Basement Drywall Finishing in Arvada, CO
A basement finish requires a building permit in Arvada. The city lists basement finishes explicitly alongside interior remodels, garage conversions, structural modifications and foundation repair. That is not a formality worth skipping: BBB Colorado's own advice when hiring is to make sure the contractor has pulled a permit, and unpermitted basement work turns up as a problem at resale rather than at the time.
We do the drywall portion. If you are running the whole basement yourself or through a general contractor, we come in after framing, insulation and rough inspection, and we leave you ready for paint.
Where basement drywall differs from the rest of the house
Three things change downstairs. Moisture, ceilings, and the fact that everything above your head is somebody's service run.
Moisture first. A basement is the one place in a house where the wall assembly can get damp from behind rather than from a leak. Mould-resistant board on the perimeter walls is a cheap insurance policy here: USG Mold Tough or Gold Bond XP, both of which score at the top of the ASTM D3273 mould test. It costs a few dollars a sheet more and it is the upgrade we recommend most often and get taken up on least.
Ceilings second. Basement ceilings are full of ductwork, waste lines and wiring, and every one of them needs to stay reachable. A soffit is cheaper than a drop ceiling and looks better, but a main cleanout or a shutoff valve behind sealed drywall is a decision you will regret exactly once. We flag those before we board them and we will fit an access panel rather than pretend it is not there.
Third, sound. A finished basement is usually a media room, a teenager, or both, and it sits directly under the main floor. Insulation between the floor joists plus resilient channel is the cheap version of the fix. There is a whole page on the expensive version.
The level 5 question in a basement, which is usually no
Basements are the room type where level 5 gets sold hardest and needed least. GA-214-2021 points at level 5 for critical lighting, defined as strong side lighting from windows or surface-mounted fixtures, and for non-flat paint above 5 gloss units at 60 degrees.
A basement with two egress windows and recessed ceiling cans in a matte finish has neither. Level 4 is the correct specification and the difference on a 1,200 square foot basement is real money at $1.65 to $3.15 per square foot for level 4 against $2.00 to $3.50 for level 5.
The exception is a basement with a walkout. A walkout wall of glass throws exactly the raking light the standard is describing, and on that one wall level 5 earns its keep. Specifying level 5 on the walkout wall and level 4 everywhere else is a perfectly normal thing to write on a quote and almost nobody does it.
How much does basement drywall cost in Arvada?
Basement drywall in Arvada costs $1.50 to $2.30 per square foot of board installed, which on a typical 1,200 square foot basement with 8 foot ceilings works out to roughly $3,000 to $4,500 once walls and ceiling are counted.
Worth knowing what a suspiciously cheap quote looks like. A homeowner on Houzz posted a basement quote of $3,450 for 1,360 square feet with 10 foot ceilings, 120 boards, mud and tape included, ready to paint. A finisher in the replies called it too low at roughly 60 cents a square foot of finished area. Being underbid is not free: the crew that took that job is making it back somewhere, usually in coats.
Our quotes itemise hang, tape and texture separately, and name a finish level. If you are comparing three bids and only one of them does that, you are not comparing three bids.
Sequence, and where we fit in it
The order that works: framing, rough electrical and plumbing, insulation, framing inspection, then us, then paint, then flooring and trim. We want to be after the inspection because a failed rough means walls come back open, and the cheapest time for that to happen is before there is board on them.
One local scheduling quirk. We do not start basements on a Friday. A basement hang that stops halfway through a weekend means board sitting on a slab through two days of whatever the humidity is doing, and it is not worth the two days we would save. Danny has opinions about this that predate him working here.
Typical duration for a 1,200 square foot basement is three to five working days for hang, tape and texture, spread across about a week to let coats dry.
| Basement size | Board installed | Add for level 5 over level 4 | Permit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 sq ft | $800 to $1,100 | roughly $175 to $350 | Required in Arvada |
| 1,000 sq ft | $1,500 to $2,300 | roughly $350 to $700 | Required in Arvada |
| 1,200 sq ft | $1,800 to $2,760 | roughly $420 to $840 | Required in Arvada |
| 2,000 sq ft | $3,000 to $4,500 | roughly $700 to $1,400 | Required in Arvada |
Questions we get asked
Do I need a permit to finish a basement in Arvada?
Yes. The City of Arvada lists basement finishes explicitly among the residential interior projects requiring a permit, alongside interior remodels, garage conversions and structural work. Arvada Building Services will confirm scope on 720-898-7620.
Should I use mould-resistant drywall in a basement?
On the perimeter walls, yes, and we recommend it every time. USG Mold Tough and Gold Bond XP both score at the top of the ASTM D3273 mould test and cost only a few dollars more per sheet. On interior partitions well away from the foundation it is optional.
How long does basement drywall take?
Three to five working days of actual work for a 1,200 square foot basement, spread across about a week so coats can dry. Texture and prime add another day.
Can you work around the ductwork and pipes?
That is most of the skill in a basement. We build soffits around runs, and we fit access panels at cleanouts and shutoffs rather than boarding over them. We will walk the ceiling with you and point at anything that needs to stay reachable before we start.
Related
- Ceiling Repair · Sagging, cracked or holed ceilings put back and re-textured to match.
- Texture Matching · Knockdown, orange peel and skip trowel blended into what is already on your wall.
- Popcorn Ceiling Removal · Scraped, skimmed and re-textured, with the asbestos rule explained before we quote.
- Everywhere we work