Posts made in July, 2008

The Case for Basement Ceiling Tiles

Posted by jacques on Jul 30, 2008 in Uncategorized |

Basement Ceiling

Our Mold Resistant Basement Ceiling Tiles Keep a Basement Beautiful for Decades!

There are two methods of finishing a basement that have proven popular- basement drop ceilings and drywall ceilings.

Drywall ceilings have historically been a popular basement ceiling solution for one primary reason: homeowners are looking for a cheap way to finish a basement to look just like the rest of the home. However, a basement has fewer windows, a lower ceiling, water heaters and utilities, and different needs for finishing the walls and floors. If you want to finish the area, it’s never going to look just like the rest of the home. Ultimately, drywall is a cheap, dusty, dirty material, and when it’s installed on the ceiling it offers poor access to pipes, electrical wires, and ducts even if an access portal is created.

Conversely, basement drop ceilings provide a quick, clean installation that is compatible with energy-efficient florescent lights, recessed lighting, can lights, and suspended lights.

With Total Basement Finishing, your basement can become your favorite room in the house!

Each panel can also serve as a convenient access point for air ducts, pipes, and electrical wiring. Additionally, if there is a plumbing failure or damage dealt to the ceiling, individual tiles can easily be replaced with a few minute’s effort instead of attempting a drywall patch. Drop ceilings can also muffle sounds between the basement area and the second floor, providing additional comfort and privacy for the entire home.

In a basement, the product should be completely inorganic and come with a warranty against sagging that will lasts for at least 25 years. Drywall products offer no guarantee like this, and they have no way to provide the unique types of materials that a reliable basement finishing requires.

Finished Basement Floors: Stone and Ceramic Tiles a Poor Choice

Posted by jacques on Jul 23, 2008 in Basement Finishing Contractors, Finished Basement Ideas |

Across the world since more than 4,000 B.C., tiled flooring if one of the most ancient ways to cover a home’s floor. There’s no doubt that the designed look of tile is one of the best looks in a custom-designed basement. Unfortunately, appearance is all you’ll get in a basement environment with a tiled basement floor. These cold, expensive, hard surfaces can shatter easily and can a health risk.

10 Reasons to Avoid Ceramic, Stone and Marble Basement Floor Tiles

1. Stone and ceramic tiles are usually grouted directly to the floor, which makes them costly, difficult, and messy for removal.
2. Installing tiles is a long, tedious, and involved project. After installation, they will need to sit for at least two days without being used in order to seal correctly on to the floor. To learn how to install tile to the floor, click here.
3. Because these tiles do not add insulation to the basement floor, they tend to be cold and uncomfortable underfoot.
4. Porous grout lines can absorb moisture, stain easily, and grow mold, bacteria, and mildew. To care for them properly, they should be resealed each year.
5. Floor tiles made of ceramic are fragile and can easily crack, chip, shatter, and crumble.
6. Stone, marble, and ceramic tiles have a surface that is hard, cold, and unforgiving. Dropped objects will shatter easily on impact, and injuries sustained from slips and falls will be more severe.
7. Wet tiles will be slippery when wet, making them less safe than other flooring materials.
8. Porous tiles easily stain and grow bacteria. They need to be treated routinely with sealants.
9. Stone, marble and ceramic tiles reflect sound and make a lot of noise underfoot.
10. High quality stone and marble flooring is very expensive and can cost upwards of $25/square foot.

Replacing old stone, marble and stone tiles can cause exposure to asbestos and other harmful chemicals and should be done by a professional. However, if you hire a professional, you should carefully check for hidden costs, as many will add a charge if you want them to remove furniture, remove and dispose of the previous flooring, or prepare the subfloor for tiles. Finishing the floor could be more expensive than you think!

Total Basement Finishing’s ThermalDry Tiled Basement Flooring is a much more convenient option. It installs with all the beauty of ceramic, stone, or marble flooring and without many of the disadvantages. ThermalDry offers a warmer surface (up to ten degrees) that installs with a build that will not stain or shatter the way other tiling does. Installation is fast, easy, and requires no grout. If they ever need to be removed, they can be taken up easily even by a novice homeowner. They’re more forgiving to falls, and they will not support the growth of mold, mildew, and bacteria like grout does.

If you’d like to learn more, Total Basement Finishing would like to connect you with an expert representative that can meet with you and offer a free consultation on finishing your space. Call or contact us today for more information!

Ruined Basement Wall Finishings

Posted by jacques on Jul 22, 2008 in Basement Finishing Contractors, Finished Basement Ideas |

The rain is starting to pick up more across the country, and with it, Basement Systems is hearing of more and more from people with wet, flooded basements. As large rains hit, plumbers can work nonstop around the clock to try to reduce the damage caused by widespread basement flooding in the area.

When this happens, any basement wall finishing material, like drywall, mold-resistant drywall, fiberglass and cloth based basement walls, wood, carpeting, and a wide variety of other materials will soak up the water and accept enormous damage. And despite claims to the contrary, all of those materials contain at least some organic material that can rot and grow mold. Replacing moldy, damaged basement finishings is a tedious job that involves expensive removal of the old finishing and mold cleanup. Often, homeowners install the same basement wall system that was ruined in the first place. Before finishing the basement with these materials, be sure to ask the dealer these three questions:

1. Is the product warrantied against mold, mildew, water, humidity, and rot?

2. How long does the warranty last?

3. Will the warranty hold if the basement floods from a foundation or plumbing leak?

For most products- even mold- resistant drywall- there will be a three month warranty that is void if there is a basement leak. Just three months? What’s the point?
Total Basement Finishing is so confident that their basement wall products are built to last that we warranty them against mold, moisture, and humidity for 50 years. And that warranty stands even if the basement leaks. There’s no one else in the industry that can claim a warranty like that! And if a warranty can be used as a gauge of confidence, then we’re 200 times more confident in our product than companies that give a three month warranty!

Don’t pay for a problem in your basement. Call Total Basement Systems or visit our basement remodeling web site today to learn more about our product!

Drywall installations ruin finished basements

Posted by jacques on Jul 15, 2008 in Basement Finishing Contractors, Finished Basement Ideas |

Before you make the final decision to install drywall in the basement, do a little search on replacing drywall on the Internet. Between water damage, mold, and the flimsy, easily breakable build of drywall, there are thousands of people looking for help in replacing drywall in their home. Reinstalling drywall is a dusty, dirty job that creates piles of waste and requires the removal of sometimes moldy, rotting drywall and wood studs. It’s a difficult, time-consuming project, and hiring a professional to do it for you is expensive.

Einstein defines insanity as “doing the same thing twice and expecting different results”. If you install drywall and it’s ruined, what will happen if you install drywall again? Sooner or later, this cheap, flimsy material is going to become ruined again. Drywall – even mold-resistant drywall – is simply not built to last for the long haul.

When drywall comes in contact with water, it soaks up the moisture and begins to disintegrate. In a very short amount of time, this moisture can lead to the growth of mold, mildew, and mold spores- especially behind the drywall where the moisture can become trapped. Dust mites can grow on drywall by the millions, and each one will produce approximately 200 times its body weight in waste in a lifetime. And the Journal of Property Management has reported that a single square inch of drywall will contain as many as 10 million spores! Dust mite waste holds more than 15 potent allergens, and Time magazine reports that there can be hundreds of thousands of mold spores in a single cubic meter of air indoors. With a single person inhaling 10 or 12 cubic meters each day, this is a serious problem!

The Environmental Protection Agency cites indoor air pollution as one of the five greatest environmental risks to public health, with mold, pollen, pet dander, and dust mite allergies is among the leading causes of these problems. If you have congestion, stuffy nose, irritated eyes, or difficulty breathing indoors that is quickly relieved when you go outside, you may be one of the 10% of the general population and 90% of asthmatic patients who are sensitive to these allergens. Even if these allergens are located in the basement,

The best way to avoid the problems of replacing damaged gypsum panels or dealing with wet, moldy, disintegrating drywall replacement is to stop the vicious cycle. Don’t replace your drywall with more of the same: instead, finish the area with Total Basement Finishing’s EverLast Wall Panels. Their industry-leading R-13 insulation offers unprecedented savings in energy bills, and the completely inorganic walls will not support dust mite and mold growth. And when your basement floods from a leak in the foundation or plumbing, our EverLast Wall Panels you can count on their 50 year warranty against mold and moisture to keep them strong- even if the basement floods! No other basement wall product’s warranty compares to this!

General Home Improvement Contractor or Basement Finishing Specialist?

Posted by Richard on Jul 11, 2008 in Basement Finishing Contractors |

When homeowners think about hiring a contractor to remodel a part of their home, they typically think “general” contractor. Why “general” contractor? or general home improvement contractor?

Would you go to a chiropractor if your foot hurt? Would you hire a landscaper to paint your house?