Allentown, Pennsylvania
Finished Basements in Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown basements are mostly twins and rowhomes, and they present the same three problems over and over: width, height, and the panel.
- Town
- Allentown
- County
- Lehigh County, PA
- Typical range
- $35,000 – $75,000
Narrow footprints change the layout
A city twin often gives you a basement fifteen to eighteen feet wide with a staircase landing in the middle of it and a mechanical corner you cannot move. Framing a standard family room plus a bathroom in that space usually does not work as drawn.
What does work is a long single-run layout: one open room down the length, storage and mechanicals walled off at the end, and a half bath tucked under the stair run where the drain line already is. We lay this out on site with the duct and the beam in front of us, not from a template.
Older electrical service
Plenty of Allentown homes still run a 100-amp panel, and some older properties still have knob-and-tube or ungrounded circuits feeding the basement. Adding a finished room with lighting, receptacles every twelve feet, AFCI protection and possibly a bathroom is real load.
We evaluate the service before quoting. Sometimes the answer is a subpanel; sometimes it is a service upgrade, which is a separate line item you should see up front rather than discover in week two.
Height, moisture and stone foundations
Older city foundations are often stone or block with parged walls, and headroom under the joists can be under seven feet before ductwork. We measure the lowest obstruction first. If a dropped soffit would put a walkway under six and a half feet, we reroute or we tell you the room is not a good candidate.
Stone and older block walls are also more likely to weep. Every Allentown project starts with a moisture check for that reason.
What it costs
$35,000 – $75,000
Most finished basements in Lehigh County land here. Size, bathroom, finish level.
Plan My Basement- On site
- 6 – 10 weeks
- Permitting first
- 2 – 4 weeks
- Price
- Fixed, in writing
Most relevant for Allentown homes
Everything we include in a finished basement is on the finished basements page. Other Lehigh County towns: Bethlehem, Emmaus, Macungie, Whitehall.
Planning a basement in Allentown?
A walkthrough and a moisture check come before any price.