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The Detroit News Saturday, January 18, 1997
The Handyman by Glenn Haege
Your basement isn't truly finished until it's as inviting as the upstairs
If you need additional living space, sitting on top of an unfinished basement is like living in a tent pitched on top of a buried treasure. Getting your basement finished costs only about $15 to $25 a square foot. Building up, or out, starts at $100 a square foot.
Unfortunately, most finished basements are just that, finished basements. They never become an accepted, fully functioning part of the house. Since they do not become true living space, they add only marginal resale value to the home.
To find a way around these problems, I talked to Mike McCoy of Coy Construction Inc. Coy specializes in building decks and finishing basements. McCoy expects the company to build 800 decks and finish 50 to 60 basements this year. I do not know of any other contractor that does that kind of volume.
The secret to getting full use and resale value out of a basement is to change the look and feel form a basement to that of another living level, McCoy says.
"The standard way to finish a basement is to put in furring strips and paneling, install a drop ceiling with ugly ceiling tiles, and lay vinyl on the floor," McCoy says. "You would never live in a house with a living room that looked like that. How can you expect to use a basement that looks that way?"
To get maximum "living appeal' from a basement, McCoy says you have to start at the top of the stairs and rethink the entire situation.
"When a contractor builds a house he separates the unfinished basement from finished living space with a door at the top of very utilitarian stairs," he says. "The door and the stairway combine to tell you 'Stop. You don't want to go down there.' "
To change your base met into living space, get rid of the psychological stop signs. Take out the door and door trim, and open up the staircase by removing as much of the stairway wall as possible. Replace it with a to-quality banister that looks exactly like on you would choose for a stairway leading form the front vestibule to the second floor.
By doing these things the staircase becomes a natural McCoy to a lower living level. You can continue this feel by making the finished portion of the basement look and feel as much like the first floor as possible.
To do this, McCoy recommends drywalling both the walls and the ceiling; not tiling, the floors; adding a full, not half bath; installing recessed lighting and upgrading the electrical by installing at least three additional electric circuits.
By drywalling, instead of installing a drop ceiling, you change the look from industrial to living area; gain 3 to 4 inches in height, giving the basement a much more livable feel; and replace expensive ceiling tiles which are likely to go out of style and become irreplaceable. You also gain the flexibility of being able to build around duct work, and you'll save about 60 percent on materials.
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HomeTown Creative Living--May 21, 1998
Ready to get DECKED? By Annette Jaworski
"A deck should be an addition to the house. If it doesn't look sharp, and it doesn't add to the value of a home, it doesn't do its job,"
Mike McCoy, president of Coy Construction
A properly built and maintained deck should be as asset to any home, according to Mike McCoy, president of Coy Construction in Walled Lake. "A deck should be an addition to the house. If it doesn't look sharp, and it doesn't add to the value of the home, it doesn't do its job," he said. McCoy's first piece of advice in building the deck of your dreams is to look to the professionals to help with the design work. "The biggest mistake homeowners make is trying to design the deck themselves," he said. "You can actually spend $5,000 on the back of your home, (with a deck) and detract from the value of the home. You go to a doctor when you're sick, so when it comes to designing and building your deck, go to an expert," McCoy said. Decks have evolved during recent years form wolmanized wood, which warped and twisted according to McCoy, to the current favorite, cedar. He estimated that about 98 percent of the decks he builds are western red cedar with a wolmanized structure. McCoy's advice in building a deck include; 1. Match the color of your deck such as railing, fascia, steps and bench edges with the wood trim of the house, leaving the floor natural. It's important because designing the deck this way actually requires less maintenance, McCoy explained. 2. Don't' forget the landscaping. No matter how well your job is completed, it won't look sharp unless colored and landscaped properly. McCoy is in the process of remodeling a bit himself, he will soon be adding a showroom to his Martin Road office in Walled Lake. In addition to the expansion, Coy is also celebration 20 years in business. McCoy credits the company's success to keeping focused only on decks and remodeling basements, and invaluable help.
He also credits vice president, Richard Saferian; Ralph Geistler, assistant to the vice president; and his brother, Dave McCoy, for the company's continued growth and excellence. If you're thinking about building or have recently built a new deck, even new decks need a light washing before they have a stain or seal applied, said Mike Sinutko of Woobrite Professional Deck Care I Ferndale. "The reason is that there are footprints and markings from construction… you have to get all of that off. You don't want to seal it in there." Another misconception is that you need to stain or seal a deck immediately. Not so, he said. Wait for three to six months. In the meantime, he recommends protecting it with a product called Seasonite, a water born, new wood stabilizer. UV rays from the sun will damage the wood Sinutko said
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Installing drywall instead of paneling on the walls accomplishes much the same thing. Since McCoy believes that straight walls are important, he recommends using full 2-inch-by-4-inch studs with bottom and top plates, instead of just using furring strips tacked to poured or blocked basement wall. Naturally, because there is always a potential for water, the bottom plates have to be pressure treated.
"This not only gives you a perfectly level drywalled surface, instead of the wavy wall usually associated with paneled basements, it also gives extra room for insulation," McCoy says. Drywall has other advantages. In the event a leak develops, drywall is replaced easily and inexpensively. If paneling is used, it becomes almost impossible to duplicate after only a few years.
If you prefer to use furring strips instead of 2-inch-by-4-inch construction, Wallmate insulation by Cow USA is especially made for this purpose. If you want to add extra warmth, install Envira Cushion imported by Fairway Tile and Carpet instead of normal padding. If is waterproof and is the only padding made that lists an R Factor. Here are a few other tips for making a finished basement into a natural-feeling living area.
Lay out the floor plan so that metal stanchions are hidden inside walls.
Use the same floor and ceiling moldings in the basement that are used on the first floor.
Think about putting in a large fixed window between rooms to provide an open feel.
Don't finish the entire basement. Remember, unfinished storage space is a valuable commodity.
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