Remodeling a basement can be one of the most rewarding home improvement projects that you can undertake. A lot of people put off basement remodeling for far too long, giving up available space that could be quite useful for entertaining, storage, or even extra living space. This is because of some of the unique problems with remodeling basements. A high proportion of basement suffer from water damage. Sometimes, it can be very mild and sometimes more severe. Even in more mild or moderate cases, however, mildew problems can make it hard to spend a lot of time in the basement without developing allergy symptoms.
What people don't understand is how easy it is to take care of these problems when remodeling a basement. Unless you have some serious structural problems with your house, you can easily deal with mildew and move on. Because so many basements are built out of unfinished concrete, the solutions are pretty easy. You seal up and patch any cracks or holes in the concrete, disinfect the basement, and move on. That is really all there is to it!
In my case, basement remodeling was kind of an afterthought. We had remodeled the living room and bedroom as well as the bathroom, but were still unhappy with the amount of living space we had. We wanted more space, and we were actually thinking of putting on an addition. We do not realize that remodeling a basement was an option. We were so used to ignoring the space, and besides a lot of it was currently being used for storage. Finally, we got around to cleaning it out. We turned it into a recreation room and, to our surprise, it soon became our very favorite room in the house!
When remodeling a basement, special care should be taken. A lot of people choose to remodel a basement just like any other room in the house. In my opinion, this might be the wrong approach. You see, no matter how unpleasant it is to think about, you have to deal with the possibility of basement flooding. Because this is the case, it often pays to plan ahead of time. Rather than using carpets or wood floors, you can use vinyl flooring for your remodeled basement. That way, if something does happen, the floor will be less damaged and will be easier to replace if necessary. Similarly, furniture can be kept fairly simple and minimal just in case.
