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Should I finish my basement

Moved in to a new house....one of the main selling points was a concrete basement; walls and floor slab.
The dimensions are perfect for my setup and I will finish the ceiling and do sound treatment as necessary but really wonder if I should also put up sheet-rock ?
As of now wall are painted with water-seal paint, and I have a large carpet on the floor.
I can just hang few drapes on the walls, do some sound treatment and leave it as is...
The looks are OK either way for me - no bearing on my decision.

Just want to hear if some of you have experience with such a "dilemma" (finished vs cement walls) and what would be recommended?

PS: I would NOT want to do any sound treatment under the sheet-rock...as a matter of fact I would only mount aluminium rails to the walls and then attach 1/2inch sheet-rock
ether
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,377 posts
 
If you finish it you will turn it into an echo chamber. It probably sounds better the way it is with exposed framing. The worst sounding rooms I've ever had were sounds rooms I purpose built and they turn into an echo box and giant bass collection bin which is expensive and hard to figure out how to treat. The best sounding room I have is my workshop which has tons of stuff in it which gives lots of natural diffusion which is a more pleasing sound if you ask me
brf
1,715 posts
 
Don't forget about dust issues associated with unfinished basements.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,970 posts
 
I have speakers (old OHM Ls) set up in my unfinished area of my house where ping pong table, etc. is. Walls are mostly interior insulated cinder block, some exposed wood wall frames and drywall. Open concrete floor. The insulation helps make for better acoustics. All in all not bad at all for listening. There are many ways to pretty up a room short of traditional drywall finishing, most of which are also easier to change and adapt as needed with a little creativity. Lots of ways to adapt the acoustics as well. As long as it is a comfortable environment in the listeners mind, that's all that matters.

Myself, on a nice day, I like to see the sun shine. YMMV.
beewax
173 posts
 
I totally agree with Ejlif. Try it, you may like it.
Reflected sounds can be both good and bad. The good part is that they make music and movie dialogue sound much natural, fuller and louder than they would otherwise. If you've ever played your speakers outdoors where there are no walls to add reflections, you've probably noticed that they don't sound as good — thin, boring and dull. With little Reflected sound can add a pleasant spaciousness to your sound.
markpao
525 posts
 
Setting aside visits from assessors or whom ever, more importantly is the issue of not pulling a building permit, the work not being up to code, and someone gets hurt........ or worse. You will have a much bigger problem than you ever imagined.
If you manage to escape any issues over the years, at some point you may want to sell your place. I've heard of cases where the building department made owners gut there illegal finished basements before they could sell it.
I'm speaking of NY and not sure about other cities & states.
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