Beautiful Game Room designed by Mr. Basement

The popularity of basement game rooms and “man caves“, which soared during the past decade,  will remain as a huge trend through 2015, According to the National Association of Home Builders’ “Home of the Future” study.

A combination of rising fuel prices, shaky housing market,  and the increase in number of available home entertainment technologies and systems, had homeowners looking at ways to maximize the use of available space in their homes building rooms to be more enjoyable and provide for all their entertainment needs.

Ron Greenbaum, also  known as Mr. Basement, is an expert in basement environment, from waterproofing to finishing.

Mr. Basement built many basement game rooms and “man caves“,  including the one in the picture that illustrates this post, which was featured in this Triangle article.

And he offers some important advice regarding game rooms:

“Before the design phase can begin, homeowners have to make sure the space is well-prepared,” Greenbaum says. “That means doing due diligence and controlling humidity in a basement or insulating the space in a loft above the garage. Otherwise, you’re throwing your money away.”

Mr. Basement is a Total Basement Finishing  dealer in Baltimore, Maryland area all the way from Frederick County to the Eastern Shore, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia.

Total Basement Finishing offers the best finishing  solutions for your Basement Game Room or Man Cave.  Contact us to locate a dealer in your area.

In our experience, when our customers are really happy with the service, not only will they not feel bothered for having their contact information used as reference but they will be delighted to provide the information requested.

This is why our policy is to offer references right away before you ask for them, and even before your ever get to meet our representative in person. As for exactly what to ask a contractor’s reference, the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) website has excellent tips.

Read the rest of the article.

Green Remodeling is sweeping the nation as homeowners seek to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint in the environment.

There’s never been a home improvement revolution that’s swept the nation with quite as much force as green remodeling. People have become much more eco-sensitive in recent times, with increasing reports of global warming across the newswire. And with winter settling in and heating bills on the rise, the need to make the most of the energy in the household has been driven home more powerfully than ever before.

Insulating the basement walls and floors can save a lot of money while keeping the space beautiful and comfortable.

The Wisconsin Environmental State has recently reported that green products are being used for 40% of remodeling work. This already high number is on the rise! The Green Tech Forum reports that the number of green homes is expected to increase tenfold in the next five years! And as they remodel their homes and begin to save money (the US Department of Energy has shown that as much as $400/year can be saved just by insulating the basement walls), homeowners are become increasingly grateful for their work. 85% of homeowners, according to Qualified Remodeler, are happier with their newly green home than ever before!

From the basement walls to the floors to the windows, Total Basement Finishing is making sure all the products they install in your home are energy-efficient, green, and clean. Contact us today for a free basement renovation estimate!

A basement drywall installation in progress

I’d like to share a sad story with you.

Mr. and Mrs. Soker begin this story as a happily married couple with a baby on the way. They own a cozy one-story home in a neighborhood they love, and while they need additional space for their growing family, they’re not ready to leave the area.

Their solution, they decide, is to finish the basement. This will provide a beautiful new area in the home, nearly doubling their livable space, and by leaving a small area unfinished and boxed away, they hope to retain some room for storage and to house their washing machine and dryer. They pick a spot in a corner of the basement that sometimes leaks – that can be their unfinished space.

Excitedly, they spend many days in the basement with sidewalk chalk, drawing floor plans right on the concrete to help them decide just how they’re going to finish the new space for themselves and their children. In the end, they decide to add a basement bedroom with a small basement bathroom. With the large remaining area, they boxed it off to serve as a children’s play area in the early years. Later, they would transform it into a basement family room for all to share.

Drywall can look OK when it's first installed, but as moisture begins to ruin it, many homeowners regret installing it.

Once they’ve planned their basement makeover, they call Tim the carpenter, who did such a wonderful job on their neighbor’s cabinets. For the next few months, Tim’s in the basement, hammering away at wood studs and literally working up a storm, in the form of drywall dust, as he cuts and fits the walls. The Sokers are glad they started on the job early, as the baby is just about ready to join the family by the time he’s done laying the carpet on the basement floor. Overall, the job is messy but cheap, and in the end, they feel mostly satisfied with the results.

The baby arrives, and gifts abound from friends and family. The new space is filled with baby clothes, new furniture, and toys. The Sokers buy a beautiful leather couch to finish off the basement design, and they start feeling a little better about the space.

Until one dark and story night…

When a basement floods, it damages more than drywall. Everything in the area, including sentimental items, can be destroyed.

At first, the Sokers thought a pipe had burst. Sure, it was raining, but they’d never seen so much water in the basement before! They rolled up their pants, waded in and recovered everything they could find that wasn’t ruined by the water. Everything was piled upstairs, a plumber was called, and they called Tim back to the house to pull the carpet up to have it dried in the driveway.

The basement was never the same after that. The drywall had been damaged badly by the water, and the carpet began to smell right away. A photo album placed in a low bookcase was soaked and ruined, as were many stuffed animals, toys, and a computer in the main area. Their insurance covered almost none of the damage, as they’d never paid the extra amount for flood damage. Concerned for their child’s health, the Sokers moved him upstairs and made do with what they had, waiting until they could afford to refinish the basement.

This story is fictional, but it’s based on a great many true stories that Total Basement Finishing hears about every day. If you’ve ever had any water in your basement, then your home is especially vulnerable to a flood. Insuring the home will help, but what you really want is to start with is a basement that will stay dry all the time. Total Basement Finishing would like to help you by connecting you with a reliable basement waterproofer in your area. If you’d like a FREE estimate on your basement waterproofing, click here!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

Of course not. But when it comes to a home improvement project, be it a bathroom or kitchen makeover, window replacement, roofing, or even basement finishing, most people simply look for a home improvement contractor as a one-size-fits-all solution.

And yes, Consumer Reports reports that about 10% of people who have a remodeling project done in their home are dissatisfied with the work. It’s really amazing that only 10% complain!

Any general home improvement contractor will tell you that there’s nothing to finishing a basement, wood studs, drywall, paint, drop ceiling, a carpet and you’re done, 4 maybe 6 weeks tops, or at least finished by the holidays (hopefully). Problem is, everything mentioned above slowly gets ruined in a damp environment, and when that groundwater or plumbing leak occurs, you need to start again.

Using materials only suited for the upstairs in a basement is like building a remodeling project into your basement. But hey, who doesn’t want a band-new basement every 2 to 10 years. It’s not the general home improvement contractor’s fault that this happens, it’s just that they don’t know. Really, who knows hardly anything about basements anyway?

Basement Systems does. After 21 years of basement waterproofing and basement environment control, we know a lot about basements. And the Total Basement Finishing (TBF) basement remodeling system by Basement Systems is the right choice for a basement. Plus, the system is designed to make the basement environment as comfortable and healthy as the upstairs. Read more about it at the TBF Web site.

So always hire the expert, not the generic contractor for the right job – you go to the best doctor, dentist, mechanic, why not the best contractor… after all it’s for your house, you live in it.