Nashville Remodeling Blog

Spruce Up That Old Basement For Some Much Needed Room!

As a family grows they need more space. The basement is a valuable and large source of space that is frequently overlooked by homeowners. Often when homeowners need more space in their homes they consider knocking out a wall or building an addition to their homes. What many homeowners fail to capitalize on is the significant amount of additional space that is already built into the house, space that few use to its full potential. That space is the basement.

A remodeled basement can drastically increase the amount of livable space inside of a home. A properly remodeled basement can serve any number of functions from a recreation room, laundry room, guest room, home theater, or even your own personalized sports bar. Why take a cab home from the local pub when you can just take the stairs?

Walls
Most basements have bare concrete or cinder block walls. You will need to finish the basement walls with a material of your choosing. Walls are a necessity for many reasons. Walls over the default brickwork create a more natural look to the new basement, covering exposed wiring, water pipes, and joists. Walls also provide much needed insulation. Moreover, walls create spaces to install electrical outlets, which will be a legal and practical necessity regardless of the planned usage.

Lighting
Typical basements come with very little lighting, often little more than a bare bulb with a string switch. Bear in mind, your new basement will be need to be better lit than the rest of your home, because of the absence of natural light. Lighting can be maximized by strategically adding windows or mirrored surfaces to your basement remodel plan.

Flooring
The poured concrete floor of your current basement will not do. The pores in concrete draw loads of moisture into the basement. Consider the many choices of floor coverings available for your basement. Carpet and hardwood are not recommended because they will react poorly to the moisture in the basement. Vinyl, stone and laminate flooring are better choices because they are resistant to moisture and they are easy to heat. It is wise to install electric floor heating in your renovated basement to combat the high moisture levels.

This list is not exhaustive by any means, but you cannot successfully renovate your basement without these basic considerations. Now that you are equipped with information, it’s time to do some homework. Find a reliable local contractor with a design team and ask some questions. Learn about your local building codes to see what you will have to do during the course of your project to make your basement safe and sound in the eyes of the law. Before you know it, you will be ready to get started. With the right design team, you can turn what was once an auxillary storage space into a cozy and inviting human habitat.

If you decide to remodel your basement, be sure to do the proper planning and preparing. When a home is originally erected, the basement is never intended to be a functional living space. To make it so, the designer will have to make some significant modifications to ward against darkness, moisture and cold. But if approached by a knowledgeable designer, making a basement livable is a welcome and rewarding challenge.

This brief basement remodeling guide will outline some of the essential considerations a homeowner must make before beginning a basement remodeling project. Once you are acquainted with some of the major obstacles in front of you, you will be better equipped to begin planning your basement remodel. Five essential considerations to make when assessing your basement are: moisture, usage, walls, lighting, and flooring.

Moisture
Moisture is the make-or-break factor of a basement. By virtue of being underground, all basements collect moisture. Some basements collect so much moisture that renovation is impractical or impossible. Examine your basement for significant moisture. Significant moisture means that water is actually pooling and/or dripping into your basement. If your basement is too moist, it is not a candidate for renovation and you can save yourself a lot of time by quitting while you are ahead and looking into that ground level addition project.

Usage
What do you want to use your new basement for? This is one of the most fun parts of a project. Pre-visualize the basement as it would appear after the remodel. Are you interested in building a home theater? If so, how many seats and where will you put them? Do you need a play room for the kids so you can have a little more peace and quiet upstairs? The way you choose to use the new basement will have the most affect on any subsequent design decisions. For example, if you include a guest room in your basement plan, building codes require that you equip the basement with an new exit in addition to the door that leads back into the home.

How to Pick a Remodeling Contractor

Bathroom Remodeling – Aiming For Proper Accessibility

The bathroom can both be a relaxing and dangerous place for anyone at home, especially when we deal with the elders. Bathrooms can be dangerous for those older people who cannot already be up steady on their feet. Hence, it could help a lot that in your bathroom Remodeling plans, you remove anything that would put them in much danger. And instead, apply some other accessories that would make that portion of the house much safer.

In your bathroom Remodeling, you can choose to install walk in bathtubs. These prevent the idea of getting out of the tub and slipping accidentally on wet floor, no matter what your age may be. These walk in bathtubs come in a wide variety of models, shapes and sizes which of course serves as your regular bathtub. Some of them even come with powered bath seats and watertight doors to limit the dangers of tripping.

You can also decide to install transfer benches which help the user slide into the tub without any danger. In shopping for this, what’s important that your choice of a transfer bench can be able to support the weight of anyone. The average transfer bench can only handle about 250 pounds and below. If you are something that can handle more than that, then seek to know more about the bariatric models.

The grab bars can be seen as useful too not only for the older people. It can be installed in numerous locations all around the bathroom and not just in the shower or tub. You can be sure that it won’t ruin the aesthetics of your bathroom’s total look for in the market today, grab bars already come in various finishes and colors too.

If you have an elderly with you in your Nashville area home, then you must consider to include in your bathroom remodeling plans to widen up the bathroom door just a little bit more. Even if they are not yet using the wheelchair to get around in any place, you might want to expect that happening soon enough as well. So consider addressing all the possible concerns you might encounter so you can steer away from always giving your bathroom another luxurious Remodeling. In fact, you might want to decide having a sliding glass door for easier access to your bathroom.

You can choose to do the bathroom Remodeling on your own but it can help you a lot better if you would seek the help of a bathroom Remodeling contractor.

Sealant types and Their Uses

Sealants refer to a wide variety of materials that are used to close the gaps between substrates, or various building materials.  Sealants are used to prevent air, gas, noise, smoke, liquid, or dust from penetrating small openings that cannot otherwise be closed.  Sealants begin as a viscous liquid, when applied, then dry into a solid.  Sealants of some sort are used in every level of civilization, from tarring the roof of a hut to weatherproofing a modern home with silicone caulk to specialty soundproofing.

In the past few decades, the sealant industry has globalized with the rest of the world market.  In fact, 60% of total global merchant demand of sealants comes from three major players.  Asia and India represent the highest growth market in recent years, due primarily to the rise of textile manufacture, electronics assembly, and woodworking.  Enduring woodwork would be impossible without the right sealants.

Sealant production has also responded to environmental concerns, with technological breakthroughs that have made sealants more effective and environmentally friendly.  Earlier generations of sealants commonly contained VOCs, or “volatile organic compounds.”  Advances in technology have produced Low-VOC and No-VOC sealants.  These new generation sealants are safer for the environment.  What’s more, they are applicable to a wider range of materials and conditions.

There are literally dozens of types of sealants, based on their chemical makeup and their various uses.  From dental sealants, to engine sealants, to household epoxy.  They are even used in the nanotechnology industry.  The most commonly recognized sealants are household sealants.  For example, the caulk used to seal a bathtub, window sill, or kitchen sink.

Sealants have three basic functions

1. A sealant fills a gap between two or more substrates.

2. Sealants form a barrier through the physical properties of the sealant itself and by adhesion to the substrate.

3. It maintains sealing properties for the expected lifetime, service conditions and environments.

Sealants are commonly grouped with adhesives, though they are different substances with distinct uses.  Adhesives are sometimes reformulated into sealants.  An adhesive is used to join to components together, like the panels of a cardboard box. While a sealant, though often sticky, is used to close gaps and openings where unwanted air and particles can pass through.  Adhesives are often stronger than sealants, but less flexible.  Sometimes the functions of sealants and adhesives overlap. Sealants do need to stick to what they are sealing, but that is not as important as the seal itself.

Sealants, though usually weaker than adhesives, have unique properties. Sealants, as opposed to simple adhesives, are particularly effective in keeping moisture in or out of the components they seal.  They provide soundproofing and thermal insulation.  Some sealants are quite effective as fire barriers.  Other sealants can have electrical insulating properties.  They are also used for finish work, like smoothing or filleting.

Sealants are a godsend in the field of home weatherproofing, and renovating kitchens and bathrooms.  The modern home would be impossible without the insulating properties of sealants.  This winter, try tracking down some of the drafts in your home – cracks and gaps around windows, under sinks, tubs and plumbing, or around electrical fixtures.  These are all places where household sealants, like silicone caulk and epoxy can make your home more comfortable and fuel-efficient.

Be sure to weatherize your home this season.  When doing so, don’t underestimate the utility and effectiveness of sealants.  Drafts can be eliminated and bills lowered all for the price of a few tubes of the right caulk.  There are numerous sealants on the market, each specialized for a different use.  Find out which ones are best for your needs.  Contact a local contractor that will answer your questions.

Some of the information in this report was gathered from The Third Edition of the Global Adhesive and Sealant Study: 2003-2006.  If you have questions about sealants and their uses, you may also contact the author of this article, Matt Millsap, a Tennessee based building and construction specialist.