I would suggest a ductless split system which will be a dedicated system with its own thermostat. Sanyo or Mitsubishi brands are good. If you are not familisr with these kind af systems they have a wall mounted unit (evaporator) with a fan in it and a set of copper lines that would run down the outside of the house to the condensing unit with the compressor in it. They are very quiet and are available up to 17 SEER.

We are finishing our basement for our own use right now -- but before this -- I've always said that buyers would love our home - until they saw the basement. We have put thousands of dollars into our home: new windows, new cherry floors, new kitchen (addition), all new bathrooms, etc... But, when you walk downstairs to the basement you are greeted by nasty walls with seepage stains and dusty concrete floors. We had the walls taken care of (rod holes and cracks) but they are still ugly. Eventually, they will be insulated and dry-walled. My DH insists on a powder room even though it was not plumbed for one -- it was $1,700 for the sink and toilet rough in. I don't expect to ever recoup the investment on our finished basement when it is done -- but we could never sell it the way it is. At a minimum -- I would paint the floor and walls so it looks nice -- that is after making sure walls don't leak or seep. Another interesting option is spray painting the ceiling black -- our friends did this to their quasi-finished basement and I think it looks great.

Cheril and Roseabbey: Thanks for the pictures. Both your doors look terrific as well. Sue36 and oceanna: We don't have to leave the door open but wanted to have it more open to the finished basement so it feels part of the living space, especially when folks are actually down there. jlc712: We thought the same thing about having the door swing in, but it is indeed against code to have a door open over a staircase. We went online last night and found a nice split french door available special order from Home Depot. We are going to take our measurements in and see if it may work. Then the open door would still block the hallway but not as much. We are still weighing our options but I think we are leaning towards keeping a glass door on versus taking the doorframe out and just wrapping with drywall. Most of the open staircases are wider and our's is just a normal 32 inch door opening. Again everyone's input has been so helpful.

I've done some renovation (including finishing our attic) but not a basement, and not an entire basement (40'x20'). (In Toronto, Canada.) We've gutted our old basement down to the cinderblocks, redone the floor plumbing, added water barrier, weeping tiles in a ditch and a sump pump - all professionally done. (I wanted to level the concrete floor but have been advised this is not necessary (and a bad idea, since it will defeat the purpose of letting any influx of water run to the drain). So I"m going to lay vinyl flooring.) Our basement has a low ceiling in addition to a centre steel beam, meaning thinnest floor is preferred. First step though is to finish the exterior walls. As mentioned, the walls have that black plastic dimpled layer of water protection. Do I need to put up a vapour barrier in addition to this? Do I simply tack it right to the water barrier layer? Over the water protection layer I'm going to put studs. I should use the Blue moisture/mold resistant stuff, right? Online advice suggests not to use fibreglass batts, as they absorb moisture. Use solid foam panels instead, but these are not fireproof, so advice is to top it with a layer of Roxul? If so, this that eliminate the need for drywall? If I still have to lay in drywall then the Roxul seems like an extra layer I have to cover my 120'x7' of walls with. Any other gotchas would be welcomed.