by Francine Maglione

Who wouldn’t love a warmer, cozier house in the winter? Freezing homes are very unpleasant. Cold floors and surfaces force homeowners to wrap themselves in blankets and sweatshirts to stay warm, but there is something you can do that you may not have thought of before: basement insulation and finishing.

The air in your house moves one way: up. It enters through the bottom of your home and makes its way up to the top, so doesn’t it make sense to infer that if the air entering your home is cold then it will travel upward and make your entire house cold? Your kitchen floors feel cold because the space below them is cold. Finishing a basement can help ensure that the air traveling through your house is drier and warmer.

There are a number of factors to remember when finishing a basement:

• The basement environment is different from other living spaces because it is generally damp and musty.
•  Basement finishing systems must be resistant to water and mold growth.
• Choose a finishing system with adequate insulation rated at R-13 or higher.
• Rigid foam insulation is your best bet, as it won’t be damaged by moisture and is mold resistant.

There are many different types of insulation out there to use. Fiberglass batt insulation is probably the most common form you’ll find in a basement, but it’s also the worst kind for that environment. If fiberglass gets wet it sags, compresses or falls down leaving it useless. It also supports mold and mildew growth. And if mold grows in your basement, the mold spores will travel up through the rest of your house.

Closed-cell rigid foam insulation is the most efficient way to insulate a basement. It is rated at R-13 for insulation and will reflect 99.987% of heat back into a basement. It is also made of inorganic material so mold will not grow on it and it won’t be affected by water.

When looking for a basement finishing system make sure you find one that’s entirely inorganic. A sturdy wall panel made with concrete and vinyl with rigid foam backing is the best choice, especially if you decide to turn your basement into an entertainment room and would like to hang a flat-screen television from the wall. You certainly cannot do that with drywall.

To keep a basement properly insulated you must also look for a system that can be installed continuously across the perimeter of the basement. Any openings will allow cold air to pour in and will make the insulation essentially obsolete. Also, metals studs in most basement wall systems allow cold spots. However, once you insulate the perimeter with a quality foam insulation system you will not need to insulate any rooms, closets or partition walls you decide to put in the basement.

Finishing a basement with an efficient insulation and high-quality products can help keep your whole house warmer in the winter. Once you’ve found the perfect basement finishing system for your home you will be able to enjoy a large part of the house you may have thought was just for storage. Your toes will be less cold walking through your main living areas if your basement is insulated properly.

We had an unprecedented amount of snow accumulation causing roofs, buildings and fixtures to cave in.

The situation was so serious that on 03/ 03/2011 the Federal Government declared Connecticut a Major Disaster area, making cities and towns around the state eligible for emergency disaster recovery funds.

Then came the rain, and the snow melt presented area residents with yet another set of concerns: floods and flash flood related problems.

At Connecticut Basement Systems, the phones rang off the hook as many area residents, especially in Fairfield, Stamford and Greenwich, had their basements under water. Our crews worked around the clock to help homeowners in the affected areas.

A basement flood is never something that can be taken lightly, but for homeowners with a finished basement, the cost of cleanup and restoration can be enormous and, to make matters worse, most of it might not be covered by their homeowners or even flood insurance.

If the basement is finished with drywall, and if the studs, insulation and drywall aren’t completely dry in 48 hours – and in a basement they hardly dry that quick –  there is a huge chance that mold will start to develop in the areas that came in contact with water.

EverLast Basement Drywall Restoration System

If your drywall is moldy and was partially damaged by flood we can help restore it with a new product.

We now offer a revolutionary drywall repair system, that can be installed after the waterproofing. The systems consists in a 100% waterproof, insulated 1/2″ rigid cementitious board cladding, lined with a white & beige-patterned vinyl surface that makes cleaning and maintenance a breeze.

This wall system is created with inorganic materials– materials that will not be damaged by water, and will not support the growth of mold or mildew. Additionally, the EverLast Finished Wall Panels used in this system are fully washable and are 197% stronger than drywall!

It installs at  a 32″ high  with a decorative, inorganic chair rail & baseboard that ties the system beautifully to the existing drywall finish.

By installing the EverLast Drywall Repair System, you not only repair wet drywall damage, you also protect yourself from this problem in the future.

Call us for a free flooded basement repair and ask out representative to show you the EverLast Drywall Repair System.

After three years of living in basement-related forums & web sites on a daily basis, I’ve come to a few conclusions:

1. Basement-related web sites and forums have become an impossible maze of bad advice, fad markets, and outdated advice.
2. Homeowners are taking this advice & returning to the same forums when the advice fails
3. Repeat Steps 1 & 2

As part of a network that’s been reputable in the basement business since 1987 nationally, we’d like to send some good horse sense into the ether.

Here, unequivocally, are the five most common mistakes that lead to disasters in the basement:

1. Blowing Air Out Of or Into the Basement

Some people try to dry their basement by venting air out of the basement.  Others try to vent it by sending air into the space.  Either way, you’re wasting money and making the problem worse.

When air is blown or vented out of the basement (or crawl space), you’re literally throwing money out the window.  The air you blow out will be replaced by air from upstairs in your home.  You pay to condition that air!

And if you’re counting on air to be blown IN to the house, remember that it’s going to push condition air out of the house so it can end up in your home, where you’ll have to pay to condition it.  And when it’s raining, snowing, foggy, damp, or humid outside, is sending that air into your cool, underground space really going to help?  Thousands of mold, damp basements and crawl spaces say “NO!”
2. Venting the Dryer into the Basement
Well, you might as go downstairs with your wet laundry and wring it out on the floor.  Because that’s what you’ll be doing if the dryer vents into the basement or crawl space.

As you send all that moist air down to your below-grade space, its humidity will condensate on everything. What can you look forward to?  Mold, rot, mildew, and damage to all organic material in the space.  Vent those dryers outside!

3. Improper Gutter Drainage
We have gutters so we can take water from the roof and send it away from the home.  That’s right– AWAY from the home.

Check your gutters:  are they dropping water off directly around your foundation?  Is it pooling there, freezing in the winter, and creating puddles in warmer weather?  Is it leaking into your basement, filling your window wells, or causing your soil to swell and heave & crack the foundation?

Why do we have gutters again?
4. Painting the Walls

Paint is for upstairs.

When you paint your basement walls, or try to seal them with a waterproof coating, you’re asking for trouble.  Laytex-based paints contain organic material, and as such, they’re going to grow mold, mildew, and take damage from moisture.

And did you know that concrete is porous?  Very much so, it turns out.  That’s why people try to seal them with waterproof coatings.  Unfortunately, it’s not just water that passes through those pores- you also get a white, flaky mineral powder known as efflorescence.

This efflorescence is going to build up behind seals that adhere to the walls.  In time, you can count on this buildup to push the coatings off, causing them to blister, peel, and flake off your walls.  Once they do, and it usually takes between three months and six years, your walls are now officially ruined.

This is what happens when you use conventional finishes in a basement.

5. Finishing with Drywall & Carpet
Think: Paper.  Fiberglass resins.  Wood.  And, heaven forbid, carpet on concrete.

It’s not going to work.  It just doesn’t work.

The Basement Systems network has seen, hundreds (maybe thousands) of ruined basements finished with drywall.  When the basement doesn’t flood with groundwater, it’s a washing machine hose, water heater, flooded window well, burst pipe, or some other plumbing failure.  One shot, and even mold-resistant drywall is ruined.

And remember that concrete is porous?  That humidity is going to build up underneath the carpet and behind the drywall.  First you’ll get the musty smells.  Then the mold.  Then it’s all over for your basement.

Find a basement finishing system that includes a written warranty- one that holds up even if the basement floods.  Read the fine print.  Read it again.  Research them online, then go for it.  You can finish your basement– but please, not with drywall.

Your Basement Contractors
If you live anywhere in the U.S., or in Canada, U.K. and Ireland, we’d like to help you with all your basement & foundation questions.  If you’re looking for [services], we’re the contractors for you!

If you’d like your basement questions answered and would like a free cost quote & inspection, call us up or shoot us an e-mail today.  If you’re not sure, check out our reputation with the BBB, and ask us for a few customer references.  We’d be glad to oblige!

According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, houses south of the Tampa Bay area in Florida that were built during 2005 and 2006 were made using sub-par drywall. This cheap, China-manufactured drywall has been found to emit a sulfur-like gas that corrodes metal and plumbing, eats away at electrical wiring, and smells terrible.

The Florida Department of Health received more than three dozen complaints from homeowners across Florida, but mainly in Manatee, Sarasota and Lee counties, as well as  Pinellas, St. Lucie and Collier. This drywall may have been used in hundreds or even thousands of homes throughout Florida, and even other areas.

Read more about this drywall problem here: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/article972128.ece

For a safe and clean drywall alternative, go with the Total Basement Finishing wall system!

Ask the Expert columnist Tim Carter suggests that you set up a timely and fair payment plan. Also, get everything in writing and keep records so you can reference it later if you need to.

A trustworthy, professional, financially stable basement contractor can be a huge help to you if you decide to remodel your basement. He will provide important and beneficial advice that can only come from an expert, such as amenities to add to your basement like a bathroom or kitchenette.

Read more about hiring basement contractors here.

If you have an unfinished basement, you can add valuable living space to your home, without having to build anything.

And, as this video will show, refinishing your basement is not only the smarter thing to do; it is also the “greener” choice. You will have the comfortable, efficient room you need, and your family, neighborhood, and planet will benefit from it.

To a lot of people, basements might seem unusable as living spaces. And it is not just because they tend to be musty, damp and cold. However, after 21 years in the business of drying basements — and not just removing water, but removing moisture and dampness from the air as well — we know that any basement can be efficiently waterproofed, made as comfortable as the upstairs, and beautifully finished.

Another reason people don’t like basements is because they’re typically dark.  Most basements have just a few small windows and get very little sunlight into them. And many of us tend to think of a place without enough daylight as unpleasant, even depressing. Sometimes, no amount of artificial lighting will do. So, you might think your basement is doomed to be a dark, natural-light deprived place, suitable only for storage.

Well, wait until you see what Basement Systems’ SunHouse Basement Window Enclosure. This window well enclosure can bring the sunlight into your finished basement. Watch the video and imagine the possibilities.

Stage 1: Beautiful hardwood flooring is installed in your basement. Alternatively, a wooden subfloor is laid down in your basement and you splurge for expensive, soft, thick carpeting to be laid on top of it. Your floor is attractive and your basement is a little muggy, but mostly comfortable, although the floor seems cold. You add beautiful new furniture to your room.

Stage 2: You begin to notice a smell in the basement and begin to put carpet freshener down to try to mask the smell. Little spots of mildew eventually show at the bottom of furniture, but you don’t worry about them. It’s still muggy, but you love your new room so much that you try to ignore it.

Stage 3: You’ve given up trying to mask the smell in the basement. The floors have begun to buckle, and you move your nice furniture out of the basement, trading it for older things that aren’t as nice so your best furniture won’t get moldy. You still like having the space, and you go down there from time to time, but it’s not a nice place to be anymore.

Stage 4: You give up. The basement smells and you find that you have breathing problems there when you’re down there. The carpet smells bad, and the floorboards are rotting and buckling. Mold grows on everything you try to store there. At great personal expense, you pay to have the flooring and once beautiful carpet torn up and removed. It’s time to start again.

The problems with wood and organic carpeting in a basement only start there. Here’s some of the other things you can look forward to:

• Mold spores in the air causing health problems such as allergic reactions
• Fecal material from dust mites in the air affecting your health as you breathe
• Eventual loss of the basement as a useful living space or storage area
• Mold spreading to walls
• Insects like termites, sow bugs and beetles living under the carpet
• Rodents and other pests

The bottom line: wooden flooring in a basement is vulnerable to moisture and not a good idea.

What if you have your basement waterproofed? You can have the full perimeter of your basement guarded with a product like the WaterGuard Basement Waterproofing System and a sump pump, but this can’t keep all moisture out of your basement. If you have concrete floors and walls in your basement, then this porous concrete is sponging water from the moist earth outside of your basement into your basement. Once the vapor reaches the surface of the concrete, the air pulls it out, much in the same way the soil in a potted plant may be heavy with water but look dry on the surface. If you place carpet, wooden subflooring, cardboard boxes, drywall or anything else with organic material on or against these cement walls, moisture will collect there and create an environment for mold. Additionally, your home is filled with washing machine hoses that can burst, a water heater that can leak or fail and a countless number of other pipes to your tubs, toilets, dishwasher, refrigerator, shower, sinks, etc. that can leak, burst and overflow. That water is going to run downhill to your basement. You might not be home when this happens, and if it soaks into your wooden floors, mold can begin to grow in 24-48 hours- well before your floor can dry out.

Some hardware stores have been providing their customers with a chipboard subfloor with a dimpled plastic material secured on the bottom. This product just makes the problem worse- the wood still gets wet, and once the plastic dimples fill with water, they seal to the floor and are difficult to remove when you need to tear the moldy wood flooring out and remove it.

The answer to keeping your basement warm, dry and mold-free is Basement System’s Mill Creek Flooring. Completely waterproof, its unique honeycomb design and waterproof vinyl design will never rot, support mold growth, become the home for termites, or expand and buckle when wet. It comes with a 20-year warranty against water, it comes in attractive rosewood, natural oak and red mahogany designs. It has a warm, comfortable look, a fade-resistant UV coating and an anti-slip surface and is compatible with a radiant heated basement floors up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. It installs on top of your floor without adhesive, so it can be used immediately after installation.

Basement System’s products come with a free estimate and 86-page book. A skilled and fully trained technician can come to your house and tell you more about these products and help you make a strong, educated decision about the best choice for your basement flooring.