Basements

Basements are pretty standard in North America and other cold parts of the world. In some homes, people use their basement as a place to keep their water heater and furnace and what not, awhile others use it strictly as a cellar for storing food and wine. You can also finish your basement and turn it into another room of your house. Many people also use their basements for dens, where they watch TV. It’s nice to have a finished basement, especially if you don’t have air conditioning in the summer, because your basement stays cool, and can be a nice place to sleep on a hot summer night. Some people keep pull out couches in their basement for such occasions. If you have an extra bathroom and a pull out couch or daybed in your basement you can also use it as a guest room. If your basement also has a separate entrance, you might like to convert it to a basement apartment and rent it out to students. Jus remember that there are strict building codes to adhere to if you want to rent out your basement. For instance, there must be adequate ventilation and suitable fire escapes.

Basement Remodel

If you don’t really use your basement at the moment because its unfinished or not laid out in a way that’s useful to you, consider doing a full basement remodel. Most people hire a contractor and get their whole basement remodel done at once. If you know w thing or two about basement remodels, you can probably do a lot of the work yourself. For more complicated jobs, like plumbing and wiring, it’s usually best to go to professionals because they deal with that sort of thing in basement remodel all the time.

Basement Flooring

Often, the easiest and cheapest basement flooring to install when doing a basement remodel, is linoleum tile basement flooring. Linoleum isn’t always the most attractive type of basement flooring but it can be alright if you go about it the right way. If you move into a house with an already finished basement with linoleum floors, and you don’t want to replace the floors altogether, you can always paint the linoleum tiles yourself. In fact, you can now by special spray paint made specially for painting linoleum. If you like, you can make some stencils for your basement flooring to put prints on your linoleum tile. The only real problem with painting linoleum tile is that linoleum is soft and will scratch easily, ruining your basement flooring’s paint job pretty quickly.

Basement Dehumidifier

A basement dehumidifier is a great way to keep your basement dry in the summer. In the winter, the air tends to be dryer because cold air can’t hold much water vapour. Having a walkout basement also helps to reduce drainage and dampness problems in your basement. Many air conditioners come with basement dehumidifiers built in. If you get an air conditioner with a basement dehumidifier built in, you can drain your basement dehumidifier into your basement drain to keep it from drying out. Basements are usually built with a drain in the floor for water drainage. Te floor slopes toward the drain, but if the drain dries out, tit could get damaged and allow sewer gas to seep into your basement through the drain. If this happens you’ll know. By installing a basement dehumidifier or air conditioner with a built in basement dehumidifier, you can keep your basement drain from drying out by draining your basement dehumidifier water into it. A very damp basement can lead to problems, because the wetness will damage your walls and could cause the paint to chip and peel. A damp basement also tends to smell of old wet carpet.

Basement Waterproofing

Because water leaks can so a lot of damage to your home an cost a lot of money to repair, its important that you have good basement waterproofing from the start. There are a number of different basement waterproofing techniques. One basement waterproofing technique involves waterproofing your basement from inside your basement. Another way to go about basement waterproofing is from the outside. Basement waterproofing on the outside of your house tends to be the most effective method but can be high maintenance and expensive. Basement waterproofing from inside your basement may not be as effective as basement waterproofing from outside, but it’s cheap. Internal basement waterproofing often involves painting your interior walls with special sealant

Basement Makeovers

Basement makeovers are becoming more and more common. With reality shows doing step-by-step basement makeovers all the time, basement makeovers are easier than ever. Basements often get neglected because people think of their basement as less important that the rest of their house. If you have a finished basement, you should take advantage of the space and make it as usable and comfortable as possible because a basement can add a lot of extra space to your home. Even if you only use your basement for storage, a basement makeover can’t hurt. You might do a basement makeover to better organize all your stored junk in the basement. If you don’t watch a lot of television, you can pick up a basement makeover how-to magazine or book to get some ideas. Basement makeovers are fun because they don’t have to be expensive but can dramatically improve the look of your basement. Doing a basement makeover might be something as simple as choosing a new colour scheme, repainting the walls, and touching up old furniture. You might also get your carpets cleaned or paint your linoleum tiles for a new look. A basement makeover is a good thing to do once in a while because it helps to keep your basement clean and organized. It’s easy for junk and clutter to build up in your basement because they’re usually fairly high traffic areas.