My basement ceiling joists are exactly 7 feet above the concrete slab. The requirement for finished living space is 7 ft from the finished floor to the finished ceiling. Since I'll loose a couple of inches with the flooring (I'll have Delta-FL drainboard + laminate) and the ceiling (drywall), essentially I won't have enough height to meet the requirement.
I'm quoting from what I think is my local code (pdf):
R305.1 (Amended). Habitable space, hallways, corridors, bathrooms, toilet rooms, laundry rooms and portions of basements containing these spaces shall have a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet. The required height shall be measured from the finished floor to the lowest projection of the ceiling. Not more than 50% of the floor area of a room or space is permitted to have a sloped ceiling less than 7 feet in height.
Question: what can I do about this? One idea I had was to put the drywall between the joists rather than below them perhaps just a few inches above the lower end to compensate for this. Would this fly? Has anyone done anything like that? I realize that this is going to be a lot more work but I may be willing to do it. Any other ideas?
Best Answer
Per the wording of that code, you can't be adding anything to the floor or the ceiling as you'll be under the 7' minimum. You could consider a super-thin flooring (stain the concrete? Linoleum?) and then, as you suggest, put the sheetrock between the joists (though that sounds like a finishing nightmare).
Alternatively, raise the foundation (likely cost prohibitive).
All that said, I echo B Mitch...what is the concern of not meeting the code? The main drawback would be that you couldn't advertise it as finished square footage when you sell.
The first thing I'd do, though, is have an inspector come out and ask what the odds would be in getting a 1" variance or so. They may count it as 'close enough' and let you get by.