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My basement ceiling joists are exactly 7 feet above the concrete slab. The requirement for finished living space is 7 ft from the finished floor to the finished ceiling. Since I'll loose a couple of inches with the flooring (I'll have Delta-FL drainboard + laminate) and the ceiling (drywall), essentially I won't have enough height to meet the requirement.

I'm quoting from what I think is my local code (pdf):

R305.1 (Amended). Habitable space, hallways, corridors, bathrooms, toilet rooms, laundry rooms and portions of basements containing these spaces shall have a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet. The required height shall be measured from the finished floor to the lowest projection of the ceiling. Not more than 50% of the floor area of a room or space is permitted to have a sloped ceiling less than 7 feet in height.

Question: what can I do about this? One idea I had was to put the drywall between the joists rather than below them perhaps just a few inches above the lower end to compensate for this. Would this fly? Has anyone done anything like that? I realize that this is going to be a lot more work but I may be willing to do it. Any other ideas?

Aarthi
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Peter Q
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4 Answers4

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Per the wording of that code, you can't be adding anything to the floor or the ceiling as you'll be under the 7' minimum. You could consider a super-thin flooring (stain the concrete? Linoleum?) and then, as you suggest, put the sheetrock between the joists (though that sounds like a finishing nightmare).

Alternatively, raise the foundation (likely cost prohibitive).

All that said, I echo B Mitch...what is the concern of not meeting the code? The main drawback would be that you couldn't advertise it as finished square footage when you sell.

The first thing I'd do, though, is have an inspector come out and ask what the odds would be in getting a 1" variance or so. They may count it as 'close enough' and let you get by.

DA01
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Not more than 50% "CAN" be less than 7' ... this give the opportunity to put finished ceiling in half of the area you would like to finish. The other 50% is up to you to figure out!

I am dealing with figuring out 2 egress windows while trying to plan 2 BR's for my finished basement. The rules seem rigid, yet #1, I can meet all the rules with a built in step to attain the 44" sill, but then not the 7' ceiling, and yet #2, why the basement has rules for egress, while my 2nd floor BR's require me to jump 20' down in a freefall to escape?

My inspector is a friendly guy, but sticks to the rules 100%. I am not trying to cheat the system, but a little common sense should be allowed.

Machavity
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Larry Ponziani
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Just paint the ceiling and add pot lights. I have finished a few basements like this and it looks great. Actually the only negative is the sound barrier a ceiling would give you and this can still be done with rigid foam sheets.

DMoore
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You didn't mention the type of home you have, but assuming it's a colonial style home, it wouldn't matter if your "basement" had 10' or 6" ceilings, as it would never be considered living space.

It would simply be viewed, and calculated as "finished" space, but never included as part of your "living space" calculation.

Mr. Knowitall
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