Finishing basement space is one way to add living expense relatively economically. The box structure of floor, walls, and ceiling is already in place; all you have to do is add the finishes.

One of the keys to keeping the cost down is to properly plan out the basement renovation and to the various items that need to be accomplished in a specific sequence in order to avoid having to rework items already done.

The first priority is to define the space. By that, I mean; is it a complete set of living quarters with a kitchen, bathroom, sitting area and bedroom; or is it a large family room with an entertainment system; or maybe it will be a room to house the ping-pong or billiards table.

Once you determine the what, you have to determine the how. Many of the how questions, will be based on your geographic location.

Considerations:

• Heating: How will you heat and/or cool the basement areas? There are numerous choices, forced air, electric (radiant, baseboard), hot water (radiators, radiant), and using a fireplace. If the room is not completely below ground, an in wall HVAC unit could be utilized. If there is a bathroom, it could be heated with heat lamps. If you are planning on using a current forced air system or a current hot water heating systems, does it have the capacity to heat and/or cool the additional space?
• Plumbing: If there is a to be a bathroom and/or kitchen you will have to install drains and water supply lines. Is the current hot water tank or system capable of the increased demands? If not, you will have to replace the current tank or install another tank or use a tankless system.
• Ventilation: Bathrooms and kitchens require ventilation and will require make-up air for those ventilation systems. Fireplaces also require make-up air.
• Safety: Smoke alarms should be installed, especially if there are bedrooms.
• Electrical: At minimum, you will require receptacles on walls and some method lighting the new space. Electric stoves and ovens, heating and hot water will make serious demands on your current electrical service, can it handle the increased load. Will you need a sub-panel to handle the additional circuits or is their space in the current panel?
• Dampness: One of the prime distracters for finishing a basement is that most of them are damp. Damp can generally be taken care of relatively easily with vapor barriers and insulation. However, visible water on walls or the floor could require a major undertaking to correct.

Construction Process:

1. Take care of any water problems in the basement, walls, and floors. If there are windows, and they are going to remain as they are, make sure the frames are sealed for water ingress against the block or concrete walls.
2. Replace or modify any major items such as HVAC main system units and perform the upgrade on the electrical service if required.
3. Install any drainage for toilets and/or sinks if it means running the drains under the current concrete floor. This is also the time to install any electrical boxes with conduit for floor receptacles for power, cable TV, or telephone. Repair any concrete damage.
4. If you are installing a fireplace, the fireplace hearth and flue should be installed next. If it is a wood burning stove that does not require a hearth you should add the flue at this point so that it protrudes through the wall or ceiling at a length sufficiently long enough to be able to connect to after the wall or ceilings are finished.

5. Install any ductwork for ventilation and HVAC if required.
6. If a bathtub, or stall shower is to be installed this is when it should be done (some plumbing for hot and cold water supplies may have to be done at this point. Only do what is necessary to bring the water lines outside of any unreachable area).
7. If you are installing a sub-floor and vapor barrier, it should be done at this stage.
8. Frame all wood or steel studs along walls and construct any room dividers needed.
9. Install all drain lines and water supply lines that run in the walls and ceilings, dont forget water lines for ice makers if required.
10. Install all ceiling and wall ventilation units with the exception of kitchen exhaust hoods, which would be installed after the installation of the kitchen cabinets.
11. If the ceiling will require strapping, install it at this stage.
12. Install receptacle, switch and light boxes and run all wiring from the electrical panel to those boxes as appropriate, electrical heaters and kitchen appliances if required. Also, run all wiring for cable TV, computers, speakers, or other entertainment devices.
13. Install all insulation in walls and/or ceilings followed by a vapor barrier.
14. Install the wall and ceiling finish material, drywall, wood paneling, or other. Tape and sand drywall. (If you are installing a suspended ceiling, tape, sand, and paint the drywall on the walls before hanging the suspended ceiling).
15. Do all painting to final finished coat.
16. Install the flooring (I prefer to install kitchen base cabinets and bathroom vanities on top of flooring in order to maintain counter heights).
17. Install all bathroom fixtures, including vanities and kitchen cabinets, base and wall units.
18. Install all door trims baseboards, other moldings, and doors (if you are moving large items into the area you can remove the doors by popping the bolts after installation). Paint these items before installing and do touch-up after installation.
19. Install ceiling and wall sconce lights, smoke detectors, do trim out on electrical boxes and ventilation grills.
20. Install wood burning stove if appropriate.
21. Move in furniture and appliances.

Enjoy your new space!

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Finally, if you need to lose weight, you need to minimize the amount of calories that you are taking in by monitoring how many you are consuming.

The average person should consume about 1800 to 2000 calories per day. If you are dieting and need to lose weight, you need to reduce this amount to at 1500 to 1600 calories per day. Go with the reductions that your doctor recommends here so that you have enough fuel for the day but are not allowing your body to store the extra fuel as fat throughout your body.

Where Are You Now?

When it comes to improving your diet fitness, you need to take into consideration the location that you are right now.

What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? How many calories are you consuming per day?

To help you to see the clear picture of what's happening to your health in the foods that you eat, take note of how a normal day or week goes for you. Here are some steps to follow to find out how healthy your diet actually is and how healthy it isn't!

1. Spend one or two days recording the foods that you eat in an average day on a piece of paper. All foods and drinks should be noted!
2. Figure out how many calories you are consuming in an average day.
3. Look at your list of foods and see how many of them are high in saturated fats, sugars and calories in general.
4. How many servings of vegetables and fruits are you getting? How many servings of protein has been lean protein? Did you get in any whole grains? How much soda did you drink (which puts pounds on your waist each time?)
5. How often did you eat without actually being hungry but being instead bored, anxious, stressed or otherwise emotionally impaired?

When you look at these facts you may clearly see where the problems lie. Being honest with yourself is important, though. For most people this is as simple as tracking what they eat over the period of a few days to a week.

Seeing just how much in calories as well as in unhealthiness can really cause them to see what reality really is rather than to assume they are doing okay.

I Can Not Give It Up!

If you are one of the many that feel that they can't give up the foods that they love no matter what, there are several key things for you to address. Don't worry, they aren't all bad!

First, find out why it is that you can't give them up. For example, are you connected with that big slice of apple pie because it was your favorite growing up, you may have an emotional attachment to the foods. If you love your mashed potatoes loaded with gravy, sour cream and butter just because you love the taste, that's a different story.

Identifying why you have to have a specific food is important so that you can actually see the benefits of eating those foods. If you need apple pie to feel safe, you need to address this emotional problem. If you just love the taste, you can find ways to get much of the same taste without a lot of the calories.

Next, determine if there is a better way for you to get the foods that you like. For example, will sweetened sweet potatoes that are mashed still give you the same texture and creaminess that you are craving?

By making small changes to the recipe you can get all of the flavor and texture that you want without causing yourself to become a victim of high fats and sugars that really do a number on your entire system.

Indeed you may want that slice of apple pie. But, use it in a different way. For example, instead of eating it every few days make it the reward that you get for a week of good eating. Limiting how often you get the treats means that you don't have to give them up but that you don't consume nearly as much of it, and therefore you can improve your health overall.

One limit to this is when the food itself is detrimental to your health condition. If you are a diabetic, you simply should not eat foods that are overall sweet because they can cause your blood sugar level to rise so fast that you can cause serious damage to your brain and your heart through the consumption of just some foods.

You should know what types of foods you can not eat. If you don't know you should talk to your doctor about this. There are certain times in life that foods become prime suspects to leading to health risks. Food isn't worth the risk of your life, is it?

Codant Wright is an author writing on Fitness and Exercise. Visit my website and get my Free Brand New 5 Part Fitness Ecourse at http://www.best-fitness.info