Making Improvements to a Basement in Easy Stages

Basement Improvement

Lots of people want to improve their home as a means of boosting its value; the questions they often ask are: what should I do, and it what order? When it comes to a basement that’s unfinished, there are a number of steps you can take to slowly and easily improve it…

First, as most basements are below ground, ground water is an issue. So, you want to try and dry the place out initially. The simplest way to do that is be buying some moisture sealant at a local hardware store and apply it to the walls and floor like paint. This will make them all waterproof. Now, if you find that you still have a problem with the floor, if the water table is very high, an easy way to fix that is by digging a sump hole in the lowest point of the basement. If the floor is solid concrete everywhere, you’ll need to break out a section to create the sump. The easiest way to do that is with a saw fitted with a blade to cut concrete. Most large hardware stores rent such saws by the hour or day, and you can get the job done in just a few hours. Once the area is cut, break up the concrete with a sledge hammer – be sure to wear goggles and a face mask.

After that, the next step is warming the basement up. In general, keeping it cool is never a problem; so you’ll want to install some space heaters to warm the place up. All of these steps are fairly cheap and easy to do by yourself. The next steps will cost more, and you’ll probably have to hire someone to do some of the tasks.


The next thing to do is put down a decent floor. Depending on the condition of the basement floor, you may need to create a levelling course to get it flat and even, and fill in any cracks or holes. After that, lay down a vapour barrier and then install some kind of flooring: tiles, hardwood, linoleum etc. Once the flooring is done, the walls are next. While a waterproof sealant is fine for a simple barrier, like the floor, a vapour barrier is best. Tack it up to the walls, put on some insulation, and then attach studs to the exterior walls. After that, you can add drywalls to create a nice finished surface.

At this point, you’ll have a nicely finished basement that is ready to be used for just about anything. To get beyond this point to something specific, you’ll need decide exactly what sort of use you intend: playroom, craft room, workshop, and so on, and then tailor the basement to that use. By following these simple steps, you can at least create a nice living space that will add value to your home.

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Basement Electrical Work

Home Basement

So often, basements are dark and dank places, ill-suited for any sort of niceties of life. One way to change that is by installing some decent lighting. Now, electrical building codes will vary from one municipality to another, so these ideas are strictly an overall outline of how to do it…


First, ask yourself if you’re qualified to do electrical work. If not, hire an electrician; people get hurt and even killed fiddling with high voltage power lines! Once you’ve made that determination, check on the size of your home’s electrical service. If you have an older home, you may not have a lot of amperage to play with; you don’t want to overload your fuse box. If necessary, you may need to upgrade your service to accommodate the new fixtures.

Next, locate all of the available electrical lines running through or near your basement. Ideally, you want to tie into what’s known as the “homerun”, the main line running through your house from the fuse box. The reason for this is that the line is capable of carrying the heaviest power load.

Once you locate the lines you want to tie into, determine which circuit they’re connected to. Many professional electricians work on power lines without turning off the circuit – do not try this if you’re not a professional!

From your building department, you can learn which type – which gauge – of electrical wire to use. The last thing you want to do is install the wrong wiring and have to replace it later. Another key point to consider is this: grounding. If you have an older home, your outlets may have only two prongs, which means they are not grounded, and the wiring may not have a ground line. But, most modern appliances have three prongs. This means either using adapters, or replacing all of your outlets with new ones. In some cases, some building codes require you to also replace the old wiring, and this can significantly boost the cost of the work. If you’re lucky, you can just go with the grounded outlets, which are available in any hardware store, and are easy to install.

In terms of lighting, you’ll need to consider your ceiling. Very often, basements do not have well finished ceilings – as they are essentially the floor of the ground floor – and you may be dealing with rough beams and joists. So, you may have to finish the ceiling. A hanging ceiling is an inexpensive means of doing so, and thus allows you to put in recessed lighting. This can be key because if your basement has a low ceiling, any sort of hanging light fixtures could get bonked by any tall members of the family. Also, a switch for the main light at each door of the basement is best. That way, no matter which way people come in and out, they can turn the light on and off.

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Issues of Drainage with Basements

Drainage with Basements
Having trouble with water in and around your basement probably is not high on your list of concerns. Yet, depending on where you live – it can and should be. If you have an especially large basement, and your area has a high water table, you can have what’s known as hydrostatic pressure pushing in on your house from the basement floor and the outer walls.

Now, when your house is first built, the architect and/or engineer will take that pressure into account in the design of the walls. Yet, while the floor and walls are strong enough to stand up to the water, they may not be sealed to prevent water from seeping into your basement. First off, concrete and cinder block walls are rather porous; so water can trickle through and collect in your basement. The same is true of the flooring; usually it’s nothing more than a six inch to twelve inch slab of concrete.

So, one way of dealing with this seepage is to seal the walls and floor. If you go to a hardware store, they’ll have waterproof sealant that you put on with a roller – just like paint. Now, these sealants have their limits; if the water table is especially high and/or you have a very large basement, the water pressure (the hydrostatic pressure) can get high enough to push the water through the sealant.

If that happens, you’ll need a pump system to collect the water. In the case of the walls, you’ll need pipes places around the outside perimeter of the house. Ideally, you’ll want to dig down to the footer of the walls and create a trench at least a foot wide. In the bottom, put some gravel and a perforated pipe, which will run around the entire perimeter of the house.

Depending on the way the ground slopes around your house, you may be able to just run a drain pipe off to one side, and then let gravity take the water away from the house. If the ground is high all the way around your house, then you’ll need a pump to bring the water up from bottom of the trench, and pump it away.

In terms of water under the floor, ideally you want a bed of gravel under it, and then a perforated collection pipe at the low end of the floor. Once again, a pump is needed to remove the water and send it off. If you’re trying to drain water from under an old floor that you can install gravel and pipes under, you can create a sump. This is a small square hole – a couple feet across – and you dig it at the lowest point of the floor. Then you set a pump in the hole and fill it with gravel.

By using these various methods, you can help to dry out your basement and make it a splendid living space.

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Making Improvements to a Basement in Easy Stages
Key Elements for Your Basement Remodel
Preparing a Concrete Basement Floor
The First Steps to Remodelling a Basement
Issues of Drainage with Basements