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.

A Primer on Interior Painting

Most people are familiar with the old adage “a fresh coat of paint.” Painting anything imbues it with new life and vitality, from a car to a living room. Interior paint jobs are an indispensable and, let’s face it, messy part of home ownership. Painting must be approached with meticulous care and extensive preparation. If a paint job is not properly prepared and executed, the simplest error will become obvious and permanent, catching your eye for years to come. The best way to avoid such mistakes is to plan thoroughly and take your time with a paint job. This brief informational guide illustrates some of the basics of an interior paint job, from the shopping list to the clean up.

Flip through some catalogs and home improvement websites to choose a paint color that’s right for the room. Visit a hardware or paint store for some color samples and paint chips. Take the samples back home and compare them to your old color and your furniture. Choosing colors is a fun way to begin a painting project.

Once you’ve chosen a color, that means you are ready to begin shopping for your project. The painting trade is a highly developed industry, so you will discover that there is more painting equipment out there than a typical DIY buff ever needs to know about. To simplify things, use this basic shopping list to help you make your own.

Painting project shopping list
*Brushes and rollers
*Roller covers
*Paint trays and tray liners
*Drop cloths
*Clean up rags
*Painters tape
*Sandpaper
*Paint pail for brush work
*Paint removers
*Razors
*Paint can openers
*Ladders
*Furniture moving pads
*and of course paint

How much paint will you need?
Measure the square footage of the surfaces you will be painting. That means grab a tape measure and add the width plus the height of all the walls that will get a coat of paint. When buying the paint, read the labels or ask a professional how much square footage a particular gallon of a particular type of paint will cover.

What type of paint will you need?
The type of paint depends on the room. If you’re working on an interior paint job, the paint will need to give good coverage coupled with stain resistance. The paint should also be able to withstand occasional scrubbing so you can keep it clean for a long time. The two basic families of paint are latex paint and oil based paint. Most modern day oil based paints are actually made with synthetic resins called alkyds, that are less toxic than traditional oil base. Latex paints have excellent gloss retention and give the longest lasting finish. Latex paints are also quick to dry and very durable. Oil or Alkyd based paints are known for good adhesion and stain resistance. Oil or Alkyd based paints are great for trim in high traffic areas like kitchens and bathrooms.

Flat, Satin, Semi-Gloss, or Gloss?
Both latex and oil paints come in a variety of finishes. Flat finish paint softens a room, smoothing the look of walls. Flat finish is not hard to clean with a damp sponge and is great for adult rooms like dining rooms, living rooms, and bedrooms. Satin finish has the benefits of a flat finish but because it has a slight gloss, it is even easier to clean. Satin finish is good for high traffic spots, like children’s bedrooms, family rooms, and hallways. Semi-gloss paint is best for areas that will be cleaned often, like kitchens and bathrooms. Gloss paint has a rich finish and is very durable. It is an ideal finish for trim and doors.

Be prepared!
Painting preparation is probably the most important part of a painting project. Remove all wall art, area rugs and furniture from the room to be painted. Then clean the room. You don’t want dust bunnies interfering with your fresh beautiful new paint. You must lay out drop cloths to cover the entire floor. You must scrape chipped and loose paint. You must clean the walls to be painted with a mildly abrasive cleaner like TSP to remove the dirt and prepare the surface to stick to a new coat of paint. Using painter’s tape, tape all edges and glass that you want to protect. If you are using a different color or gloss for the trim than you are for the walls, make sure to tape off all the trim before you begin. Make sure the room is ventilated. Open windows and doors. Have all of your tools, including painting clothes in the room to be painted. Once you finish preparation and begin acutally painting the walls, you want to avoid having to leave the room for something you forgot about.

This brief DIY guide to painting can not cover all of the details of the job. There are many types of brushes and rollers that were not discussed. Painting techniques include what order to paint in, from ceiling to floor, and how to use brushes and rollers to avoid spatter and runny application. This guide should serve as a starting point. As your painting project develops, seek out the help of painting and home improvement professionals for best results. Good luck!

Matthew Millsap is a home improvement expert. He believes in consumer education. If you need more information on general home improvement or painting in particular, please visit Building Company No. 7