Is it worth converting a basement storage to a bedroom?

Bank on it
#1. September 6th, 2011, at 11:16 PM.

It probably won’t return your investment unless you do the work that youself and are willing to trade on sweat-equity.

I just installed an egress window through about 7 inches of concrete wall – messy job, and with the cutting tool rental and excavator rental, I spent about $4,500 to do the job. Drainage is always an issue, as is the retaining wall material. I also installed a flush egress ladder system that blended in with the retaining wall.

One other consideration – while you’ll increase legal square footage because of the egress… a buyer would logically want a bath in that space. Now you have really ‘upped’ the cost because of more electrical and plumbing.

You might be better off just installing the egress window, and stubbing out plumbing for a bath. Build the interior walls, run wiring without sheetrock to define the bath and bedroom. This will show the buyer the potential, it will increase the legal square footage, but you won’t be hit with the big expense of finishing the rooms. You can probably do this for 1/3 of he cost of a finished room.

You may already have a finished bath in the space… if that’s the case, just install the egress window and run electrical.

Good luck!

Captainshoe
#2. September 6th, 2011, at 11:16 PM.

It would depend on location but another bedroom would add value.
You could also just refurb it so it is a usable room and let the buyer decide what they can use it for such as gym, home office, play room etc.