Hi,

My wife and I recently bought a fairly new home (2001) with an unfinished walkout basement that has a 9x9' laundry room, 9x9' bathroom, and a 20x35' space that includes the hot water heater and gas furnace. The foundation was poured such that the height difference between the floor at the rear of the 20x35' space and the front of that space is about 3 inches (over the 20 feet from the rear to the front - the rear is higher than the front). From left to right (across the 35 feet), the floor is level. This was done intentionally - the rest of the house is level. Also, the floor in the laundry room and bathroom (which adjoin the 20x35' space at the "low" end) is level.

I am wondering how I should level the floor so I can finish the basement. The 3" differential makes me hesitant to consider self-leveling floor compounds because most of them seem intended for much smaller differentials. I also want to frame the walls of the basement and add some interior walls to partition the main 20x35' space. Do I:

1) Frame the walls and interior walls first, then level the floor, or level the floor first, and then frame the walls?

2) Level the entire basement area to the same height (would require me to raise the hot water heater and gas furnace, as well as the bathroom fixtures), or have a "stutter step" (i.e. a step about 3" in height) join the main area with the (already level, but lower) laundry room/bathroom, and enclose the water heater/gas furnace area at its original height?

3) Level the floor by building a wood subfloor on top of the existing concrete slab, or level it with floor leveling compound of some sort?

I have about 9.5 feet between the concrete slab and the joists above, so I would have enough vertical space to build a wood subfloor. Since the floor is level from left to right, it seems like a plausible alternative. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

-dave

Is the "walkout" part near the laundry and bathroom, in such a wat that you can level the main floor and have a step-down to the laundry and bathroom doors and the "walkout" door?

I do not usually recommend ONE STEP anywhere, but in your case it seems like a logical solution. If feasible, you can level the floor with 2x4 "joists" shimmed often enough that their span is reduced to about 4 or 5 feet, and that would give you about a seven inch step,

If you do this, be sure that you make the floor finished above and below the step as contrasting as possible, so people see the step.