Finished Basements
By Jayme Hanson

Finished basements are excellent ways to increase the livable square footage of your house. Basements used to be considered dark, damp dungeons that were only used for storage. You can create a haven for entertaining, working on hobbies, an extra family room and so much more with finished basements.

Basic designing tips for your finished basement include installing a lot of lighting. Use both natural or outdoor lighting as well as artificial lighting. Create an open floor plan to maximize the space. Using light colors and mirrors will also add to the illusion of a much larger area.

Typically the biggest obstacle to a finished basement is that if the house was built without a plan for completing the basement, the utilities were probably place for convenience rather than aesthetics. The utilities that are usually located in the basement are the furnace, hot water heater, duct work and plumbing. You might be able to reroute some of the utilities but some are going to be considered fixed because of structural

elements. In finished basements you can find a balance between economy and design.

Finished basements can be gloomy if there is not enough lighting. If your basement doesn’t have daylight windows these can be added. The ideal situation would be to include the windows when the house is built. If you either can’t afford to add daylight windows or the structure prohibits you adding them, you can brighten up finished basements with good artificial lighting.

Some finished basements may have a problem with water or moisture. Most common causes of moisture are outdoor watering or rainwater leaking into the basement. You can install gutters and downspouts to direct the rainwater away from the foundation of the house and make sure that your sprinklers are not soaking the ground right next to the foundation. This will greatly reduce the amount of moisture in finished basements . There are also sealants that can be applied to the interior foundation walls prior to finishing them that will reduce a moisture problem.