What is a finished basement?

[Alex electrical student]

What is a finished basement?
I have that question because i want to know if i need to put the GFCIs in it or not. I heard a person say that if the basement has finished walls but has concrete floor, no carpete or wood floor than you should consider it a unfinished basement. His conclusion was that if a person is standing on a bare concrete floor than he is grounded well which lead to a high chance of death if he will be shocked. I agreed with him on that but what if i panted the floor would that make it finished basement?

 

[charlie b]

I think you need an introduction to ?Charlie?s Rule.? It has been discussed on this forum several times, and you can look it up by searching the forum. It?s essential message is that the code (or any other document, for that matter) does not say what you think it says. What Charlie?s Rule tells you is that you should not believe, or act upon, what someone else says the code says. Nor should you act upon your memory of what the code says. Rather, you should read the code, and discover for yourself what it says.

In this case, I think you will find your answer in 210.8(A)(5). You will note that there is nothing in there about carpet, nor anything about walls, nor anything about shock hazards. It is all about the intended use of the space. Take a look, and tell us if that answers your question.

 

[haskindm]

Look at 210.8(A)(5). Whether or not a basement is "finished" has more to do with the use of the basement than the material that is on the floor or walls. If the area is being used as a "habitable room", then it is finished. If it is only being used for storage or work area, then it is not. Of course everything is subject to interpretation by the AHJ...
If it is that hard to decide, just put in the GFCI and forget it.

Charlie beat me to it....

 

[Alex electrical student]

Thank you very much. I'll try not going into the code book deeper than i need to.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

Look at 210.8(A)(5). Whether or not a basement is "finished" has more to do with the use of the basement than the material that is on the floor or walls. If the area is being used as a "habitable room", then it is finished. If it is only being used for storage or work area, then it is not. Of course everything is subject to interpretation by the AHJ...
If it is that hard to decide, just put in the GFCI and forget it.

Charlie beat me to it....

Different jurisdictions treat the finished or unfinished basement differently. In my opinion the only way to know for sure in your area is to contact the AHJ and ask him/her directly.