get away from every but you know, he set it
up for gaming and he has a beautiful office in there,
and we did some really nice cus some touches in
there just to make it feel better.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
That's it's we talk about to the design and like,
if you can imagine it, it can be done. And
that's part of the fun about going through the process
of doing remodeling and doing a basement. You know, you
want to do a basement project, turn that thing anything
but boring for your basement. Definitely a great day to
pick phone. Gave a call at Edge Construction, but thinking
about doing some projects. Six O eight six three six
three three four three that number six three six Edge.
(27:24):
Of course the website edge Construction Company dot com. That's
Edge Construction Company dot com. Edge Construction brings you the
Homer Modeling Show right here on thirteen ten wuib I.
This is the Homer Modeling Show, brought to you by
Edge Construction online. Edge Construction Company dot com. That's all
one word Edge Construction Company dot com. Dolph number six
O eight six three six three three four three that
(27:47):
number six three six Edge and Mike. It fits perfectly
into our conversation about basements. But I do feel like
one of these weeks we should do uh do I
don't know. I don't think the term man cave is
the thing anymore, but like whatever they are, like yeah,
like like do like maybe we should do a show
one of these weeks talking about like just like personal rooms,
(28:07):
escape rooms, parent rooms, just like the decompression spaces, because
I know, you get a.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I mean, it's super fun for us to build stuff
like that. Yeah, but I understand why the trend is.
You know, we talked about flex space a lot, and
it probably makes a lot more sense to make a
room that can do more than one of the practicality.
But it is like, I think there's a little mini
trend coming here where people are thinking, you know what,
I want to make this exactly like the picture.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
In my head.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
You were talking earlier too, and this is as we're
talking about basements, you're talking about stairs, and it seems
like it's this is one of those areas when we
think about the works you guys do at Edge Construction,
I think of like main floor staircases and some of
the you know, see those projects online at Edge Construction
Company dot com. How beautiful. They are basements, as you mentioned,
(28:57):
older basements very utilitarian oftentimes with those with those staircases.
Are we seeing folks take the time to because we
were talking to about like libraries and would work it stuff.
Do we see anything like that going on with basement
staircases or are they Are they a little maybe a
little more utilitarian or what? What's what's kind of the
trend there?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, not not so much. And I get I get
it so like like to me the carpenter and me
when I when I walk into a house, I sort
of want to see a staircase. I want to see
something that took.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Some effort, the grandeur, right right.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
I mean it doesn't have to be like you know,
Victorian age and crazy, but I think it's a good
focal point for upstairs.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Most of the time. I mean, we've improved them where
we can.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
You know, for a long time, the staircase stairway to
the basement was just like a tunnel. You get out
of this tunnel at the end, there's the door you
walk out, Okay, you're down in this finished space. So
we try to open them up when we can or
if we're especially if we're building this basement out at
least at least have it be as open as possible,
(30:04):
and that part, that part's there's there's ways you can
do this and.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Not have to go over the top. I don't know
if I'm making sense.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
No, you're making purpose sense. I will say I've seen
projects where you guys do go a little under the
stairs seems like a place to if we're talking about
obviously the basement itself a lot of area to kind
of be unique and stand out. I've seen a few
projects you guys have done at Edge Construction where the
area under the stairs just seems to like it seems
to be like we're gonna do something really cool, whether
(30:34):
it's a playhouse or something there. Wine storage, I feel
like you guys have done some really.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Cool Yeah, so the wine storage, you know, it's sort
of an odd space, like it's not really great to
put shelves up in right for storage because the stairs
angle down, and you know, like then you what are
you gonna do? Get on your hands and knees and
go put stuff on those shelves. We've done the wine
thing because there are there are self contained wine fridges
(31:02):
that can hold I don't know one hundreds of bottles
of wine that can actually fit in there, keep them
at at the right temperature, protect them, and so for
people that are really into that, it's just a really
nice option.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
For us.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
It takes almost no effort. We're going to put power
back there for you and and make sure you have
enough room to get that thing in there. It's not
it's as far as customizing that space. Like sometimes that
stairwell is kind of in the middle of finished space.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Like if if your house has.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
A stairway that's in the in the middle of the house,
maybe maybe U shaped stairway, you end up with that
space and it feels wasteful to that try and do
something with it.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
So we have done.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Kids rooms in there, Like we've done a couple where okay,
you got to be under four feet tall to get
in there, let's say, and we have painted the the
you know, drywall to painted it, floored it with the
paint that you can right on with with I was
gonna say crans, but that's.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Don't write on your pate.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
But with chalk and you can you do different things
and it's just like a little cubby, a little hideaway.
We did one recently where it was a hideaway for
some cats. So I've never got in there after it
was done to see if the cats actually went in there.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I don't know. I hope they do. Took quite a
bit effort to do this, so but yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
There's, there's, there's, there's and and you know when you
get online, you want you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
The house before.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
That area is is a is a fun area to
customize and people have come up with great ideas, and
that's a great clearinghouse for those ideas.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Really fun use of space and and that's I think
that's probably one of the more exciting areas aspects of basements.
It's just like you never know what you're gonna come
up with, and there are things that are necessary in
a basement. A lot of homes have utilities and other things.
You got your hot water, your furnace, those type of things,
and that's all. It sounds kind of like goodness, but
it's an important part of design. Isn't to make sure
(32:58):
that that you're keeping those areas functional.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
It is and you know, in.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Anything that's over over twenty thirty years old, we're probably
fixing some of past sins that we find down there,
whether it's something as simple as as insulation, or it's
not uncommon for us to find several different types of
plumbing pipe tiny with each other. Like we had this idea,
(33:25):
so we're going to tie in with this, and we
started off with the galvan eyed, then we went to copper,
and then we went to PVC, and then we went
to the red and blue pecks type stuff, and so
it's at some point it's time, like the galvanized. I
really don't like leaving that pipe in people's basements. If
you want to be really grossed out, open up that
pipe and look and see what's inside. It looks like,
(33:45):
I don't know, something nasty has grown in there. Sometimes
I'm sorry if I'm freaking out. But so there's things
that we want to fix down there. A lot of
people that watch the TV shows on remodeling think like
the problems are always we hope up a wall and
we found, you know, things aren't supported.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Well.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Once in a while we find that, but it's not
as common as you think. Uh, it's really common for
us to open up the wall or look at the
electric work in the house, and I would say a
lot of the surprises we find are electricity because in
the life of a house. Somebody's always got a brother,
an uncle, or a dad or that's or husband or
whoever that's that's messing with electricity, adding on to circuits,
(34:28):
put another outlet in, and so that stuff needs to
be fixed too. We don't want to cover up anything
that we find there.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
That just seems so super Ea. No, I know my
limit on that, aside from switching a light switch or something.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I will not What's interesting with with electrics sometimes is
the more you know, the more you go. You know what,
I'm gonna leave this to somebody that knows what they're doing,
because you know, it's it's the process of adding an
outlet somewhere. Yeah, it's not that big a deal. My
own brothers have done this, and I'm like, are you
sure you know what you do? I mean, I mean,
we're an electrical contractor. I'm very familiar, so obviously I
(35:03):
would know most of the time what's being done.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Right or wrong.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
But uh uh here, I know I have it quite often.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
So but this is the thing.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
So like, uh, like I said, half that work down
there is behind the walls and behind this feeling, and
we want to we want to make sure that we're
up to day on things.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Do we still see laundry in the base? Where? Where?
Do where does the laundry room stand these days?
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Mike, You know that's kind of a funny thing.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
For so long we've just it's just been ingrained in
us that we have to have a first floor laundry.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
And we have done now.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
The past few years, three or four projects a year
where we're we're putting the laundry down in the basement.
And the reason is, uh, you've got some space. So okay,
we we see the pictures online there's nice, big, open
laundries most of the time in the first floor. It's
(35:56):
just not built for that, Like you'd have to lose
like a bedroom or something to do that. Where where
homeowners are going you know what, Yeah, I've got to
truck my stuff up and down the stairs. It seems counterintuitive,
but I can have the laundry I want down there,
and we've done some very cool laundries. You know, I
can't cook, but I can't wash clothes, So I do
(36:16):
appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
One talking this morning, would like to an owner of
Edge Construction. Yeah, because it seems like it went from
down to up to now back down again.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Well, I mean, you know, the great majority are still
the thinking is up there or or maybe both, Like
it's not like we're we're we're taking this this laundry
out that's upstairs. It's just maybe we're doing it. We're
doing another one in the basement.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Do we see and one final area we haven't even
talked lighting, which I feel like we need to do
like a whole other show just on basement, like we
do one hundred shows on lighting and specific. We'll get
to that in a minute, but I want to ask
you about about bathrooms and and and spaces like that.
Do we see like like full on baths going on
in basements? And are we also seeing things that What
(36:59):
got me thinking about this is I've seen in laundry
rooms folks putting tubs for their pets because you know,
you got like an active dog and tis the season
they get all muddy and you don't want to run
them through the house, so you go downstairs at the
basement hold them down. Or are we we're seeing that
type of type of plumbing stuff going in three time?
Speaker 3 (37:17):
I mean, but it's I don't want to say it's rare,
but it's kind of rare, and I think the reason
is a lot of times we're doing a bath in
a basement, it's it's a walk in shower. You know,
it's pretty common now to have a handheld in there also,
and it's just a great place to hall your muddy
kid in there, your muddy pet in there, and wash
some of.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
That stuff down the pain.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
So one interesting thing even mentioned the bass. I thought
you were going a different direction. But for a long time,
basement bass were very utilitarian, kind of plane looking, and
if you look at the ones we've done in the
past few years, it's pretty common now to have tile
and some of the nicer things down there. So I
like that trend too. I think, you know, it's it's
(38:01):
I realize why people do things the way they do
it like, but you know, I also want something nice
to look at. I want I want the field to
be right, and you know, when you've got more options
with the tile than you do with some of the surrounds,
it's it's.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
It's pretty cool stuff too. We talk about, you know,
doing a basement project and what goes into it and
the design and the planning. It's a really good day
to give them a call at Edge Construction. Start that
conversation six O eight six three six three three four
three that number six three six Edge. You learn more
online Edge Construction Company dot com. That's all one word
Edge Construction Company dot Com. Or of the Homer Modeling
Show next with Edge Construction right here on thirteen ten
(38:36):
wuib A. This is the Homer Modeling Show brought to
you by Edge Construction online. Edge Construction Company dot com.
It's all one word Edge Construction Company dot Com. Talking
this week about basements, basement remodeling, some of the great
things that go into basement remodeling and the design and
really a great space to to remodel. And Mike before
(38:58):
we wrap up this week, I know you guys see
a variety of different types of basement and whether it's older, newer.
Some that are are complete remodels, some that are are
starting from you know, he's got the poured walls of
a concrete slab and you're good to go when you
kind of first address that stuff. When you're looking at
those space, I've got to guess things like making sure
that it's stays. You know that water, you got a
(39:20):
good barrier, their insulation. You're talking earlier there are some
things that are I know, this stuff is super fun
to talk about. There are some things that are less
glamorous that are absolutely vital to a successful long term
basement remodel, aren't.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
There, Yes, Because you know you got the roast clutter glasses.
At first, You've been looking online. You see all these
great spaces and if I come in, I'm going, well,
you've got there's there's three cracks in your basement. Well
we need to address that. And we've had some big
rains this year. Not so much this year, but at
least the last half of the summer has been pretty dry.
(39:52):
But I want to know how long you've been there
to kind of one in my head, I'm trying to
evaluate have they been here long enough to know if
they're based is going to have a leak somewhere and
so sometimes there's evidence of that. I can just look
at the floor and go, you know what, I can
see where something was cleaned up here. But we need
to talk about egress, right, That's another thing that we
(40:14):
haven't talked topped much. And so drain Tile. Those companies
that have been working overtime in the past bunch of years,
it seems like doing drain tile around old basements. That
is not a gimmick, That is not a that is
not a ripoff. That is something that most of the
time needs to be done unless you're on a gravel
(40:35):
hill and you just have not much risk of moisture
ever coming in, You're not going to want to make
this investment in that basement, is my point. And not
sure that you and not be sure that you have
those problems.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Solved with that stuff too. And you mentioned, you know,
especially older homes getting that drained tile. Are newer homes
a little more water tight or are they still a
little is there is there still room for that conversation
about drain tile and other things.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Well, so there are builders that in town that that
that I'm pretty familiar with on how they do it
and what their waterproofing strategy is and who they use
to waterproof and what their warranties are, and they will
fill you in on all that stuff. I do want
to make sure that I that I'm doing my due
(41:19):
diligence there also, And so if there's if there's if
there's problems, you know, you can bet that I'm gonna
point them out.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
One final thing as we were talking earlier about heat.
We didn't touch on insulation. Insulation is needed in an abasement,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
It is so on those new builds where you've got
a couple of inches of rigid insulation on the outside
of your foundation, it meets the the our requirement, so
technically you you don't have to do insulation on the inside.
I still think it's a really good idea, just because,
like I talked earlier, you're in a fifty five degree
(41:54):
hole in the ground, and so whatever, however, whatever you
can do to insulate yourself from that that dirt outside,
I know what meets the R value levels. It's really
worth putting some insulation on the inside of that, just
to you know. Concrete is never warm when you put
your hand on it. It's always chilly, So you want
to you want to separate yourself from that.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
You never hear anybody complaining about the more comfortable space,
for sure, So that's the great thing, and looking about
thinking about making that comfortable space. Today is today, pick
up phone. Give a call at Edge Construction Mike. The
team would love to work with you. Love to talk
to the telephon number six So eight six three six
three three four three, that's six three six. Edge the website,
Edgeconstruction Company dot com, and of course Edge Construction brings
you the Homer Modeling Show right here on thirteen ten
(42:34):
wib
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