[jyl]

Just egress windows, not a daylight basement. Cladding is wood siding, but it starts above the basement windows. No sump pump. The grade at the house is 6 feet above street level, and downspouts are all tied into drains, no stains etc to suggest basement has ever had water issues and has stayed dry for us through two wet winters (is there any other kind in Portland).

House is 3 story (two main floors plus 700 sq ft finished attic) above the basement, 100 yrs old, sort of craftsman-ish - locally we call it a "four-square", anyway is a traditional looking house. Including all 1000 sq ft of basement, house would be 4010 sq ft, but I won't build out entire basement, want to leave some room for workshop/darkroom. Also there is part of the basement that has a lot of overhead HVAC ducting, would be too complicated to build around and headroom compromised there, so that's where the workshop will go.

Yes, I am terrible at mudding, but main house walls are not smooth, are a sort of textured look so I would hire someone to do that. I want to take the oppty to add a supporting post in one spot, figure could have that part of the slab cut and a deeper footing poured, while they are in there trenching for the drain.

Around here stuff sells for $250/sqft. I figure even if well-finished basement only gets $150/sqft, I should be able to add value net of costs. Costs appx $40-50K to get 500+ sq ft of basement built out here (some friends have done it), I am hoping to do it for $15-20K to trades plus sweat. I might have to get a bigger electrical panel though.

Need to research soundproofing, want the guest/inlaw quarters to not hear every footstep from above.