An unfinished basement is often the easiest place to find more living space in the house you already own. We turn bare concrete and open studs into family rooms, offices, guest rooms and storage, handling the carpentry from framing to the last piece of trim ourselves. Zanini Renovations has been a fully insured renovation business in Carleton Place since 2020, finishing basements across Ottawa, Carleton Place and the rest of Lanark County.
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Framing. Exterior walls framed in front of the foundation, interior walls for rooms and closets, and bulkheads boxed around ducts, beams and pipes.
Insulation and vapour barrier. The foundation walls need to be insulated and protected properly before anything gets closed in. It's the step that makes the biggest difference to how warm the room feels in winter.
Drywall. Hanging, taping, mudding and sanding walls and ceilings to a smooth, paint-ready finish. More on our drywall page.
Flooring suited to a concrete slab, such as vinyl plank, engineered wood, laminate or tile. See flooring installation for the options.
Doors, trim and closets. Interior doors, sliding barn doors where swing space is tight, closet doors, casings, baseboards and shoe moulding. See finish carpentry and trim.
Built-ins. Shelving, desk nooks, media walls and storage under the stairs, built to fit the room. See custom built-ins and closets.
Electrical and plumbing work has to be done by qualified, certified trades. That includes outlets, pot lights, and the drains and supply lines for a basement bathroom or wet bar. We arrange qualified, certified electricians and plumbers as part of your project and schedule their work around ours, so you don't have to find them yourself. Structural changes, like removing a post or enlarging a window opening, are a separate discussion and may need an engineer.
Finishing a basement often needs a building permit, and permitted work comes with inspections before walls are closed in. Rules are set locally: the City of Ottawa has its own guidance for finishing a basement, while Carleton Place, Mississippi Mills, Beckwith and Perth each run their own building departments. We can help with the permit application as an optional add-on, quoted separately, or you're welcome to handle the permit yourself. Our work in Ontario is done to the Ontario Building Code (O.Reg. 332/12).
We won't frame over a wet wall. Before planning a layout, we check for signs of water: stains, white chalky deposits on the concrete, a musty smell, or damp spots after rain or the spring thaw. If there's a source, such as grading, downspouts, a crack or the sump, it needs fixing first. Once the space is dry, we'll talk through how the walls and floor should be put together for your basement.
When water has already done damage, the job is part repair, part finishing. In a Carleton Place basement we cut out the damaged drywall and replaced a 2 foot flood cut through two rooms and a hallway. We taped and sanded it to blend with the upper walls, then installed new door trim, baseboards, shoe moulding and flooring throughout. If the repair is part of an insurance claim, mention it when you get in touch.
You'll get a schedule with your quote. Workmanship is covered by our one-year limited warranty.
On a basement, the details that make it feel like the rest of the house happen at the end: the trim lines, the drywall corners, how the closet doors close. Because we handle the framing at the start and the trim at the end, we plan those finishes from day one. You deal directly with the owner, Jonas Zanini, from the estimate to the final walkthrough. Zanini Renovations is fully insured.
We also take on finishing work in condos and commercial spaces, such as a lower-level office or storage room. Most of the carpentry and renovation work we do in houses, we also do for condo owners and businesses. Recent examples include a custom office desk built at a client's workplace, and our most recent kitchen was a condo project too.
We finish basements in Carleton Place, Beckwith and Franktown, Almonte and Pakenham, Perth, Smiths Falls, Arnprior and Lanark County. In Ottawa we work in Stittsville, Kanata, Barrhaven, Nepean, Riverside South, Manotick, Richmond, Carp and Ashton, and we also take basement work in Gatineau.
“I highly recommend Jonas! He was very professional, friendly and did a great job dry walling and installing flooring and trim in our basement. Communication was great and price was fair as well!”
Alana H., Google
“We renovated our entire house with him — he built our basement from scratch, and the drywall finishing was fantastic, always thinking about how to make the best use of every space.”
Leo B., Google
Often, yes, and the rules depend on your municipality and the work involved. Ottawa residents can check the City of Ottawa's basement-finishing guidance. In Carleton Place, Mississippi Mills, Beckwith or Perth, check with the local building department. If you'd like help with the permit application, we offer it as an optional add-on, quoted separately.
It depends on size, condition, and how many trades and inspections are involved. We'll give you a schedule with your written quote.
Yes, once the source of the water is fixed and the space is dry. We've cut out and replaced flood-damaged drywall, then reinstalled trim and new flooring, as in our Carleton Place flood restoration.
You don't need to hire them separately. We arrange qualified, certified electricians and plumbers as part of the project and coordinate their work with ours. Your written estimate sets out who does what.
Yes. Closets, bifold or barn doors, built-in shelving and desk nooks are common parts of a basement job, and we can also do them as a smaller standalone project.