This article provides a few tips on making your basement remodeling project as stress-free as possible. Remodeling your basement, while ultimately very rewarding, giving you so much more space in your home, can also be one of the most difficult types of remodeling you can do. The reason is simple: your basement is probably the area of your home with the largest gap between what it currently is and what you want it to be after the basement renovation. Add to that the fact that most basements are below ground and have potential moisture and mold issues, and you’ve got one involved project on your hands!
When you talk about remodeling your kitchen or bathroom, chances are both of those spaces are probably already pretty close to looking nice already. The basement is a whole different type of monster. Most peoples’ basements are just nasty, dingy, moldy places that they don’t want to go. That’s why they end up dumping all their unneeded stuff down there and not thinking about it again until they need to go down and retrieve something.
When it comes time to remodel your basement, the whole process doesn’t have to feel like a hassle though – there are a lot of things you can do to make the process go much more smoothly.
Tip #1 – Take Control of the Mold Issue
If you have mold in your basement, then eradicating it is your biggest and most important task before you do anything else. If you’re remodeling the basement, then chances are you’ll want it to be a furnished basement so you can start spending more time down there. We don’t need to tell you that spending extended periods of time in a place where there is mold present is extremely bad for your health. Breathing mold into your lungs can get you very sick and even give you cancer or other lung diseases. The trouble is, mold is also very difficult to get rid of, once it’s started growing.
Unless you have a very mild mold problem that you’re confident you can take care of on your own, you’ll want to get a specialist in to take a look at what’s going on, before you start with your Monmouth County basement remodeling project. These are people who deal with this type of stuff on a regular basis, and know much better than you do about how to get rid of it effectively. It’s well worth the money to pay a professional to handle this type of thing. We have mold remediation professionals in our network of preferred remodelers, so please ask us for a recommendation.
Also, don’t discount dampness without mold as a non-issue. Dampness is the leading cause of mold, and the only reason the dampness in your basement hasn’t developed into mold yet is probably because it’s still got ample opportunity to be aired out. If you go and remodel your basement, effectively closing off the damp areas, they will turn moldy very quickly. Now, not only do you have a mold problem on your hands, but you’ve got a mold problem underneath your newly remodeled basement, that you’ll just have to tear up if you ever want to be able to spend any length of time down there without getting sick.
Tip #2 – Stop Being a Pack-Rat
One of the biggest things that keeps people from a successful basement renovation project is they can’t bring themselves to throw away all the things they’ve accumulated down there in the first place. When you think about it though, you probably don’t use all the stuff down in your basement more than once a year, and a lot of it you’ll probably never use again.
Imagine if your basement were to flood in the middle of the night tonight – what would you be heartbroken that you lost? Make a list of that stuff and then go down and retrieve it all. Then go through the rest of your stuff and be liberal about what kinds of things you can live without and what kind of stuff you can’t. Don’t lie to yourself and try to justify keeping all those things that you really can live without.
Add the stuff you can’t live without to the pile of things you’d be upset that you lost if there was a flood, and that’s the stuff you’re going to want to save. Be ruthless and throw the rest away – all of it! Or better yet, have a yard sale or donate all that stuff.
Once you know how much you really need to keep, you can plan out a secondary storage room in the basement to store all that stuff. Most people are surprised to realize that the stuff that used to take up their whole basement can usually be organized into an area about 1/6th of its total size, when their baement project is all said and done.
Tip #3 – Decide Best Use
Decide what you really want to use your basement for. This will help you to plan what you’ll actually put down there. If you want it to be a bedroom for the older kids in your family, consider making a few separate sections. If it’s going to be a game room, then make sure to leave a lot of wide open spaces. If you plan on using it as a home theater complete with a projector, don’t try to add in windows which will just let the light in.
Work with whichever basement remodeling contractor you choose to figure out exactly what type of things will be right to create the type of finished basement you’re looking for. They may even be able to provide suggestions if you’re having trouble figuring that out on your own. Feel free to browse our own basement design suggestions.
Monmouth County Basement Renovations – Conclusion
Usually people who have never used their basement for anything besides storage will want to start going down there and hanging out, just because of how nice they’ve been able to make it down there. Since the basement is usually about the size of the square footage of the bottom floor of your home, there’s quite a lot of space down there for you to take advantage of. We know it’s exciting to be able to finally use your basement for relaxing or entertaining, but it’s important to take these initial steps before picking up the hammer on your next job.
NJ Basement Remodeling – Local Areas We Serve
The Design Build Planners provide home design, remodeling, and renovation services in the local areas of Freehold NJ, Manalapan NJ, Marlboro NJ, Holmdel NJ, Colts Neck NJ, and the rest of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.