BASEMENT BLITZ

By: Jim Semple (writing under the name Harry Roth)

INTRODUCTION:

My Role in "Yes You Can"

I was the editor and the only writer involved with "Yes You Can". I planned, researched and wrote every article and feature in each issue. I also wrote many of the ads that appeared in it. In addition, I helped promote the publication (to potential advertisers) through a direct mail campaign. Because we felt we needed more credibility, we brought in the totally fictitious Harry Roth. All articles offered helpful how-to advice. All information was verified by staff at Lansing Buildall stores.

The "Basement Blitz" Article

The "Basement Blitz" article was selected from dozens of similar 'how-to' articles in "Yes You Can" because it's typical of what we tried to achieve with the publication.

Shown above is the illustration that accompanied the "Basement Blitz" article. Yes, we did sell an ad to the fiberglass manufacturer.

Following is the complete text of the article as it appeared in the Fall 1991 issue.

BASEMENT BLITZ

Tackling the Task of Insulation and Renovation

What's down there anyway? Are you willing to let "Yes You can" take an imaginary peek at your basement?

Is it a place you're proud of? Have you set up a cozy little den for yourself where you and your friends can enjoy the game on TV? Did you turn it into a rec room with a pool table and a home bar? Have you been generous and made it over into a special room for another family member?

Or is your cellar something you don't want anyone but family members to see? Is it dank, cold and clammy? Is it just a place for ugly but functional household equipment? Are there unsightly pipes and ducts overhead?

We suspect a lot of "Yes You Can" readers have already taken their do-it-yourself skills down to the basement and produced a place they're proud of. If you have, you can either take it easy or tackle some other home renovation project this Fall.

Maybe you recently moved into a new house or maybe you just haven't gotten around to making your basement less of an embarrassment and more like useful living space. If that's the case, then join us for our "Basement Blitz".

"Yes You Can" likes to challenge its readers to tackle at least one ambitious home improvement project every season. This Fall we're assigning you the task of turning wasted basement space into practical, comfortable living space. There's a lot you can do to reclaim that space. It won't cost you that much for what is effectively an addition to your home. So let's do it.

Our 'Blitz' takes the form of a 3-pronged attack

1. Making it comfortable

That means insulation. Insulation is always worthwhile in terms of energy-saving and living comfort. Many home owners insulate their attics and other parts of their home, but neglect the basement. A basement can account for up to 25% of the total heat loss in a house. The energy-saving will be a nice bonus, but our goal in this article is to get your basement to the point where someone can sleep there even on the coldest night of the year.

2. Creating your special space

Be it a games room, a rec room, a sewing room or even an extra bedroom, that's up to you. You'll probably only have room for one such room. But you can easily make a room where there wasn't a room.

3. Making the rest of the place comfortable

You can't hide a furnace, but the things that belong in the basement don't have to be in ugly surroundings.

Insulation Confrontation

Not only are your confronted by the challenge of keeping cold air out of your basement, you are confronted by a bewildering choice of insulation materials.

In the store, it sometimes seems like a matter of choosing the right colour -- pink, green, orange, blue, etc.

Because we need to choose an insulation product for our Basement Blitz project, we went with products from Graham FiberGlass. We chose Graham because we know from experience (in our Fall '90 issue), that it does give you the right R-value and is easy to use.

You should really start the insulation part of your Basement Blitz on the outside of your home. Look for moisture problems. Be sure water drains away from the house. You can insulate from the outside, but it's a big job that may involve excavation and usually isn't a practical option. Unless your house is really old, the basement (foundation) walls are most likely made of concrete blocks or poured concrete, both of which have moisture protection that makes exterior insulation less necessary. Insulate from the outside only if you have serious moisture problems inside your basement. For more detailed information about exterior insulation, we can recommend a booklet called "Where and How to Insulate Basements", available from the Ontario Ministry of Energy.

Before you insulate the walls, use caulking to seal the joints between the walls and the concrete subfloor and around the floor joists where they meet the walls at the ceiling. Wide gaps, cracks and hollow spaces can be filled easily by using Graham Easi-Strip insulation before caulking. Easi-Strip comes in one continuous piece. You just measure off as much as you need and cut it with scissors or a utility knife. Each strip is 15" wide and a package contains 20 feet of it. You can get it in R-8 or R-12.

The building code specifies a minimum R-value of 12, where more than 50% of the basement wall is above ground. Graham's R-12 or R-14 should be sufficient for your home.

There are two basic ways to insulate your basement walls to the right R-value -- with fiberglass batts or rigid foam boards. The foam board is more water-resistant, but also tends to be more expensive. The choice will depend somewhat on the existing situation in your basement -- bare concrete to the floor, partial studs or a finished wall with full studs.

We chose to do our insulation project with the batt type of insulation. For this you'll need a wooden frame -- a stud wall. If you're lucky, your basement will already have one. The placement and thickness of the wooden frame depends on the insulation desired. Since we're able to choose either Graham's R-12 or R-14, we can use a standard 2 x 4 which is 3 1/2" deep and will nicely accommodate a 3 1/2" fiberglass batt.

But before putting your stud wall in place, you want to protect against the possibility of moisture coming from the walls. One good way to do this is to paint the walls with something like Sta-Dri masonry paint.

With your stud wall in place, you can install Insulation batts. The Graham FiberGlass batts are easy to work with here because they can be compressed to fit the space but recover their shape and R-value.

You should also install an air-vapour retarder (6 mil polyethylene) on the warm side of the insulation. And, because we're finishing the rest of the basement, you'll want to cover up the insulation with drywall or paneling, which you'll be able to nail to your stud wall.

It's also a good idea to cover those ugly ducts and pipes. Use insulation blankets and duct tape for the ducts. You can get insulation sleeves for the pipes. You can also insulate the floor, over the existing concrete, if you are going to be putting a new floor on top.

When you're comfortable with the basement insulation you've installed, you can start getting creative and plan yourself a room for whatever purpose you have in mind. When you know how, open space quickly becomes livable space with the addition of walls, a ceiling, flooring and a door.

In our Spring '90 Issue, we showed you how easy it is to install drywall and put in a suspended ceiling. Many other basement how-to project have been covered in previous issues of "Yes You Can". You'll probably want to do a suspended ceiling through the whole basement. That alone will go a long way toward making your basement look livable. And it puts those unsightly pipes out of sight. As for floors and doors, you're in luck. Other articles in this issue of "Yes You Can" might help you decide on that.

Then maybe add some wood paneling or paint or whatever decor suits your plans for the new room and suddenly it's not just wasted cellar space, it's living space. And the value of your home is increased.

We can't tell you how to finish your new basement room, but we can tell you what we're doing with ours. Our ultimate goal was to create that cozy TV rec room/den. We're doing the wall in dark wood paneling and putting in a beautiful hardwood floor. Then we're adding our own home bar (see page 4 of this issue), a big screen TV and some comfy furniture. Then, when we get it all done, we'll be inviting some of our favourite football fan friends over for a combination Super Bowl party/Basement Blitz bash.

But remember the third part of our Basement Blitz -- the functional areas. Since you've now created living space, people will be going down there and at least walking by those areas. Chaos, clutter and a dingy appearance just won't do in your new basement.

Luxury in the laundry room? Unlikely. You still need to allocate space for laundry equipment. But it doesn't have to look dreary. No need for expensive ceramic tiles, but you can get easy-to-install tileboard that looks like ceramic.

The traditional use of a basement is for storage. You'll likely still need space for that. Just get some good sturdy shelving and get things more organized. Your local Lansing Buildall store will have lots of imaginative ways to utilize wall storage space. Upgrading your lighting will also make this area look less like a cellar.

Also down there is another special room -- your workshop. At least we hope you've given yourself adequate space for all your tools and sufficient room to work with them. Be proud of your workshop too. It'll get noticed more now so keep it tidy and organized. After a busy few weeks of doing all those other basement improvement projects, improving your own workshop can be the last part of your Basement Blitz.

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