What to Think About When Finishing a Basement

Moisture

• Moisture can be a major problem in basement areas, and can manifest itself in several ways. The most serious is flooding, which can occur if your house lacks proper drainage, good gutters or effective landscaping on the outside to direct water away from the foundation. Moisture can also appear in the basement during hot weather in the form of condensation and high humidity, and these conditions can lead to mold and mildew. Any problems with flooding or moisture should be resolved before doing any finishing work in your basement.

Head Room

• Depending on the age of your house, your basement may have low ceilings. Most houses built since the 1960s have full-height basements, but older houses often had more utilitarian basements. If your basement is little more than a crawl space, it isn't realistic to try to use it as finished space. If it features low but usable headroom, you may be able to use it by avoiding lowered or finished ceilings and installing larger windows to make the space seem roomier.

Noise

• Take the traffic patterns and frequent uses of your house into account before finishing your basement. If you turn your basement into a bedroom, and there are frequent groups of people walking around overhead, you may find that this is disturbing to anyone using the bedroom. Conversely, noisy activities in the basement may disturb the people overhead. Both of these problems can be lessened by installing noise-reducing insulation between the joists in the basement ceiling before you finish it. If you have a choice about what part of the basement you are finishing, use the part that is most isolated from the rest of the house.

Insulation

• Problems with condensation in the summer and heat loss in the winter can be lessened by including extensive insulation in your basement renovation plans. This will not only make your basement less susceptible to exterior climatic changes, it will keep the rest of your house warmer as well. The upper part of your basement walls, the part above ground level, is often a major location for heat loss, as well as for the entry of humidity during the summer.