Benjamin, I would think that an experienced builder could look at it and tell you what needs to be done right off the bat, without going to the expense of hiring an engineer. There's nothing wrong with getting a quote and then deciding to do all or part of the work yourself. The reason I asked if the original builder put up the wall, is that the work looks kind of amateurish to me. Why go to the trouble of building a wall, using that much wood and not finishing it, when a simple beam with support posts would have been much easier to do. What is on the floor over that wall? Maybe a previous owner was trying to correct a problem or trying to put in additional support for something heavy (like a waterbed). If the wall is a true bearing wall, I would think that it's also supporting another bearing wall on top of it. I'm having a bearing wall taken down on my first floor and wanted to move one of the supports for the beam that the builder is putting in. My builder told me that the support had to be there because it would sit over a support in the basement and it's important to transmit the load from above all the way to the ground.

There are two forms of noise. The first is echo. That's when a noise (like talking on the phone) originates in the space and then 'hangs' in the space (bounces from wall to wall to wall to ceiling to windows to flooring again and again and again). Then there is noise 'transfer'. That's when a noise (said talking) moves from one area to another. That can be 'down a hallway' or 'up the stairs'. To stop noise TRANSFER you need to stop the ECHO. You need to DEADEN the sound at the SOURCE. The space that the noise originates in (aka 'the tv room') needs to be dealt with so that noise does not 'echo' (does not bounce around) and therefore does not TRANSFER. To 'deaden' the noise at the source you need soft(er) things...like carpet on the floors, drapes covering large windows, noise reducing tiles (the foam-like things) on the ceiling and large stuffy fabrics in the space (like a fabric sofa and fabric arm chairs and fabric bean bag chairs, etc). All of those 'soft' finishes will DEADEN the noise in the 'noise producing' room. The INSULATION in the walls, under the flooring, in the ceiling, around the pipes/air ducts, etc are the things that STOP noise TRANSFER. Without insulation 'inside' things you can have all the noise deadening products you want but you will still have noise TRANSFER. You need both systems working in tandem to deal with troublesome noises. Doors stop noise moving up and down a stairwell. Interior solid core doors are the best at doing this. If you are hearing too much noise coming 'up' or going 'down' the stairs, then the fastest trick is to add a solid core door. If noise is going DOWN then you need the door at the TOP of the stairs (closest to the noise source). If the noise is coming UP the stairs then you need the door at the BASE of the stairs (again, it should be closest to the source).

Hi mike_home, My husband and I had thought of your solution from the very beginning of our basement reno! Everytime we ask a HVAC company to do just install some vents in the basement ceiling they try and sell us a split system or a new A/C system altogether. The cost is always around $10,000. If we could only find someone who does HVAC work that would do that for us our problem would be solved. Yes, our furnace is located in the basement and the separate forced air A/C system is located in the attic. Our home is a Ranch style so the ductwork (is that the same as supply vents?) does not have far to travel. Our basement isn't that hot in the summer so we don't need much extra A/C/. It's so frustrating. Thanks so much for your valuable input! We are also in Central NJ, do you have someone that you could recommend?

It looks like you have a stringer and baseboard but no skirt board. Underneath the carpet is almost certainly raw wood. What kind of wood? Particle board, plywood, solid wood--pine, oak...? It's the sideboards that seem problematic. They look sort of easy to do, if you happen to have a table saw. You don't need & would not use a table saw to cut a skirt board. (If that is what you mean by 'sideboards'.) If you plan to use vinyl on the stair treads, then you will need skirt boards to cover the gaps (which I assume are necessary with vinyl treads.) . When the carpet comes off, come back & post another picture.