The space has been identified as a perfect place to do a little micro-brewing and as well, a darkroom setup. There are some medium to major tasks that will be required to ready the space for such activities.
1: General clean up (FREE!!!)- This entails wiping down all surfaces and refrigerator with disinfectant (Mike M. has a big bottle of commercial strength cleaner) to both kill mold and prep for painting in order to cover the mold and in general, to lighten up the place.
2: Painting ($30-$50 for supplies but they will also be used for main basement)- We have some donated paint that will be perfect for this task and Richard has a Wagner power painter that will make the job go very quickly. We will need to extinguish the pilot lights on the water heater, stove, and furnace and also ensure that gas for the pilot lights are shut off; we may require a professional in order to be sure this is done correctly and safely. I suspect the furnace and water heater are easy but the stove might require a more experienced touch.
3: Lighting (Light fixtures $80, Bulbs $15)- Tim has priced out some lighting that will work well in the space and happens to be fairly inexpensive. We will probably need six 4' lights for this space.
4: Stove/Vent hood ($0-$150) - There is a vent hood above the huge stove down there and it looks as if we can reconnect it to the roof vent without too much fuss, we probably need to take it apart and clean it thoroughly and we will need to make sure the blower works, for that matter we need to see if the blower is even there . . . The stove also needs a good cleaning and a safety test, maybe we can get this unnamed HVAC person to help us with that?
5: Door for pass through and furnace room ($50-$80)- Maybe this should last on the priority for this area as we still have a little while before we will have the machine/wood shop set up. However we will need to isolate the kitchen and furnace room from the rest of the basement. Wood dust suspended in the air is highly explosive, especially in enclosed spaces. This is a very real danger!!! I have my eye on a nice dust collector that runs at about $400 but even the best collection systems will not get it all. We will need to gasket the door and the counter pass-thru separating the furnace room/kitchen and the main basement. This will also aid in light mitigation for a possible dark room setup in that area.