Why You Should Leave Your Braintree, MA Basement Finishing Project To The Pros

Why You Should Leave Braintree, MA Basement Finishing To The Pros

DIY Basements Are A Masterclass In “What Could Go Wrong?”

When you’d like basement finishing in Braintree, MA, it can be tempting to turn to DIY solutions. After all, drywall is pretty cheap – why not do it yourself?

As it turns out, there’s a lot that can go terribly wrong when it comes to basements. Part of this is just the nature of basements: they’re wetter, colder, and have a higher concentration of utilities.

Because basements pose unique challenges, they’re a lot harder to finish than above-ground rooms. And because homes are often sold with unfinished basements, a lot of homeowners try to turn them into a DIY project.

When you combine those two factors, what you get isn’t fun: lots of partially finished or badly finished basements full of mold and mildew.

You may think that it can’t possibly be that bad, but you’d be wrong. Don’t believe us? Read on for examples of just a few of the most common basement finishing mistakes.

Basement Mold And Mildew From Bad Waterproofing

Waterproofing is the most important step in DIY basement finishing, especially in rainy East Coast. It’s a delicate process that’s easy to do wrong, and when it goes wrong, your entire basement will be ruined sooner or later.

Unfortunately, DIY basements are almost always done in drywall. Drywall is essentially a layer of powdered minerals between two pieces of paper – very bad news if it gets wet.

Wet drywall is a dream come true for mold and mildew. Water penetrates it easily, it’s got plenty of organic materials to feed on, and in a basement, it stays nice and humid.

Blocking Utilities In Your Basement Ceiling Or Walls

Most of your home’s utilities are accessed from your basement. It works pretty well in an unfinished basement. Those open walls mean they’re out of the way but easy to access.

When finishing your basement, though, you need a plan for your utilities. You could try writing down where all the pipes and wires are before you start. Of course, most aspiring DIYers aren’t all that sure which pipes and wires do what.

You could leave your basement unfinished and lose out on hundreds of square feet of livable space. Or just finish parts of it, leaving the (hopefully) most important pipes and wires exposed.

This is a pretty persistent problem in basement finishing. Homeowners put in basement walls or ceilings, only to find they desperately need access to something behind them.

This even happens with professional basement contractors who use drywall. The only way to finish a basement while granting easy utility access is to use removable basement ceilings and wall panels.

The only system that allows this sort of access is the Owens-Corning Basement Finishing System, which is only installed by certified professional installers.

The alternative is drywall that must be torn down to access utilities and then replaced afterward.

Trouble With Basement Finishing Building Codes

The professionals have a real advantage over DIYers when it comes to building codes.

Homeowners tend to find themselves scratching their heads trying to find this information, and once they do, understanding it is a whole other can of worms.

After that, they still have to apply that information – all while trying to finish a basement that meets the family’s needs.

If you make a little mistake with building codes with your basement finishing project, it could drastically reduce the potential value of your home.

Pros have all the information they need from the start.

We have employees, for example, who have installed thousands of basements across decades-long careers.

These pros can look at a basement and find the perfect layout in no time – and they know East Coast’s building codes forward and backward.

Months Of Work To Finish A Full Basement

The worst part of DIYing a finished basement? It takes forever to complete.

You can expect months of work, even if you spend hours a day working on your basement. This isn’t just annoying, slow, and a waste of your time – it’s downright hazardous.

All that drywall dust? Breathing it in can cause cancer. And you’ll be tracking it through your whole home for the duration of your project.

DIY installations tend to experience plenty of setbacks that involve tearing down and re-doing parts of the drywall, so you’ll need to budget for that, too.

If you want to spend months in your basement, only to find you missed some vital waterproofing step early on, DIY is the route for you.

For Braintree, MA, homeowners who have better uses for their time, Lux Renovations is the answer. Our basement finishing system is ready in a matter of weeks and solves all the problems of traditional basement finishing. Call us at + 251-302-1959 to schedule your free consultation.