A Whole New World: The Importance of Pre-Finishing Your Basement

With Thanksgiving in the tail lights, there’s one more week of holiday merriment and visiting relatives before you can close your front door and be blessedly alone in your house.

If the season has made you sympathize with sardines packed into a can, it might be time to start thinking about pre-finishing your basement so you can have it finished in time for the next descent of houseguests.

“Pre-finishing? What?” you may be thinking, and that’s a fair reaction, because it isn’t a common term. It’s very possible that I entirely made it up for the sake of differentiating the process from actual basement finishing. Think of pre-finishing as the less flashy but vital logistical steps you take before you commit to finishing your basement, or even as a final step if you aren’t dedicated to a flashy man-cave. Basement pre-finishing will save you time, money, and headaches.

Some of our most stressed out customers are those who have finished basements that are experiencing water problems. Wood paneling, carpet, furniture - it can all be ruined by as little as one basement flood. But you can avoid this by making sure you take the proper steps to ensure your basement is dry before you invest in expensive finishes.

1. Waterproofing

This is a no-brainer. If your basement has water, you need to install a waterproofing system that will collect and expel the water without allowing it to stagnate. Our WaterGuard perimeter system does just that, and tying it into a new sump pump (like our TripleSafe, which has a battery backup for power outages) will get rid of water in short order.

2. Wall Panels

Step away from the wood paneling! First, it’s not 1988. Second, wood paneling, or even fake wood paneling, is like a playground for mold in areas with high ambient moisture (like basements). Not only can water and mold ruin the paneling, but many times you won’t even know until you spot the water damage, and by that point there’s probably been a mold colony living behind the paneling for months.

Instead, consider our inorganic, waterproof wall panels. Brightwall panels even tie right into the WaterGuard system to make sure the water is going where it’s supposed to, which is outside. Since they’re inorganic, they don’t harbor mold, and their bright white finish is often just fancy enough for many people’s basement needs. Brightwall and our other wall options also have insulative properties, which means they’ll keep your basement warmer in addition to dry.

3. Flooring

If you’ve ever rolled up a wet, musty carpet and thrown it into a dumpster, you know that once carpet gets waterlogged, there isn’t much you can do to save it. That’s why we offer ThermalDry floor tiles in finishes ranging from carpet to laminate. Like our wall systems, ThermalDry tiles are inorganic and waterproof, and they keep your floor a few degrees warmer than other flooring options. And since they install in a tile system, if one gets damaged you can simply swap it out rather than intricately arranging your furniture to hide the weird spot.

Once you get through those three steps, you might decide you’re done. Maybe you don’t need an extra bedroom, but you would like to do your laundry without feeling like an extra in the next Paranormal Activity movie. Or maybe, once you see how nice the basement can look once it’s gotten a little TLC, you’ll be inspired to turn it into a bedroom, or a family room, or even a little apartment. Once your basement is pre-finished, the possibilities are endless.