Rec Room into two small rooms???
Hello, I currently live in a duplex with my two daughters living in our finished basement rec room. My wife and I live on the Parlor floor. On one side of our rec room is the bathroom without any windows. On the other side is two different windows and a door which leads to the back garden. The rec room is overall 17.5 feet wide by 36 feet long. I am trying to devise a way to get two rooms for them with each having some natural light. Has anyone seen a set-up where a wall is split down the middle to a decent length thereby enabling each girl to get some natural light? Meaning the width of their rooms would only be about 8 feet (17/2) but the length could be longer. We’re concerned when they get older they might be at each others throats and need their own bed rooms. We already have access to the backyard garden from a Parlor stairway. Thanks for your thoughts!
jjbel
in About Brooklyn 10 years and 8 months ago
5
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5 replies
dazednconfused2 | 10 years and 8 months ago
The 60 sq ft requirement is intended to make it impossible to have livable space in a cellar. So yes, it is intentionally smaller than anything besides a bathroom or closet. The intent is to prohibit people from living in inhumane conditions or renting out an illegal cellar apartment. As for an office, forget about using that word. It brings in a host of other requirements. Aside from a rec room, any room that’s not a closet, storage, bathroom, mechanical, etc, will need to comply with minimum light and air requirements, have a minimum dimension of 8′ and be at least 80 sq ft, and is not allowed in a cellar. So if you want a home office in a cellar, and you want to file it with the DOB, you must call it a storage room. How you use that storage room after it’s signed off is up to you.
cmu | 10 years and 8 months ago
Jim, curious about your wording about less than 60sqft. How could a room (other than a closet or bath) be that small anyway? So what’s the restriction? I have the same setup, a full-width section at the back with a door & window and less than 50% above ground at the front, so can I make an ‘office’ at the back by building a cross wall? Thanks.
dazednconfused2 | 10 years and 8 months ago
Sounds like a cellar. Legally, if you have a rec room and a full bathroom, you cannot have separate rooms over 60 sq ft, so the bedrooms, or offices, or whatever you call them, would be non-compliant. I can’t comment on how easily the DOB will notice this. It depends more on your neighbors. If one calls the DOB, you could get violations for work without a permit and use contrary to c of o.
jjbel | 10 years and 8 months ago
Jim, Thanks for the reply. I’m fairly certain its a cellar. The front is 75% below grade however in the back we are at 40% and have 2 windows and a door to the garden. There’s also an internal stairway to the lower floor. If I still build these two bedrooms, I guess I have to label them as “rooms / offices” ? How easily would the DOB catch onto this?
dazednconfused2 | 10 years and 8 months ago
You call a rec room, so does that mean it’s a cellar, not a basement? If it’s a cellar (more than 50% below the curb), then you can’t have sleeping rooms there anyway, so the current situation is not code compliant, and there’s no compliant way to make it two bedrooms. If it’s a basement, then yes, you can divide the room in half if each room is 8′ wide.