Before You Renovate Your Basement

Evaluate First, Then Plan

More basement renovation talk because it's important.

Before you do anything, and I mean anything, inside the basement in terms of planning, calling up someone for a Free Estimate (which is really a waste of everyone's time and effort), or measuring out spaces to be developed, you need to ensure your bulk water management systems are up to snuff.
Bulk water management systems?

Yep, bulk water management and guess what, lucky for you there are only two primary sources for bulk water and they are:

• ground water
• surface water.  

Your Basement Leaks Like A Sieve - Guaranteed

So why is the management of water important to your basement renovation plans?  

Think of your basement foundation this way and you'll see what I mean. Imagine how effective your foundation would be as the hull of a boat. 

Ground Water Leaking Through A New Foundation

Well, your foundation would be pretty leaky because water is able to seep through anywhere there is a joint or connection. The image shown above is of a foundation just a couple of weeks old.  In fact, this house is so new the plumbing rough-in has yet to begin.

Since you know your basement foundation makes for a very leaky boat, to keep things inside your basement dry you can exercise one of two options and they are:

• Build and bury a better leak proof foundation (which will cost you 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars)
• Keep water away from your existing foundation (which will cost you hundred or maybe thousands of dollars).

You pick.

Since your foundation leaks like a sieve (because it's built that way), the most effective way to keep the interior dry is to keep water away from your home. As a first step, evaluate your surface bulk water management systems before you consider renovating your basement.