5 Great Uses for a Dry Basement Room

Friday, October 20, 2017

5 Great Uses for a Dry Basement Room

Homeowners can expand their living space and find great personal comfort just by looking to the basement. A snug dry basement space is the perfect location for a family to spread out. Here are 5 great approaches to additional livable space:

  1. BDry SystemAn extra bedroom. Whether its secluded space for a growing teenager, or a private space for visiting relatives, a basement bedroom can add value to your living arrangement. Plus – you may add significant resell value to your home. Some building codes require a window in the room, check with your local authorities.
  2. A man-cave. Imagine your own private sanctuary: a desk for after-hours computer work, a bench for projects and hobbies. Then you include a plush couch and a TV for screening testosterone laden, action-packed buddy movies.
  3. A woman-cave. See above. Desk, check. Projects and hobbies, check. Replace “buddy movies” with “chick flicks.”
  4. A family room. Growing kids need to make noise and jump up and down. Send them to a basement playroom to exert all their energies and imaginations, removed from the quiet of the rest of the house. Everyone agrees that basement floors are much better for jumping than joist-supported second floors.
  5. A media room. Dream big! Subdues lighting, comfortable seating, a mammoth big screen or maybe an overhead projection system. Invest in a great surround sound system. What a great retreat for the family on a Friday or Saturday night.

A critical part of expanding your living space below stairs is to ensure a dry, waterproof basement. BDry™ consultants are expert investigators: they will check your home for any clues of water entering your home. Should water be present, they can address a range of issues and make it right. Back by 60 years of experience, BDry™waterproofing is your first call when planning an expanded living space.

Buying a house? 3 vital tips for detecting water problems

Monday, August 14, 2017

Buying a house? 3 vital tips for detecting water problems, and resolving them.

This weekend, thousands of potential buyers all across the country will take to the streets in search of Open Houses and For Sale signs. The search is on for a new home. Whether it’s a first home for long-time apartment dwellers, or a step up for expanding families, the home-buying experience is an exciting time.

It can also be fraught with peril.

BDry™ waterproofing offers these tips for home seekers:

  • Look beyond the obvious. In addition to a great floor plan and nice backyard, focus attention on basement walls. If no basement, check around the foundation and crawlspace area for any telltale signs of water damage. These can include water pooling, bowing walls, and unusual cracks in the foundation.
  • Ask the tough questions. Don’t just inquire about new flooring, painted rooms or other aesthetics.  Has there been any major renovations done and did it involve the foundation, basement or crawlspace?  Has there ever been any foundation work or a waterproofing system installed in the home?  Why?  What was the original issue?  Then you can do some of your own investigating and look for problem signs.
  • Putting in your time. Did you know that much of time in a professional home inspection is spent in the basement? (Home inspectors also spend a lot of time in attics.) Home inspectors will look for discoloration of floors or walls, watch for cracks, and they’ll check if walls have been covered with so-called “waterproofing paint”. You can get a head-start by checking some of these things yourself.

Should you find an indication of water issues in the home, it may not be a deal-breaker. The seller may disclose that, yes, they had an issue and subsequently had it fixed. These instances are common in homes all over the country.

waterproofing-concrete-basement-floors

Many water issues can be easily remedied. Contact your local BDry™ and schedule an appointment with one of our highly trained consultants. Water seepage problems may be easily repaired, and often for less money than either you or the seller may think.

It’s magical when you fall in love with the perfect home for you and your family. Should you find that it has a few water-related blemishes, don’t lose heart. It may still be the perfect home for you. For the peace of mind of all involved, give BDry™ a call. 1-888-779-2379, or click here and request a free in-home evaluation.

My Realtor Said a Wet Basement Made Our House Unsellable!

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Basement water issues, flooding threaten couple’s plan to sell.

I still have some photos of our cute 2-bedroom walkup. We had lived there for 15 years, but times had changed. It was time to move on, and we had found another area more convenient to work and to family.

Kaye had been recommended to us as a great Realtor® in the area. She came over for her first walk-through.

“Lovely home,” she said. “Buyers will love your kitchen,” she told us. “Your home shows beautifully,” she exclaimed.

And then we headed into the basement.

Wet Basement Wall“There seems to be some wet spots on your basement walls,” Kaye said.

“It’s a wet basement,” I said, somewhat pointedly. “Isn’t that normal?” I was clueless.

She pointed at the floor. “Some of these vinyl tiles seem to have popped up.”

I nodded. “Sometimes in the days after a heavy rain, tiles will pop. It’s not a problem, I will glue them back down before any showings.”

Kaye bent down to examine the baseboard. “Do you know there’s a brown water line along your wall? See how it is wet, coming up the molding?”

“I know. It’s not a problem. It’ll wipe up and dry off before we get the house listed.”

And that’s when she told me that our house was unsellable. She said that we needed to find a solution for our basement water problem. That’s when we called BDry™.

Honestly, we had never spent a lot of time in the basement, so to me, these issues were ridiculously minor. I was focused on getting packed and getting to our new home.

But Kaye was telling me we’d never sell our house! We were blocked from ever seeing the money we needed to buy our new home!

A short while later we stood in the same basement with Andy, a representative from the local BDry™ waterproofing office. He was incredibly knowledgeable: he was so specific about the soil around our home and how water would find the path of least resistance. He tried to explain the dominant building techniques used back in the day. Andy told us about hydrostatic pressure — thousands of pounds of pressure, straining against our basement walls. The water was even pushing in from underneath our house!

I’m no building engineer. The little home we had loved was now a “little house of horrors”, blocking us from our dream of moving to the next chapter in our lives!

The BDry™ crew set to work about a week later, implementing a proven system with 50+ years of effectiveness. Almost half a million homes (500,000) have a BDry™ waterproofing solution at work! Within just a few days, the new system was in. The floors and walls were dry and neither Kaye nor I detected any signs of a wet basement the day of our real estate open house.

Kaye and Aaron both said, a wet basement in your home rarely gets better with time. Looking back, I wish I had addressed it earlier. But getting the BDry™ system in our small house was key to us finding a new buyer. I had real peace of mind handing house keys to the smiling couple taking possession of our former home. Their twin boys would have hours of fun playing in a dry basement.

And we moved on to our new place!

– Chris Lakely

“Sense-a-tional” ways homeowners inspect their homes for water damage

Monday, March 20, 2017

Touch, sight, and smell are key tools in determining if a water problem threatens your home.

It’s not unusual for a homeowner to call their local BDry™ waterproofing office to say that they suspect a water problem in their basement or around the foundation of their home. BDry™ consultants are trained to look for telltale symptoms of a wet basement, and they employ many of the senses to detect these issues.

  • Smell.  Often the nose helps homeowner and BDry™ consultant alike to notice a problem. In the basement or a confined crawlspace, do you detect a musty odor? Does your nose pick up the scent of mildew? While the BDry™ system alone can’t solve the odor problems, these signs could be a hint of water problems in the home.
  • Sight.  With a powerful light, check floors for cracks, or load-bearing walls for stair-step cracks. Are gaps forming where wall and floor come together? Are walls bowing in? If so, call the BDry™ office immediately.
  • Touch.  Do you feel water around floor and wall cracks? Is water seeping in through the pores of concrete block? Do your basement walls seem to be wet?
  • Sound.  After a heavy rainstorm, do you hear the sound of water behind walls, or beneath floors?
  • “Sixth sense.” Perhaps you are not definitely sure, but something “feels” wrong about your basement or foundation. Don’t dismiss this feeling without scheduling an appointment with the BDry™ office near you.

Wet BasementOur human senses are the first line in detecting a wet basement. Your BDry™ consultant carries an array of tools to define water issues. BDry™ staff can best assess what factors may be at work in threatening your home’s foundation, basement, or crawlspace.

For many residents, their home is their biggest financial asset. Protect your investment, and preserve your peace of mind. Contact your local office of BDry waterproofing today to schedule a no-obligation home consultation.

Six Things Cracks in Your Basement Walls & Floor Are Telling You

Friday, May 22, 2015

A crack in your basement walls or floors is never a good sign. Obviously, it’s always a signal of damage to your lower level, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a trigger for expensive and obtrusive repairs.

That’s why it’s important to differentiate between serious and not so serious basement cracks. There are cracks that need major repair, there are cracks that indicate your foundation is in trouble, there are cracks that mean you have a moisture problem, and there are cracks that might not be serious at all. Here’s what your basement cracks might be telling you about what’s going on around your foundation:

  1. Cracks on the interior walls are often the first indication of foundation damage. Sometimes these signs may go unnoticed because usually changes occur slowly. When in doubt, call an expert to assess your home’s foundation.
  2. Horizontal cracks on the basement walls are usually caused by pressure against the sides of the walls. That often means water pressure pushing on the foundation.
  3. Vertical cracks in a foundation wall are most often caused by the shrinking of concrete as it cures. They are usually less damaging than horizontal cracks, but they may indicate damage from a settling foundation.
  4. A stair step crack – one the proceeds both horizontally and vertically in a step pattern – is a serious problem: It’s a sign that your wall is pulling apart from itself in all four directions and needs to be stabilized accordingly.
  5. A crack in the floor slab is a common way for water to enter a basement or crawlspace. Most commonly, this crack is actually a joint of two pieces of concrete that have dried at different rates/times, called a cold joint. While cold joints are standard in the building process, there could also be water coming up through the basement floor through a different kind of crack in the concrete. Due to the way in which water behaves, finding the path of the least resistance, sometimes the path water finds is into your home through a crack in the floor slab. Stairstep Crack
  6. A separation may develop in your basement or crawlspace where the floor meets the wall (an area called the cove). In the most general terms, here’s what’s happening: water is collecting on the outside of your home – either next to your foundation, or below it. As the water continues to collect in a finite space, the pressure of the water will build. This will enable the water to find the path of the least resistance to reduce the pressure. Sometimes, the path of the least resistance is into your home, resulting in water seepage in your basement floor or wall.

Some of these problems require simple fixes; others are the sign of serious problems. BDry™ can help you figure out which is which. We are always available for a free, no-obligation consultation. Give us a call and let us help you get your basement back in pristine order – no matter what the remedy is.