Image Credit: Kim Scaborough

How to Make Room for More Room in Your Home

I did a little spring cleaning over the weekend.  Among other things, I brought four 60-gallon Rubbermaid containers into the basement.  Four. More. Giant. Containers.

In all, I have three dozen of these storage units now– all filled to the brim with things I’m not likely to touch (or think about) again for the next five years.  As I stacked the containers, I thought of the most common reason homeowners never finish their basement:

“I’d never be able to finish my basement with all that stuff in there!”

Pishposh. Remodeling a crowded basement IS possible.  Here’s what you should do:

Don’t Plan to Finish the Entire Basement

Most basement remodelers do not recommend finishing every inch of your basement.  While an entire floor of your home is overkill, SOME storage space is a good thing.  Allocate one-half to one-fourth of your basement as a dedicated area for storage, utilities, and laundry.

ZenWall is an affordable solution to spruce up storage areas

If you have a little extra in your budget and would like the storage area to look its best, try out some inexpensive upgrades.  We recommend our ZenWall product to give it the same look as the finished space.  Sometimes, we line it with rigid, white plastic boards (BrightWall) and waterproof floor tiles as a cost-effective upgrade.

Let Some Things Go

If you haven’t looked at it in five or ten years, what’s the chance that you really need it?  Finishing the basement is a great reward for finally organizing all that junk, sifting through your photos, and finally tossing out Aunt Edgar’s old rocking chair.

Yard sales, Goodwill, and your local waste disposal & recycling company are the way to go.  You’ll be surprised how good you feel without all that stuff weighing you down!

Use Vertical Storage

Of course, some things have to stay.   But if you stack those boxes and crates one on top of the other, it’s not going to be accessible.  The solution?  Vertical storage.

Storage shelves are relatively inexpensive and can do wonders for adding available space to your home.  Over the weekend, I personally picked up mine, and in two hours I’d at least doubled the available space in my closet.  Awesome!

Ask Us for Advice

At Total Basement Finishing, we’ve been remodeling basements since 1987, and we’ve got tons of great ideas on how to maximize storage space in your home.  Additionally, we’ll be able to help you build custom shelves, cabinets, and closets to optimize what you have.

We’d be glad to offer you a free, no-obligation basement finishing consultation and cost quote .  Give us a call today to locate a Total Basement Finishing Dealer near you, and get started on your new & improved home!

There was never a better time to remodel your basement the green way.

If you’ve been dreaming of transforming that dingy basement into a home theater, a home gym or any type of livable space in your home, the time to finally tackle that project is now.

The Federal Government, under the section 1121 of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, is giving qualifying homeowners a series of incentives to make their homes more energy efficient, including a Tax Credit of 30% of the cost of energy efficient improvements, up to $1,500 dollars.

Total Basement Finishing’s  EverLast Perimeter Wall Panels qualify as an eligible building envelope component under 25c of the Internal Revenue Code and IRS Notice 2006-26.

Basement insulation is one of the most cost effective energy efficient improvements. The U.S. Department of Energy reports enormous savings from insulated basement walls.  For example, picture a 1,500 square-foot home in the northwest U.S. that has a finished basement with R-10 insulation.  If it’s heated by natural gas (at $0.72/therm), a homeowner should save $400 every year with an R-10 insulation!

EverLast Basement Wall Panels are mounted on a R-13 rated, closed cell foam insulation board which,  unlike fiberglass and competing fiberglass based insulation boards, will not soak up moisture and loose its R-Value. There are also other features that make Total Basement Finishing’s EverLast walls the best choice for your green basement remodeling project.

• 100%waterproof, inorganic and non-absorbent. Will not soak up water, support mold growth or get ruined, even if your basement floods.
• The cement core panels give you sturdy walls to hang book shelves, flat screen TVs and fixtures with no need to look for studs.
• The washable, stain-resistant, waterproof finish is virtually maintenance free while giving you the refined, high-end look you are looking for in a basement remodeling project.
• Everlast Wall Panels come with an impressive 50 years warranty.

There was never a better time to get the basement room of your dreams with Total Basement Finishing. But you have to act quickly: homeowners only qualify for this credit if the walls are installed after 12/31/08 and before 1/1/11.

Contact us today for your Free Design Consultation.

For more information on the Federal Tax Credit and qualifying products. visit the U.S. Department of Energy website.

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.

Exposed fiberglass showingin a basement closet. Exposed fiberglass is also common in unfinished portions of basements finished with this kind of wall system.

In recent years, there has been a big influx of homeowners insulating their finished basement walls with fiberglass insulation. And some large companies have also joined the bandwagon, creating basement finishing products that are manufactured with fiberglass insulation.

The issue here is that while fiberglass insulation works well in upper floors, it’s one of the worst insulation options available for a basement remodeling project.

This article will explain why, and discuss the best alternatives for basement insulation.

Fiberglass insulation rarely goes all the way up the walls, leaving open spaces where heat can escape. Metal stud mounted on foundation walls will also conduct heat away.

Inferior Wall Paneling Insulation

Fiberglass basement insulation is a less-effective insulation option, when compared to closed-cell insulation or spray foam insulation. It can absorb water from flooding and humidity, losing much of its insulative R-value as it becomes saturated. And if the insulation is compressed in any way, it will also become less effective.

More importantly, fiberglass batt insulation is installed in an unbroken sheet on the basement walls. There will be open air along the top of the insulation, and over time, the fiberglass will often settle, increasing the size of the gap on top.

Additionally, fiberglass and fabric basement wall panels cannot support the weight of cupboards, bookshelves, or other heavy objects. When they’re installed, the insulation must be cut away, so they can be mounted directly to the foundation wall.

These openings give heat a way to escape from your home, significantly reducing its energy efficiency. Think of it this way: How warm could you keep your house if you had a window open all the time? If you have large openings in your insulation, you can expect the same results.

Mold can easily grow on fiberglass and fabric-based basement wall panels, especially during a flood.

Fiberglass Walls Support Mold Growth

While fiberglass itself is inorganic, not all the materials that are in a completed fiberglass batt insulation are. For instance, the paper facing that is too-often included on fiberglass basement finishing panels can grow mold easily, as are the resins that are often used in the fiberglass to attach it to the backing. Foil backings can be effective for protecting this fiberglass from humidity, but the newer black plastic coverings include perforated holes- holes that can allow humidity and water into the insulation.

And since fiberglass is not naturally pink, we know that pink fiberglass has been dyed; that dye contains urea, an organic material that can and does grow mold. We’ve seen hundreds of basements that have been ruined by moisture and water over the years, and we know just how easily fiberglass gets moldy!

Basement Flooding Ruins Fiberglass Walls

When fiberglass basement walls get wet, the dyes leak and stain the fabric. And fabric walls are very hard to clean!

HGTV recommends installing fiberglass batt insulation with the facing pointed towards the warm side of the wall. This means that if the batt is properly installed, your fiberglass insulation will be pressed directly against the wall, where it can absorb moisture and humidity directly from the basement wall.

And if the basement leaks with groundwater or it floods through your pipes, washing machines, basement windows, water heater, sinks, toilet, tub, shower, or anywhere else in your home, you can say goodbye to your fiberglass insulation. Fiberglass soaks up moisture like a sponge and its dyes are water soluble, meaning that once the flood has come, your walls will be stained and the fiberglass will be soaked, and no longer effective as insulation.

Of course, once the fiberglass is wet, it is also its most susceptible to mold, rot, and mildew growth.

The Solution for an Insulated Basement Wall

Installing Total Basement Finishing wall panels, with blue closed-cell polystyrene basement insulation.

Instead of fiberglass insulation, [dealer] installs closed-cell polystyrene insulation as part of the finished basement wall panel system they provide. Designed by Total Basement Finishing, each insulated wall panel includes an incredible 50-year written warranty to resist mold and damage from humidity or flooding.

Created with dense insulation and a hard 1/2″ cementitious board, these panels can support the weight of up to 300 pounds per square inch, meaning that there’s no need to cut away the insulation when you need to mount cabinets, bookshelves, and heavy objects. Their vinyl covering makes them beautiful and easy to clean for the life of the home. And unlike fiberglass insulation, this free-standing wall panel can install on the walls or as a partition with no need for studs!

We can finish a basement, from floor to ceiling, in about ten days, and the warranties that come with the products last for decades! To locate a TBF Dealer in your area and schedule your FREE, no-obligation basement finishing design quote, call or e-mail us today!

Have you been skipping your daily exercise routines for lack of time or motivation to go to the gym? Are you tired of paying membership fees only to find out that you have to wait in line for a chance to use your favorite workout equipment?

Maybe you are just someone who would love to get serious about your health but doesn’t feel comfortable in a gym environment.

Did you ever think of building your own personal gym ?

If you have an unfinished basement, you can turn it into your dream home gym in a matter of days and, depending on your choices of equipment, quite affordably too.

The advantages of having your own home gym include:

• Family, friends and roommates can work out too: there’s no need for everyone to pay membership fees.
• Work out at your own pace and enjoy complete privacy
• There’s no need to share equipment with strangers.
• You can work out at any time, with no need to worry about getting to the gym before it closes.
• You can add features you would not normally find in typical gym (spa, meditation room, massage chair, flat screen TV or media center)

Step by Step Plan

1 – Measuring:

Take rough measurements of your basement, (your basement remodeling contractor will take the final measurements anyway). Sketch it on a piece of paper, and mark the place and measurements of any fixtures (utilities, stairs, windows and egress windows, doors, walls, pillars, appliances).

2 – Sketching:

Use paper or a simple free online tool like the Floor Planner, to plan your basement home gym. Build the walls, and place all the existing fixtures where they belong.

3 – Picking your equipment

There are three types of workout equipment.

A-    Cardiovascular workout equipment: mainly used to help you burn calories and fat, improve circulation and strengthen your heart. They make you burn fat by raising your heart rate, accelerating your metabolism, and causing your body to burn stored fat. Tread mills and recumbent bikes are in this category.

B-    Body building equipment: used to strengthen and define body musculature. Weight and utility benches are examples of equipment in this category

C-    Multifunction/combination equipment: some modern machines provide two types of workout and may include features that will focus on individual areas of the body (upper body, abdominal muscles, legs, thighs, hips, arms).

Consult your doctor, a personal trainer, or a fitness expert and establish clear workout goals and a feasible plan based on your current age, physical fitness, body type, health, daily work schedule, needs, and expectations. There is no “one-size-fits-all” plan when it comes to workout, and you don’t want to spend money on equipment that’s not right for you.

Start researching fitness equipment over the Internet, to have an idea of the dimensions. Some machines are very bulky and take up a lot of space and some models are very compact or can be easily stored when not in use. Make your choices based on the available space as well.

4- Shopping for Fitness Equipment

Prices for fitness equipment can range from a few hundred to several thousands of dollars. However, you can get very good deals if you are willing to shop for used items.

Browse Ebay listings for bargains. You may find good deals on your local GoodWill or Salvation Army Thrift Shops, and money spent there supports important community programs and worthy causes.

Tag sales and garage sales are also great places to find deals in gym equipment.

Alternatively, you can join your local Freecycle community and get the equipment for free!

5- Enroll the help of your basement finishing contractor.

Call [dealer] for a free design consultation in [cities]. Let your dealer go over the basement measurements with you, and guide you through the process of designing your {basement gym/basement fitness center}, advising you on the best finishing materials and layouts.

Show your design specialist your sketch, and give him an idea of the kind of equipment you’ll be using. Work with the contractor until you’re 100% confident that you have just what you want.

Pay attention to details such as lighting, the number of power outlets you will need, and whether or not you will need an egress window. Make sure you include extra outlets for things like your cell phone charger or a cooler.

Your contractor will inform you about any needed permits, and in most cases, they will be the ones making sure all the proper permits are issued before the work starts.

After the design consultation, you’ll be given a detailed, written estimate and will have a good idea of what your finished basement will look like.

5 – Finishing the Basement

TBF Basement Finishing systems can be installed in a matter of 7 to 10 days, with minimal disruption. Expect consistent updates and a courteous crew, as well as excellent workmanship.

6 – Bring in the equipment.

As soon as the TBF crew finishes installation, you can bring in, assemble, and install your gym equipment. Male sure all the parts are safely attached, and verify that all the electronic equipment is plugged, and that the cords are neatly tucked out of people’s way to avoid accidents. Add a few nice details like motivational posters or pictures of your loved ones to remind you of why you’re working so hard to stay fit and healthy.  A scale and mirrors will allow you to evaluate your progress.

With careful planning, the TBF Systems, and the right equipment choices, your ugly unfinished basement could become your beautiful and comfortable home gym in as little as 5 days!

Pat yourself in the back, even before you start working out. Building a basement gym is a great way to reinforce your commitment to a healthy lifestyle, and it’s a wonderful way to inspire your family and friends to do the same!

Like New
One thrifty home remodeling technique is to reuse and recycle materials. Reuse old fabric and material from clothing or blankets to make pillows or lamp shades. You can also take old furniture and redecorate it to make it more modern or to match the current theme or color scheme of your room. You can paint a new finish onto a wood chair, or reupholster an old sofa with new material to make it seem like it was just brought home from the store.

Read the full article.

In a tanking economy with so many companies downsizing and thousands of regular jobs being cut every month, working from home can be a viable way for many Americans to make a living. There are a lot of benefits that come from working at home: you get to spend more time with your family, your hours are more flexible, and you can save a lot of money by avoiding daily commutes.

Whether you are starting your home business, or applying for telecommuting and work-from-home positions, the first thing you need is to make sure you have a suitable place to work in and conduct business from.

The Home Office Buddy website offers a lot of information to help you design the perfect home office according to your needs.

You will find tips and easy to follow instructions on converting rooms such as your basement into a comfortable home office, and learn how to choose the best office furniture, computer equipment and software.

If you dream of working from home or starting your own home business, Home Office Buddy is just the site to get you inspired.

To prepare your basement to become a home office, check out Total Basement Finishing! They can make your basement into clean, usable space.

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!