What does a room need in order to be considered a finished room?

Question

We are redoing a room in our basement and currently it has no heat and/or cooling source. I had heard that a room, in order to be considered a finished room, needed a built in heat source i.e. heating vent or baseboard heating. What are the requirements?

Answer 1

If you are considering this from the perspective of selling your home and technically calling it a bedroom, I would check with your local building code office to find out what the specifications are in your area. Don't give them your name or address or anything if you don't have a building permit, otherwise they might surprise you with the requirement for one. But do ask as an "inquiry". What I do know that you haven't considered is that you need a closet for it to be a bedroom. Good luck.

Answer 2

In order to be considered 'livable square footage', yes, the room must have a dedicated heat source (not a space heater) and be attached to the rest of the home.
A/C isn't required though, only heat.

There are other requirements specific to rooms in basements that only your local code office can answer. Generally, it must have an egress window, so many square inches in size, and no more than x inches from the floor.

Answer 3

If you're tinking about resale and you want to list the house as having a finished den in a basement, call up a real estate office and ask an agent. If they say that a finished basement area has heat, that doesn't mean you have to add heat. You could just describe it as a finished den with a space heater -- that wouldn't be deceptive. The main thing is that you don't want to misrepresent it in a listing.

Answer 4

The last poster is incorrect. What is considered a finished room is one that can be sold as such.

1. Has to be permitted and built to code.
2. Has to have electricity
3. Has to be heated in some manner. This can be a simple fireplace or part of your central heating

I would consider a finished room to have all of these as as well completed drywall work (tape/texturing/painting) as well as some sort of flooring (other than concrete).

Answer 5

Legally, you need to have a door and a heat source. Decorating, a room should really always be changing and never finished.

Answer 6

It depends on what state you live in. I would check with a Realtor in your area and ask what would need to be done to consider that area as finished.
Personally, I would consider a room as finished if it has texture, HVAC, paint, and flooring.

Answer 7

Believe me.. there is NO way to answer that by asking others. The finished room will be decided by you.. You live there and it is finished when YOU are satisfied with the flooring, the paint on the wall, the curtains or whatever, etc.. When YOU are satisfied, then the room is finished.