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 Basement-related web sites and forums have become an impossible maze of bad advice, fad markets, and outdated advice.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!

Yikes! What’s the weather like outside? Isn’t the relative humidity at 70%, 80%, even 90% on the East coast and in the south?

So opening a window and letting in humid air is going to do what? Right- it’s going to bring the humidity in. You’re going to cool that air in your basement or crawl space. So, if it’s 70% relative humidity and 85 degrees outside, and you bring that air into a 65 degree basement, what’s going to happen?

Well, the relative humidity is going to go up 2.2% for every degree that the air is cooled. So 85 to 65 degrees is 20 degrees – that’s a 44% relative humidity increase, for a total of 114% relative humidity. Can we have over 100% relative humidity?

No. So what happens next… the moisture in the air condensates out on cooler surfaces. That’s why cold water pipes, water tanks, soda cans, etc. get wet with condensation. They cool the air touching their surfaces and the moisture condensates out.

Uh-oh. Didn’t we just open the window and let that air in? What’s it doing? It’s supporting mold and mildew growth and compounding the musty smell that you opened the window to eliminate.

What’s the answer?

A dehumidifier. And one that can handle the size of your basement or home is important. If you can’t tell which way the air is moving through a dehumidifier, it can’t dry your space.

Basement Systems SaniDry Basement and Crawl Space air machines are the right choice. These heavy-duty dehumidifiers also filter the air. Call us at 800-638-7048 or contact us online and we’ll connect you with a local SaniDry dealer.

To protect the innocent, we’ve changed the names of the folks in our story:
Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s basement flooded once. They cleaned the gutters just like their cousin told them to. After all, he was a builder and he knew about these things. The couple didn’t see any more water in their basement for a good six months. They soon forgot about the incident and put all of their stuff back down in the basement on the floor. There were holiday decorations, tax records, a record album collection, personal effects – even Mrs. Smith’s preserved wedding dress – in a cardboard box like most of the other items. Beginning one otherwise peaceful evening, the sky opened up, as it does once every year or two, and two months worth of rain fell in two days. All of the Smith’s belongings were lost in the flood that resulted in the unprotected basement.

It doesn’t have to be a severe flood to experience the effects of water damage. Mold thrives on organic material so if you’ve got a high relative humidity or seepage, all of those personal items stored in boxes in the basement run the risk of being ruined. At the first sign of a problem it is important to begin the fixing process. Basement leaks do not get better, they worsen with time.

Fixing the gutters and downspouts is the first step, but not the permanent fix. For moisture, a quality dehumidifier will help alleviate mold and musty odors. SaniDry basement dehumidifier will do the trick, it’s like a dehumidifier on steroids! For foot and wall joint leaks or even floor seepage, a custom interior basement waterproofing system will solve the issue. WaterGuard, a patented system, is designed to accept wall, floor, and foot and wall joint leaks without getting clogged with dirt and debris. This is a much better solution than excavating the exterior and installing a new footing drain that will eventually clog up again. Paints or sealants are only a temporary solution and eventually the water will push through.

At the first sign of water in your basement, call a system design specialist so that you can avoid the mess the Smiths had to deal with.