A+ Handyman
Basement Remodeling in Winchester, VA
A+ Handyman
You are not buying land, pouring a foundation or putting on a roof. The box is built. Finishing a basement is framing, wiring, insulation, drywall, flooring and trim — and getting it dry first.
We finish basements across Winchester and Frederick County. Whole basements, or the one corner you actually need: an office, a spare bedroom, somewhere the kids can be loud.
A basement that takes water will ruin whatever you build in it. Not immediately — a year or two later, behind the drywall, which is the worst possible place to find out.
So before anything gets framed we look at where the water is coming from: gutters and downspouts dumping at the foundation, grading that runs toward the house instead of away, window wells with no drainage, a failed sump.
Some of that is our work and some of it is not. Foundation waterproofing, crack injection and drainage systems are a specialist trade and we do not pretend otherwise — if that is what your basement needs, we will tell you plainly and point you at someone who does it properly. What we will not do is frame a wall over a wet block and take your money for it.
Framing. Walls furred out or framed free-standing, soffits to hide ducts and pipes, and door openings where you want them rather than where the ducts made them easy.
Electrical. Outlets to code spacing, recessed lighting that makes a low ceiling feel taller, switches at the bottom *and* the top of the stairs, dedicated circuits, and smoke and CO detectors where code wants them. We are licensed for this — see electrical.
Insulation and vapour control, done the way a below-grade wall actually wants rather than the way an above-grade wall does.
Drywall, taped, finished and painted.
Ceilings. Drop ceiling if you need access to what is above it, drywall if you would rather not look at a grid. There is a real trade-off and we will walk you through it.
Flooring suited to below grade — luxury vinyl plank, engineered, tile. Not solid hardwood, and we will explain why before you buy it.
Stairs and railings, trim, doors, and the handrail that has been wobbling since you moved in.
A bathroom, if the rough-in is there. Many basements around here have one waiting under the slab. If yours does, adding a bathroom is far cheaper than people expect.
If the plan is a bedroom, code wants an egress window — a way out that is not the stairs. That means cutting the foundation wall, which is masonry work rather than carpentry.
We will tell you straight whether your basement needs one and what it involves, before you have spent anything on drawings. Better to know at the start than after the framing is up.
A basement touches every trade in one room: framing, electrical, plumbing, drywall, flooring, paint and trim. That is five or six different contractors on a normal job, each waiting on the last one, in a space you cannot use until they are all finished.
We do all of it with the same crew and one schedule. When something turns up behind the panelling — and in a basement it usually does — we deal with it instead of scheduling around it.
A+ Handyman has been in business 28 years and I’ve been in the trade 42. Class A contractor, VA licence #2705161701, Frederick County #24352, insured and bonded through Erie, and voted Best Handyman in the Winchester Star ten years running.
You get an estimate before we start, the same faces the whole way through, and one invoice at the end.
Winchester, Stephens City, Kernstown, Stephenson, Clearbrook, Gore and Cross Junction, plus Berryville, Middletown, Boyce, Front Royal and Strasburg — and the rest of Frederick County.
Most people already know — an office, a bedroom, somewhere for the teenagers, or just not storing things on a concrete floor any more. Tell us what you want down there and we will come look. Estimates are free.
Get a free estimate → · (540) 550-2856 · Mon–Fri 8–5