Posts made in September, 2008

The Best Basement Lighting

Posted by jacques on Sep 11, 2008 in Basement Finishing Contractors, Finished Basement Ideas |

Combining many different types of lighting options will make your basement beautiful and unique!

Picking the best basement lighting for your home is a decision that can mean all the difference when adding beauty and energy-efficiency to your home. How well the basement is illuminated sets the ambiance for the entire area, can reduce eye strain, and can add to the feeling of comfort and convenience in the home. Total Basement Finishing has these suggestions on the best basement lighting:

Incandescent Basement Lighting

Although using incandescent lights is very popular, it’s becoming more and more obvious that they’re not the best option for a finished basement. These lights are short-lived and poor in energy use, with 90% of the energy they use being released as heat instead of light. And while they work well in can lights, when they’re installed in a basement ceiling with heavy traffic above, the constant vibrations will cause the lights to burn out early. They’re also very sensitive to even a slight amount of excessive voltage, which can quickly shorten their life.

Incandescent lights do have their strengths, however. Fluorescent lighting tends to burn out in areas where the lights are flipped on and off quickly such as in closets and stairways. Incandescent lights, with their significantly lower expense, are much better for these areas. Additionally, incandescent lights work best for lights with dimmers, and to many homeowners, there’s just nothing quite as attractive as the light of an incandescent.

Florescent light is a great way to improve a finished basement!

Florescent Lighting

Florescent Lighting is becoming the industry-required standard worldwide as well as in the United States. Lasting ten times longer than incandescent lighting and using one-third of the energy, it’s a green choice that reduces carbon emissions and air pollution. EnergyStar.gov reports that “[i]f every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.” 90 medium-sized power plants could be shut down if Americans were to switch to energy-efficient lighting, and an enormous amount of money could be saved. As General Electric reports, simply replacing 10 standard 60-watt and five 100-watt incandescent bulbs would save the homeowner as much as $120 each year in utility costs and more than $650 over the life of the bulbs!

LED Lights

LED lights, or Light Emitting Diodes, use clusters of two to 36 solid, miniature light bulbs. While these bulbs have been in use since the 1960s, they’ve only become inexpensive enough to consider for home lighting in recent times. While a bulb can cost as much as $40, they’re able to last up to ten times longer than a compact florescent light, withstand vibrations well, and they generate less than 1/20th of the heat of incandescent basement lighting.

One disadvantage of LED lights is that they tend to shine in focused beams of light. Means of diffusing that light are being designed, but in their current state, they’re best only for task lighting purposes such as in desk lamps, nightlights, spotlights, or for use to light up cabinets and closets. The technology is changing rapidly, however, and it’s definitely worth watching!

Halogen Basement Lights

When combined with flourescent basement lights, well-placed halogen lights are a great way to add beauty to the space!

Halogen lights may not have the level of energy-efficiency of some other lighting options, but they have strengths that are hard to beat. Although they’re designed with the same technology as incandescent lights, they do so with 30% more efficiency and can provide the truest, most radiant, and brightest light available. They’re not set to be phased out as incandescent lighting is, and they offer a sensible compromise of beauty and energy-efficiency.

Unfortunately, the application of these lights are fairly limited. While they work very well in can lights, track lights and task lighting, a homeowner planning to design their basement with them will find them best used in combination with other lights such as fluorescent.

The Best Basement Lights

Finishing the basement should be forever, and planning forever deserves professional attention and careful design. Total Basement Finishing would like to provide you with an expert basement finisher that can transform your dark, dank basement into a beautiful new living space! Each of our experienced certified basement remodeling specialists is here to help you make your basement finishing project into exactly what you’re looking for in your home. If you would like a free basement refinishing estimate, call or contact us today!

Finished Basements are Unique Space

Posted by jacques on Sep 2, 2008 in Basement Finishing Contractors, Finished Basement Ideas |

Whether your family is growing, looking to sell your house in a few years, or anticipating regular visitors, finishing the basement is a great idea! However, when finishing a basement, it becomes clear that the space is unique and offers many challenges and special conditions that are not present on the other floors. Let’s take a look at a few:

Basement Windows

Crystal Clear EverLast Basement Windows

In a basement, window space is a real commodity. Basement windows tend to be smaller than windows on the upstairs floors, and they often receive less direct sunlight than the floors above. Additionally, many homeowners will install singe-paned steel basement windows in the area, which rust and create an ugly eyesore. Additionally, these windows are cold and draftt, and they can allow water into the basement if the window wells clog and fill with water.

Instead of single-paned steel basement windows, it’s best to install double-paned vinyl basement windows. They’re able to last as much as twice as long as their steel counterparts and they offer as much as three times the insulation.

Basement Ceilings and Floors

Very often, the basement’s ceiling will be much lower than any other area in the home. Therefore, preserving head room can be vital to a successful job. A low ceiling can give a room a cramped, uncomfortable feel and will ultimately make the room much less hospitable to all who live there. If you’re looking to save head room, look down. Install a basement floor product that is close to the ground, inorganic, and one that sits on raised pegs to provide an air space underneath the flooring. Vinyl floor tiles take up a faction of the vertical space of a basement, and they last much longer than other options (especially wood!).

Basement Lighting

Keep the basement beautiful with tastefully placed lighting!

Due partially to the lack of large windows, a basement can be a dark, dismal place if the homeowner isn’t careful with the design. However, installing mold-resistant drop ceiling tiles will allow for a great deal of versatility in the basement design. Drop ceilings are perfect for recessed lighting, can lighting, drop lights, and energy-efficient florescent lighting. Florescent lights are best for the area, as they use a third of the energy and last ten times longer than their counterparts. It’s also a great idea to strategically place some floor and table lamps at every location possible and to use as much brightly-colored furniture as possible.

No matter how many lights you install, there will be few substitutes to good lighting in the basement. Installing large egress windows instead of basement doors is a fantastic start. In the smaller basement windows, replace all those dark, rusty steel basement window wells with covered SunHouse window wells to reflect in as much beautiful sunlight as possible for the basement space.

Basement Water and Humidity

Drywall can quickly grow mold once it becomes moist.

Basements are notorious for being humid, leaking areas. If the basement has ever had any foundation water leak in, then it should be completely waterproofed and protected before the basement finishing. However, even with a carefully waterproofed basement, humidity can still pass through the porous concrete of the basement walls and floors as water vapor, filling up the area and adding dampness to materials. If carpet, wood, drywall, fiberglass, or any other material that contains organic material is present, it can become a habitat for mold, mildew, and rot. And with all the sinks, pipes, tubs, toilets, water heaters, washing machines and other plumbing in the house, a failure and flood is unavoidable!

When finishing a basement, be sure to install only inorganic materials in the space that are warranted against mold and moisture. Drywall, carpeting, and wood will grow mold and rot, and wood will become saturated with water, causing it to swell and buckle. Even mold-resistant drywall has no long-standing warranty against mold, and it can still be damaged easily by water.

Total Basement Finishing’s line of basement remodeling products are made specifically with the basement environment in mind. These bright, beautiful products resist mold and moisture, and they’re sure to keep the basement looking beautiful and attractive for decades to come. Additionally, the insulated wall panels, floor tiles, and low-E double thermopaned basement windows combine to make a system that’s warm, sensible, and cost-effective. And if the area is being used as a game room, children’s play room, or entertainment area, you’ll be grateful that you have walls that won’t crumble and break on impact, replaceable ceiling tiles, and basement floors that are twice as durable as the alternatives. There’s nothing like the Total Basement Finishing system!