Please understand that I was the guy who has had to look at the leak in the ceiling and deduce where it is leaking. Mind you, not where it is showing, but where it is leaking. I had one lady who was really PO'd that I didn't magically know this. How dare I inconvenience her. On my second visit I brought the kids Ouija board. It can happen to you! As you will be spending a lot of time in that area, I would suggest a radon test prior to doing the re-model. rweigand, how different we are;) Someone shows me sparkling compound, tape and sandpaper and I'm heading for the door. Your post makes it sound joyful. Even sheet rockers don't like it. Matching a finish on a ceiling after a repair is exceedingly...touchy! If you do go with the rock make sure that they install some 1x3 strapping across the joist prior to the rock. A good electrical can fish from there. The difference between the basement and the first floor is that the entire distribution system is in the basement. That is where all the mains are for all services, electric, water, gas, heat, phone, etc. From the basement, the first and second floor are served with risers off of those systems. I can assure you that the plumber didn't anticipate covering the whole shebang. It is your house. Certainly decorate as you choose, Just be aware of what you are covering. Take detailed photos and measurements and SAVE them where they are accessible. That means not on your current PC. By the time you need it you may be 3 machines on. What that means to me is print the photos and do a scaled drawing and put the drawings in the 81/2x11 plastic sleeves and into a 3ring binder. Put that in the boiler room and tie it to something.

Will you post some pictures, please? Even though I haven't seen your basement, I imagine you'll need/want to build a mechanical room around the furnace to separate it from the rest of the space.

Too cold and rainy to go out and get a photo, but ours is on the side of the house between a garage and a walk out basement (there is a grade change between them as our driveway is rather steep and curved) and it is clustered with other items like the gas meter, dryer vent, and ac unit. We have a fenced area around it as it's also where we store our trash can and our riding lawn mower.

We're facing this same challenge with a new high efficiency furnace vent coming out of our front bay window. @HU-514395560 - did you have luck with using plants to hide your vent? If so, what species worked? I'm hoping to plant a low evergreen a couple feet out from the vent to hide it year-round. We wanted a high efficiency furnace and unfortunately this was the only spot to vent it, but the sales guy sure did downplay how big the vent is and also led me to believe we could successfully landscape around it which I'm now second guessing.