The next step in our basement project was to move the washer, dryer and water heater onto a slab of concrete around the furnace. These appliances would remain in these locations permanently (as part of a furnace and laundry room). Since we are living in the house during the basement renovation, finishing this area now would allow us to avoid going without these appliances for an extended period of time.
The first step was to install a 4'x12' concrete slab surrounding the furnace. I set up forms in the dirt at the expected height of the finished floor, filled with 4" of gravel, and then finished with 3" of concrete.
We decided to replace our old rental water heater with an owned gas water heater. Not only would the gas water heater be more efficient, it would provide us with a much more consistent supply of hot water (our old electric water heater took hours to heat the tank once drained of hot water). We went with a power vented water heater because a chimney guy told us that it would not be wise to disturb/remove the old liner from the oil furnace that is in the chimney flue. My buddy Ox installed the new water heater for us in its new place beside the furnace. The old water heater was removed from its old location (the middle of the basement) and returned to Direct Energy.
In addition to installing the water heater, Ox completely re-installed the gas lines in our house. This was done 1) to get the gas lines out from underneath the joists to avoid bulkheads, 2) to replace some couplings that were not up to code, and 3) to eliminate the need for flexible copper.
I then framed some studs (for strapping plumbing, installing electrical, hanging shelves, etc) on the other side of the concrete slab, and we moved the washer and dryer onto that space.
