"Rob" wrote in message
...
I would like to make a den in my currently unfinished basement and I have
two issues I need to resolve in order to accomplish this:

1) The clearance on the ceiling in the basement now is fine unfinished,
but putting in a regular drop ceiling requires 4 inches as I recall, and
I'd like to not take up that much of the overhead space. Is there any
other drop ceiling technology out there that requires less space? If not,
is a drywall ceiling feasible in a basement? I am reluctant to put one in
because having access to the piping and wiring above is important. Any
thoughts?

2) The current steps to the basement are somewhat steep and face the back
wall of the basement. I would prefer the stair itself to turn 180 degrees
so that when entering the new basement den, you enter right into the room
instead of having to do a turnaround at the bottom of the stair. I have
lived in old homes before which had a "fan" type of stair (each step is
about an inch wide on one side, and each step "fans out" to be full width
on the other edge next to the outer wall). Would that be something I could
easily get built by a contractor/carpenter nowadays, or not? (I'm just not
sure if such stairs are commonly built today....

Thanks in advance for any ideas.


I used Ceiling Max in my basement.
http://www.acpideas.com/index.cfm?XlinkID=18
Home Depot sells it.