Should I finish my basement


Moved in to a new house....one of the main selling points was a concrete basement; walls and floor slab.
The dimensions are perfect for my setup and I will finish the ceiling and do sound treatment as necessary but really wonder if I should also put up sheet-rock ?
As of now wall are painted with water-seal paint, and I have a large carpet on the floor.
I can just hang few drapes on the walls, do some sound treatment and leave it as is...
The looks are OK either way for me - no bearing on my decision.

Just want to hear if some of you have experience with such a "dilemma" (finished vs cement walls) and what would be recommended?

PS: I would NOT want to do any sound treatment under the sheet-rock...as a matter of fact I would only mount aluminium rails to the walls and then attach 1/2inch sheet-rock
ether

Showing 2 responses by markpao

Yogiboy brings up a valid point. Most towns have codes in place for turning a basement into habitable space. There might be more work involved than you care to do in order to make it conform.
Setting aside visits from assessors or whom ever, more importantly is the issue of not pulling a building permit, the work not being up to code, and someone gets hurt........ or worse. You will have a much bigger problem than you ever imagined.
If you manage to escape any issues over the years, at some point you may want to sell your place. I've heard of cases where the building department made owners gut there illegal finished basements before they could sell it.
I'm speaking of NY and not sure about other cities & states.