Essentials of Basement Building

July 15, 2015 Guest Post

Basement is an important place of your home. It is good shelter against heat and cold. The basement construction provides the necessary foundation strength to your home to keep it standing.

Types of basement construction:
Mostly three types of basement construction are used known as precast panel, poured concrete and masonry wall. The poured concrete is the famous choice people made. It begins by pouring the footing for the foundation. Then forms are used to hold the concrete wall and before placing the inside of forms the oiling is necessary. It will prevent them from sticking. The poured concrete walls are stronger than other forms. In precast panel the construction method id almost the same as that of poured concrete. The difference is that they are molded away from building site. The prepared walls are then transported and placed on footer. You will need the help of crane to place the walls on footer. The costs will then increase. The masonry wall method is least expensive one. The walls are made up of concrete masonry units (CMU’s) commonly known as cinder blocks. These blocks are of large size and have a hollow interior. The steel rebar and concrete are added to these walls for increasing their durability.

Basement foundations:
For basement foundation you must take care of following things.
Selecting the site; the location of the basement heavily depends on the grade of your lot. A 6’ to 10’ drop-off in elevation height from front to back or from side to side is a perfect choice for walk out basement.
Which type you need; decide which type you need. The options are walkout or cellar basements. Identifying the building corners and measuring the grades with the help of surveyors you can easily find out what type is good for your lot.
Exterior walls; there are many ways to construct the walls as I told you earlier under the head of types of basement construction. The ideal wall is 12”x16” made up of cinder blocks.
Drainage;proper drainage is very crucial element to consider while building a basement. Gravel drain will positively drain any standing water. A perforated pipe will also do the same.
Basement height; for having an additional living space keep your basement walls taller than the standard height. If you go for the standard eight feet height than after the concrete pouring and other intrusions the height will become lower. I will recommend you to go for nine or ten feet height. Your costs will increase but you will have a very warm and loving basement.

Finishing the basement:
A properly finished basement will provide you with anything you want such as a play room, an office and a home theater. The choice is all yours.
• Before starting any kind of finishing work in your basement please assure that it is dry. Inspect the exterior walls for moisture and also check the ground. It should slope away from the foundation walls.
• Also make sure that your electrical work has been done according to the standard code in your area.
• To keep the moisture out use the ploy ethane sheet in the walls.
• If you want to have access to your electrical and plumbing systems suspend the ceiling preconceptions.
• Go for the recessed lightening in your basement.
• Use baseboard heating to add warmth.
• After that bring the furniture according to the room you want your basement to be. If it will become kids room place interesting games here for them. To give your basement a fabulous look place cheap canvas prints and hang them on basement walls.
These are some points to consider while building and finishing your basement. Follow them and make your basement an extra living space.

Author Bio: AtiqUr Rehman is professional independent information technology provider. He writes on gardening, home decoration and photography.