BLOG | Home Improvement Library | Basements
BLOG CATEGORY
Basements
Click on a title to read the full-story.
Basements, Basements, Design & Remodeling, Designer Talk, Personal Spaces
How to Brighten Your Basement If you are considering finishing your basement or a basement remodel, you should first think about how you’d like the space to look and feel overall. While many homeowners choose to create a cave-like basement for movie viewing or...
Basements, Basements, Design & Remodeling, Personal Spaces
Recently, many of us have had the opportunity to be home more than ever. This has us all thinking about improvements we could make around the house. Many of our clients are interested in expanding their living space either outside the home via patios and porches, or...
Basements, Basements, Designer Talk, Personal Spaces, Remodeling
Our basements are a wonderland of possibilities, with all that space waiting to take care of our basic needs like storage or our fondest dreams of an arts and crafts studio, media room, home theater or teenage escape. It can be anything you desire, and this is why...
Basements, Home Improvement Library, Windows
Basement Egress Window Installation As to window brand quality, we’ve learned that how a window is installed is as important as the type of window. Meaning, the best quality window will fail if installed wrong, while a low-priced window can perform great if...
Basements, Flooring, Home Improvement Library
Your basement floor slopes because of the drain that handles runoff from your furnace, spills, flash flooding, etc. If there is another drain in the basement to handle this, then you can flatten the floors in the livable space with a floor leveler. Floor leveling...
Basements, Home Improvement Library, Remodeling
Sound proofing is achieved by blocking or detaching sound carrying materials. A “sound proof” frame wall can use the offset framing method. Use a 2×6 top & bottom wall plate and then use 2×4 wall studs vertically, 16″ on-center or...
Basements, Electrical, Home Improvement Library, Plumbing
Yes, battery backup sump pumps are available, important, and require some knowledge of check valves to correctly and effectively install. They are powered by a 12 volt, deep cycle, car-type battery mounted in a plastic case. The battery is powered by a battery charger...
Basements, Flooring, Home Improvement Library, Painting, Remodeling
Hang on to your hat …This is a really big job to correctly do if you will have any real long-term traffic on your floor. I really advise solvent paints for floors but you can try water-based coatings at your own risk. I really advise that any solvent floor paint...
Basements, Home Improvement Library, Water & Moisture
Dry Out a Water Damaged Basement DRY, DRY, DRY ASAP!! Remove the carpet or lift it with many high volume fans blowing under the carpet. Remove and replace any carpet padding. DEHUMIDIFY with as many dehumidifiers as you can muster, one per 300 square feet or one per...
Basements, Home Improvement Library, Water & Moisture
Wet Sill Plate in Basement and Floor Joists are Wet I suspect your mechanical engineer with the dew point issue is the most credible and the likely cause based on the information I read. An 80 year old concrete, stone or even wood foundation can, and will, wick or...
Basements, Concrete, Home Improvement Library
Your concrete floor is probably fine. Hundreds of gallons of water leave your floor concrete over the first year and this causes shrinkage. This shrinkage commonly shows as a fine crack, which is typically an even width along the crack. Some builders design shrinkage...
Basements, Home Improvement Library, Remodeling
Yes, with many conditions. This is a very big structural question and you will need an engineer or architect to design this system. The wood or steel column can be removed AND you must strengthen the structural beam, break the concrete basement floor and install a...
Basements, Flooring, Home Improvement Library
Lowering a Basement Floor Adding a foot of additional depth to a basement by lowering the floor is possible. The risk of success is the existing depth of the sewer pipes beneath the basement floor. If the sewer pipes under the basement concrete floor are buried deep...