Kevin Kidder
Columbus Dispatch

One of the most underused spaces in a home has traditionally been the lower level.

The oft-maligned basement, after all, evokes descriptors such as dark, dank and musty. Yet many homeowners — largely because of the dour housing market, home builders and remodeling contractors say — are discovering that the costs of renovating a basement amount to a good investment.

“People are finding that it’s the best money spent when you compare square-footage cost with a new build,” said John Roy, owner of C. Roy Homes of Powell.

Homeowners don’t want to waste space, Roy said, nor do they want to spend money to move.

What’s more, basement remodeling is more feasible with products such as a hardwood floor that can be laid directly onto concrete.

At least four basement projects — including two by C. Roy Homes — will be featured next weekend during the Showcase of Remodeled Homes.

The 19th annual event will invite visitors to tour 16 completed projects throughout central Ohio.

The idea of wasted space was an anathema to Johan Ferreira, whose Orange Township house near Powell had an oddly configured basement.

The single large room contained a bathroom near the center — used to disguise support poles. Otherwise, the room was just a big rectangle of drywall with a wall of windows facing the backyard.

“There was no method to the madness,” he said. “It’s just wasteful to not use this space.”

Working with Roy, Ferreira had a grand vision: He wanted an open space that flowed logically, and he wanted to integrate the basement with the rest of the 2,760 square-foot-house by using similar designs.

“Let’s make this place come alive by opening it up, making it one big lovely space,” he recalled thinking.

With the project:

• The new staircase handrail mirrors that of the main staircase in the house.

• Two elaborate white wooden columns, which now disguise the support poles, match those on the first floor.

• The bathroom is more logically located next to a new guest bedroom.

• A granite-topped wet bar was added.

• A fitness room was created in the back near the breaker box, now hidden in a white wood cabinet.

• Toward the windows and glass-paned door facing the backyard, a large space was created with a gas fireplace set in custom-chosen grayish stones.

• Book-ending the fireplace are an entertainment center with a flat-screen television in built-in wooden cabinetry (to the left) and dark-brown book shelves (to the right).

Originally from South Africa, Ferreira looks forward to watching South African rugby in the room while sipping a beer. His wife, Barbara Kunz, likes the space for entertaining or just unwinding.

“It’s just a dream,” Mr. Ferreira said. “I’m like a kid in a candy store.”

In the Lewis Center home of Kevin and Linda O’Brien, Roy converted an unfinished basement into 1,500 square feet of usable space featuring an Irish-style pub, a home theater and a kids’ playroom.

About a year ago, the O’Briens decided to remodel the basement so their four young daughters would have more space. They had bought the new 4,010-square-foot house almost three years earlier.

“What we were trying to do was optimize the space and make it a continuation of the other floors in the house,” Mr. O’Brien said.

The home theater features a projector with a 100-inch screen in a room without windows, he said. The pub aims to lend a family atmosphere.

“We’ve gotten a lot of use out of it, and it’s made our house much more enjoyable,” he said. “It’s allowed us to open up the house and entertain much more effectively.”

Like John Roy, Charlie Griffey, owner of Griffey & Associates on the Far East Side, has seen an upswing in the number of lower-level renovations.

“Remodeling has just boomed because of the housing market,” he said, noting the popularity of basement projects.

About 95 percent of the lower levels he remodels, he says, previously were unfinished.

One exception was a project in Westerville — in a home also on the tour: Griffey turned “a kind of finished” basement with a wet bar into a walkout basement featuring an upgraded wet bar with granite surfaces and slate tiles.

Other enhancements:

• A vent-free fireplace and new theater room.

• A home-automation system.

• A security system with cameras.

“This one was pretty high-tech,” Griffey said. “It’s above your basic basement refit.”

Remodeler Adam Thompson of Thompson Building Associates in Columbus said he frequently turns bare concrete basements into wine cellars, entertainment centers, bedrooms and bars.

“The basement is becoming a big part of family life,” said Thompson, who has a Dublin project on the tour.

A few years back, he renovated his own basement, raising the ceiling and adding a bathroom and bar as well as a rec room.

“I guess in previous years it was just a storage area.”