Finishing a Newark, DE Basement with Waterproof Products and an Egress Window

Just about every contractor who knows how to hang drywall, thinks they have the expertise to finish a basement. After all, how hard can it be, right? But basements pose certain challenges that aren’t a factor in the upper floors of your home, and the products and materials that work in your living room are not suitable for your basement. That’s why it is so important to hire an expert.

Basements are usually at least partially underground, so the walls and floors are colder and need to be insulated. There is more humidity in the basement, commonly due to moisture from the ground migrating through the concrete, or the heat of your dryer coming into contact with the cool walls, forming condensation. There is also the potential for flooding due to sump pump failure, leaks from your hot water heater, icemaker line or washing machine hose, a broken pipe, or the dreaded toilet overflow. 

Drywall and fiberglass insulation should never be used in basements. Even if you never have a flood, the high humidity will cause mold to grow on these organic materials and within a few years, your basement will start to smell like mold, and that’s just not healthy air to breathe. 

Basement Systems USA, Inc. never uses organic materials when finishing basements. On this job, you can see that we used a different type of wall board that is called Everlast Wall, which comes with a vinyl finish or unfinished and ready for paint.  Everlast Wall is 100% inorganic and comes with a 50-year warranty against water damage and will never have mold growth. We also used a beautiful, inorganic wood-look flooring that comes with a guarantee against water damage. 

The installation of a SaniDry XP dehumidifier guarantees that the basement will never feel damp. Most basements need a dehumidifier, especially if it is a finished basement where you and your family will be spending time. The standard store-bought dehumidifiers are not powerful enough to do the job. The SaniDry is 7-9 times more powerful than a regular dehumidifier, and not only does it dry the air, it’s 2-stage filter removes airborne allergens. 

Lastly, we added a Rockwell Egress window well, which allows for escape out of the basement in case of emergency. Building code requires that every finished basement has at least one egress window. Rockwells are a safety feature with a bonus! They allow lots of daylight to enter and brighten up your space.

So, if you hire a contractor to finish your basement, and you see him (or her!) dragging sheets of drywall and big rolls of pink insulation toward the entrance of your basement, wait until he makes the next trip to his truck to grab those boxes of laminated flooring that he plans to install, then lock your doors, turn out the lights and pretend you’re not home. And always remember - Mold LOVES organic materials, but it doesn’t stand a chance when it’s up against Basement Systems’ inorganic building products!!