You can convert that dark, dank basement into attractive living space. Start here

A basement comes with its own built-in problems. The area is below ground for the most part. It's in contact with the earth on almost all sides and the windows, of necessity, are small. All of which cuts down on light and encourages enough dampness to grow fungus on your shirt.

Before cutting loose on the decorative aspects of basement re­modeling, do a thorough job of moisture-proofing so you will really be comfortable in the finished area. For the most part, you'll have to match the treatment to the seriousness of the problem. Ticked off below are the various problems and some suggested remedies.

Hydrostatic Pressure

This impressive engineering term refers to the force of the water in the earth that's pushing against your basement walls from the outside. Seriousness varies. In some cases, pressure can create slight dampness in the outside walls. When raised to grand-slam proportions, hydrostatic pressure can actually cause little geysers of water to spurt out of crevices in the wall. Great on picture post­cards from Italy, but not so nifty in the basement.

Exterior waterproofing is a job. But worth it is necessary. Lay drain line around the foundation.

Fiber pipe such as Bermico is easy to handle. A large range of fittings (Ts, Els, etc.) are sold.

The sure-fire, never-fail cure is a rough, involved, laborious process. If your basement is cursed with this problem you may have to go through with the complete fix-it process. If the trouble is limited to a slight amount of dampness, odds are quite good that can make the area pleasantly dry with an inside treatment. Also, if the walls seem dry but water comes in through a few chinks in the wall or floor, an interior patch job may still do the trick. At any rate it"s worth a try before starting on an involved exterior preventive. On the other hand, if the walls are really in bad shape, if the moisture comes out like a fountain, the hand of fate has slated you for the whole deal. Let's start with the large scale treat­ment.

Who would have believed it? This modem recreation room was constructed in an "ordinary" basement.

Fibei pipe ends have prelormed. interlocking littings. Cushion with block and hammer together.	Fiber pipe can be cut to length with handsaw, Perforated type (has holes in the bottom) is used.

Inside basement use ice pick to probe for leaks. Pay special attention to wall and floor joint.

Wet walls can result from water trapped in hol­low block walls. Drill release hole near the floor.

Exterior Waterproofing

As the first step in exterior waterproof­ing, start digging. Dig a trench all the way around the foundation wall of the basement right down to the footings. Scrap away the earth from the masonry wall and brush it clean. You can see why we hesitated in presenting this step.

Build up a protective membrane to hold the water at bay. The time tested method is to first coat the masonry with black roofing cement and press a strip of satu­rated asphalt paper in place. You'll probably have to use several horizontal rows of paper. Overlap the seams by 6-8 in. and be sure to apply more cement at the joint. Once the whole wall is covered, brush on more cement and start another layer right on top. It's a good idea to stagger the joints. In this manner, build up a mem­brane of three or even four layers of tar paper all the way around the entire basement wall.

Before you kick the dirt back into the trench you've dug, it's a good idea to in­clude some drainage tile. This, too, should be in the form of a ring circling the basement foundation. First dump about 6 in. of coarse crushed rock into the bottom of the trench. Then position the drainage tile on top. You can use one of two types.

The old stand-by is to make the basement drain line of agricultural tile. This is an unglazed tile that comes in short (1-ft.) lengths. Line the sections up on top of the crushed rock and leave about '4-in. gap between them. Tear small strips of tar paper and cover the joints. Don't wrap the strips around the joint. The trick is to cover the top and sides only so that water will be able to enter the pipe through the bottom slot.

Dig a connecting trench to lead the water off from basement. This, too, should get the crushed rock plus tile treatment. Hook into the run of drain around the foundation. After all the pipes are in place, dump enough crushed rock on top to cover them (3-4 in.), add a long strip of tar paper on top and kick the dirt back in.

Lighter, quicker to install into your basement and handier to heft is a material called bituminized fiber pipe. But don't ask for it by this handle at the local building supply company because they might toss you into the street. More familiarly, the pipe is known as Orange-burg or Bermico. By either name, it's a lightweight, almost indestructible material that comes in long sections (up to 8 ft. and in several diameters). The ends have a pre­formed interlocking fitting that goes to­gether neatly with a slight clong of a ham­mer. Also available are a whole range of fittings (T's, El's. etc.). You can slice this pipe to proper length with a regular saw; no pipe cutters, no threaders necessary.

Pitch a run of drain pipe down into a dry well about 10 ft. from house. Also run in downspout.

Next step is to dry area thoroughly before plug­ging. Best for this job is a hydraulic cement.

Form plug by mixing powder with water to make stiri putty. When it gets warm, it's ready to use.

Installation procedure is pretty much the same as for agricultural tile except that you should use the perforated version for the run around the perimeter of the house. This is the same material except that one or two rows of holes are already drilled. Just make sure you position it so that the holes are facing downward. For the run from the house basement to the dry well use the same diameter pipe without holes.

So what do you do with the water once you have it neatly slucking through the basement drain pipes? You dig a dry well to get rid of it. There's one consolation here. If you don't break your back on this phase of the proj­ect, odds are well in your favor that you'll have the physical moxie to finish off the rest of the remodeling.

Building a Dry Well

Locate the dry well about 10 ft. away from the house. If your land is on a slope, you're in luck because it's necessary to maintain a pitch to the basement drain pipe that feeds into the dry well. All of which means that the top of the dry well is slightly below the level of the drain. Bottom of the dry well? It's down from there.

Just like the name says, a dry well is a big hole that you dig in the ground, but you're not looking for water, just trying to get rid of it. You'll need a hole about 5 ft. in diameter and about the same depth. Please note that the depth is measured from the level of the basement drain pipe down. You may have to do some digging before you can even start measuring.

Lint- the pit with cesspool block. This is a rough cinder block that has holes in it. Lay the blocks dry without mortar and leave the joints slightly open. Toss about 4 in. of coarse crushed rock in the bottom of the finished well. Lead in the length of basement drain pipe. Cover over the pit with a stand­ard cesspool lid. This is a hefty, cast con­crete affair. Fill in the spaces between the outside of the blocks and the hole that you've dug with more crushed rock. Finally, cover over the whole rig with earth.

One other basement drainage problem: It's a good idea to lead the runoff water from the gutters away from the house. Since you have gone to all the trouble of digging a dry well, you might just as well feed this sur­plus liquid into it and know that you've achieved a complete cure.

If the drain spout has an elbow at the end, slice this ofT with a hack saw. Attach a right angle fitting onto a length of solid Bermico. Add another length (a short one) into the other leg of the angle and attach a fitting called a join elbow on the end of this. Fit the end of the downspout into the join elbow and shore up the base of the elbow to hold it in position. Run whatever lengths of Bermico you need to reach over to the dry well, clobbering each by tapping on a wood block held against the end of the basement drain pipe. Never hammer directly on the pipe. Always protect the pipe or fitting with a wood block or else you may chew up the end and never be able to attach the next length.

Seal the joint between the join elbow and the downspout by forcing oakum into the crevice. You can buy it at most hardware and all plumbing supply stores. Finally apply a layer of cement over the oakum and slope it down neatly so it sheds water.

Interior Waterproofing

If you were born under a lucky configuration of the heavens, you may be able to get by with a simple basement interior waterproofing job. Although there are quite a few prod­ucts on the market designed for this pur­pose, the most effective incorporate the new epoxy compounds. One trade-named prod­uct along this line is Epoxite (Community Waterproofing Co.. 10 Redcoat Rd., West-port, Conn.). Although several firms put out such an item, this company will sell in small quantities. Since they put up the stuff in 1 lb. cans, you can order only what you need.

Let's get a few facts straight. This is not a paint that you slobber all over the cellar walls. Not at five bucks a pound you don't. However, since most water seepage comes in through cracks in the wall (especially at the point where the wall meets the floor) or through the floor itself, you can seal off the basement by treating only the problem areas.

Figure out how much material you need to waterproof your basement. One lb. will cover about 25 sq. ft. of dense masonry surface. Porous surfaces such as cinder block sop up the stuff and more is required. Also, since cinder block walls themselves may admit water (not just through cracks), you may be involved in a far more extensive treatment.

Assuming that spot waterproofing will do the trick, find out where the water is entering. This is easy. Just mop up the watery mess and then watch where it flows through the basement wall. Use an ice pick to probe for leaks, scraping away crumbling cement or mortar. Pay special attention to the joint between wall and floor.

If the base of the walls seem wet but you can't find any direct leak, water may have collected in the hollow interior of the basement wall (if it's made of cement or cinder block). In this case, use a masonry drill to bore through the wall close to the floor and allow the water to escape.

Clean out all the deep cracks and holes in your basement and plug them before applying the epoxy. For this job use hydraulic cement. (Quick Plug or Waterplug are two brands and there are others on the market.) Most come as a powder that you mix with water to form a stiff putty. Roll the stuff into small cone shaped globs in your hands. After a bit you'll notice that the material is beginning to get warm. This is your cue to ram the plug into the hole and pack it in as firmly as you can. Work like a maniac at this stage because the cement sets very rapidly. It will expand in place and seal off the opening.

Before applying epoxy to basement walls and floor, dry basement thoroughly and vacuum up all dust and dirt.

Using Epoxy on Walls

Dry out the basement thoroughly. Bring electric heaters down there, use a torch, open the windows (in warm weather), use a fan ... anything to get the surfaces dry. Although the epoxy will act as a highly efficient barrier to water, it won't stick to a wet surface. If necessary, you may have to split up the job into several stages. Dry out one section and waterproof it. Then move on to the next area until you have worked your way around the room.

The epoxy is packaged in two parts to separate the resin from the chemical that activates it. Mix them together (use the entire contents of each can) and then stir like a mad dog for at least two minutes. To apply the stuff, don't use a good brush. It's almost impossible to clean. Instead buy a miserable, cheap, unhappy brush and toss it away when the basement waterproofing job is finished.

Be sure you have cleaned up all the as­sorted bits of crumbled mortar, wire-brushed away the whitewash and swept up the basement area generally before starting. Epoxy will bond to dry, clean stone or to paint that is holding firmly to the surface.

Brush a coating onto the wall-floor joint. Don't get stingy or try to do a cabinet­maker's job. Just slap the material on in a thick, messy coating. Extend the stripe 3 in. up the wall and about 9 in. out onto the basement floor. Those hairline cracks on wall and floor should be bridged with a heavy 4 in.-wide stripe.

Be sure to brush a thick coating of epoxy on wall-floor joint. Use a cheap, throw-away brush.

Universal treatment is to asphalt damp-proof wall after using epoxy first to seal off wall

Temperature is important. It's impossible to handle the epoxy if the mercury dips below 45 degrees. If you can nudge the thermostat up to 70 degrees the material will dry overnight. Do not become dis­couraged if it takes two or even three coats to completely stop the leaks in your basement. Just slob one on top of another after the necessary dry­ing period.

Don't worry too much about the decora­tive value of the new coating. It has none (dries to a dark amber hue). Once you have the water neatly fenced out, you can paint over the stuff with a rubber base paint in any tint you like.

Do any other messy preparation jobs while the room is still bare. If the basement floor is coated with an accumulation of wax and ground-in dirt, clean off the whole works. Use standard wax remover (paint store item) mixed according to the directions on the package. Swab the mixture over the surface and mop it up.

How to Remove Paint

Removing paint is a little rougher. Ac­tually there are two ways the job can be handled, but neither one is fully delightful. Most standard paint removers will do the trick. Fumes are quite unpleasant and even dangerous. If you select this method, use all safety precautions. Provide plenty of ven­tilation in your basement (using fans to force the movement of air if necessary), cover up well to pro­tect your skin and wear goggles so none of the remover can splatter in your eyes. Fol­lowing the instructions on the label, apply the remover, allow sufficient time for it to work and then mop up the paint. The easiest system is to use a rubber squeegee on a long handle.

You may prefer to apply a wash-away remover so that the chemical and softened paint can be hosed down the drain. One word of caution: Some removers leave a waxy film behind. If the instructions sug­gest that you mop the clean floor with de­natured alcohol after it is free of paint, be sure to do it. Otherwise, the film of wax will prevent any finish from sticking to the surface.

The other system requires a floor sand­ing machine in your basement. Hook a belt of very rough paper onto the drum and start grinding away. The noise will be horrendous and the dust billowy, but the method does avoid the need for widespread application of chemicals. Here again there are safety pre­cautions. Wear a mask over your nose and mouth so that you don't breathe in the fine dust.

There are a couple of other common problems involving basement floors. Quite frequently the cement surface will be per­fectly sound but the top layer continually turns to powder and comes off in a fine dust. You can sweep the surface from now to next St. Swithen's day and never get all the dust up. The best solution is a surface hardener. You'll find this sold at most building supply companies and lumber­yards (Dus-Top is one brand and some other firms make similar products). Fol­lowing the instructions on the label, swab it onto the concrete. It will harden it so you can successfully paint the floor or put down tile.

Rubberized concrete, good for holes and cracks In floors, is liquid rubber mixed with concrete.

Photos courtesy T". S. Rubber Co. Simply trowel In rubberized mixture and smooth. It sticks well to the old concrete and is durable.

How about holes and cracks in the basement floor? These repairs aren't hard. Your best bet here is a rubberized concrete. Use a prep­aration such as U.S. Rubber's Laticrete (again there are other brands). Mix the liquid rubber with a dry packaged con­crete mix instead of using water. The end result is a concrete mortar that will stick like crazy to the old concrete, even in a thin layer. It also has good water and weather resistance. After you have chipped out the loose or crumbling cement, trowel in the rubberized mixture and smooth it off just as you would the standard material.

Expanding plugs are used for building on ma­sonry. Right is lead anchor and screw, left, fiber.

Building on Concrete

Basements present one additional hurdle, but like the rest, this is not too difficult to vault. Fastening anything up to the concrete walls or floors is not like pounding a nail into nice gentle wood. In general there are four main ways to fasten into cement; plugs of various types, cement nails, adhesive anchors and stud gun. Let's takes these one at a time.

Any kind of expanding plug must fit into a carefully drilled hole in the masonry. If you have the strength and determination of a mad dog, you can do this with a star drill and a hammer. Hold the drill in po­sition and whong it with the hammer. Give the drill a slight turn and hit it again. Keep up this process until you have pounded the proper depth hole in your basement. Diameter of the hole depends on the size of the star drill and you'll find this information detailed on the shank.

Now. For the good folks with sense, in­vest a buck or so in a good quality carbide tip bit for use with an electric drill. These are tipped with a very hard material that actually bites through the rugged cement. There are a couple of precautions, however. If you allow the bit to turn too swiftly, you are quite likely to burn it out or at least dull the edges. If you have a V^-in. electric drill, use it. You don't need the extra power, it's just that drills of this size are geared down and the chuck turns more slowly. A speed reducer on a regular Vi-in. drill will do splendidly. Failing either of these, use your regular drill and hope for the best.

Expanding fasteners or plugs come in several types. Most common and quite re­liable is a lead anchor. But then, you will find the shelves at your local hardware loaded with plugs of plastic, fiber, etc. They all work in the same manner.

Easiest way to seat a large number of an­chor for furring strips is to use electric drill and a good quality carbide-tip bit.

Drill a hole through the wood member that's to be fastened in place. Hold the wood against the basement wall where it will be at­tached and mark the spot, where the hole meets the wall. Then drill a hole in the masonry right there. Although this word of caution is hardly necessary, the size of the hole must match the size of the plug and this data is detailed on the package.

Push a plug into the hole. You will probably have to give it a slight tap to seat it properly. Slip a long screw through the hole in the wood and turn it into the plug. The plug will expand in the hole as the screw is driven home and lock itself se­curely in place. One more point: Each size plug takes a certain screw size and some times these are special bits of hardware, so buy the whole kit together.

There are other variations on this theme. Some plugs are semimachined affairs that -must be inserted and tightened into place using a special tool.

After anchors are seated, furring strips are installed by driving the long screws through predrilled holes into the anchors.

Some lead anchors are semimachined types and take bolts. At right is the special seating tool.

Machined lead anchor is inserted in hole and tightened using hammer and special tool shown.

Long bolts go through the wood and tighten into the threaded inside section of the plug. You may, for some reason of your own, prefer these, but the added expense is rarely warranted. As for lead versus plastic or fiber plugs, the author has never found the selection to be a critical one.

Concrete Nails

These are fatter and tougher but they drive just like regular nails. The only problem is that you will be hammering them into concrete, not wood, and this takes a heavier hammer plus more stuff backing it up. To use concrete nails, first drill a hole through the wood. Neglect this procedure and the thick-shanked nails will split the wood. Hold the wood in position, slip a nail through the hole and hammer it into the concrete. A small short-handled sledge helps this job along and you'll have less trouble with hammer rebound.

There are drawbacks to this method. If you have quite a few strips to fasten up, you may space the nails so close together they will make the cement crumble.

Masonry nails can also be used, but drill holes in wood to be fastened up to avoid splitting it.

Then, too, if the wall is in very bad condition, this heavy-handed treatment can chip out patches. On reasonably decent cement, it's a perfectly workable method, however, and well worth a try.

Adhesive Anchors

Thanks to rubber base adhesive, you can glue up furring strips or even studs. Buy a batch of surface anchors plus some of the proper adhesive (Miracle Cement is the old stand-by, but there are others). This is a black, gummy mastic. The anchors are perforated metal plates about 2 in. square or a little larger. Welded into the center is bit of hardware (bolt, nail, prong, clamp, etc.). Just be sure you use the proper one for the job.

To hold up furring strips, use a nail an­chor; pipes take a special clamp, insulation supports come with a folding clasp, etc. They are all fastened to the wall in the same way. Smear the adhesive on the back of the plate. No need to get fancy. Just glob it on from the tube in a layer about T^-in. thick. Immediately press it to the basement wall with a slight twisting and sliding mo­tion. This will squeeze some of the glue through the holes in the anchor and also bond the plate to the wall. Allow about 24 hours for the adhesive to set before ap­plying anything to it.

Once the anchors are in place, it's a cinch to fasten up furring strips. Just impale the wood on the row of nails and drive the point through until the wood rests against the metal anchor plate. Clinch the nails for a secure bond.

Studs can be held in place by using a bolt-type anchor. Drill a hole in the wood so the bolts can slip through and draw the nuts up firmly to hold the stud in place. Insulation is simply impaled on the sheet metal projection and the notched end folded over in two directions.

Adhesive anchors can be used, are easy to in­stall. Coat with proper adhesive and put on wall.

Adhesive anchors are perforated metal plates about 2 in. with bolt, prong, etc., in the center.

First step in installing furring strips is to lay out the lines lor the anchors and put them in.

Strips go up quickly with anchors in. This type of adhesive anchor has a nail welded in center.

Other systerns for this last job use a nail-type anchor with a special jumbo-sized sheet metal washer that slides over the nail and clamps in place. Just finger through the stock at the hardware store until you find the exact type you need.

Stud Guns

Here we have the fastest, easiest method of fastening onto the toughest masonry. Made by Remington Arms, these gadgets use a special type of blank cartridge to literally shoot a stud into the masonry. Expensive? Sure they are expensive. The smallest version sells for about $35, and the industrial model for well over a hundred. If you plan on doing much work of this type in your basement, the little gun is a useful investment. However, either type may be rented from many forward looking hardware stores. They will also sell you the cartridges plus whatever studs you need.

Cartridges are sized to match the type of stud and the kind of surface they will pen­etrate. Studs come in a nail type, a bolt threaded on either the inside or the outside, or in several other varieties. To use this tool, you don't bother drilling holes; you just shoot. The metal fastener is driven right through the wood into the masonry. A word of caution. Although these de­vices have all sorts of safety precautions built into them, they can be dangerous weapons. Only fire studs into walls that you know are solid masonry. Never use the stud gun on a wood wall. The metal projectile will zip right through the basement wall and keep traveling. You can easily lose a rich uncle this way.

Ceiling Preparations

This is a good point to finish off the ceil­ing preparations. In most cases you'll probably want to drop the ceiling to cover a maze of pipes, electric cables and the like. This phase of the job usually requires a bit of juggling. Since most basement types were never designed for useful living space, the overhead area is usually a jumbled mess.

Obviously, if you just pick the lowest point and drop a ceiling below that, you'll wind up with an area suitable only for bent-over midgets. On the other hand, if you shift all the various electric and water lines so they run between the joists, you'll break the family budget. If absolutely necessary, relocate the pipes and cables that severely cut into the space. Don't bother about those near the edge of the basement room. Concentrate on the obstructions that cut down on usability. If your basement is an average one, chances are good that this compromise. Will enable you to clear a sizable area right up to the under­side of the joists.

Let's delve into the tricks of hiding the various items that extend below this line. The pipes and ducts around the edge of the basement room can be concealed with a light trough or cornice, stashed behind a fake beam or incorporated into the cabinets that you will probably build. Wires or small pipes can be tucked away behind some jumbo-sized molding. Continue the same mold­ing all the way across the wall so that your subterfuge isn't too obvious. Although you will not put up the trim at this time, it's a good idea to install structural sup­ports for it.

Obstructions in the center of the basement room can't be palmed off quite so easily. Steel beams can be covered with wood to make fake wood beams which are a little easier to live with. Maybe you can shift the posi­tion of a room divider or free-standing storage unit so that the top part can cover the duct or pipe. Your ingenuity will have to be your guide.

Basement Entries

In the sorry event that you live in a house that does not have an outside basement entrance, you can add the entry yourself. The job can be a tricky one, however. You have to punch through the foundation wall and dig out vast amounts of dirt. Each shovelful doesn't weigh very much but it takes an unbelievable number to fill a wheelbarrow. And the wheelbar­row loads that have to be removed? One shudders to tally.

So use a modicum of sense. Have a builder or architect check over the foun­dation before you start chipping out blocks. Unless family finances are scraping bot­tom, hire out the excavation work. A man seated comfortably on a back hoe can do the job in a couple of hours. If not, buy a case of beer, make sandwiches and call up every friend you ever had.

Excavate an area about 5 ft. square to expose the foundation wall where the doorway will be placed. (Assuming the basement is an average one that's about six to nine steps below ground.) Play it safe and include a 45-degree slope around the sides to prevent a cave-in.

Stud gun. triggered by hammer blow, shoots stud in masonry. Some hardware stores will rent them.

First step in building a basement entry is to excavate, then break through the basement wall.

With a sledge hammer and a couple of mason's chisels, break through the basement wall. If you have the foresight to do this job from the inside, you can keep a firm footing instead of sloshing about in the muck outside.
Undoubtedly you will be using one of those slanting hatchway doors in your basement to close off the opening. Check through the manufac­turer's literature and get the exact dimen­sions. That hole you dug in the ground has to be lined with masonry block to make an extension of the foundation. Exact size here depends upon the door frame size.

Build a rough wood form at the bottom of your pit and pour concrete footings. Then build up the wall, staggering the joints of the blocks for extra strength. Bond care­fully where the new block meets the old house foundation. Carefully waterproof the outside of the masonry using the black, gucky foundation coating made for this purpose. If you have a severe water prob­lem in the basement, apply a membrane of a number of layers of saturated asphalt paper and mastic as recommended earlier in this chapter. You can then shovel the dirt back against the new foundation

Entry hole is lined with cinder block to extend foundation. Exact size depends on the door size.

Waterproof outside of extension using asphalt preparation. Coat with asphalt paper if needed.

The top of the stair well is finished off with a layer of concrete. Nail the forms into place.

Completed basement entry is protected by steel cover. The unit in the photos is made by Bilco.

walls. Installing the hatchway door itself only takes about four hours. If you have a set of exterior basement steps covered by a battered old wooden cover you might start listening at this point. The procedure, after you have ripped away the old mess, is the same. The unit in the photos is made by Bilco. Although other manufacturers make these units, installation is similar.

Open up the package and assemble the frame in your basement. The gadget has to fit firmly against the side of the house, so position the frame on top of the masonry and mark where it meets the siding. Cut out the clapboard or shingles. You don't have to worry with this step if you have a masonry house. At­tach the doors to the frame and joggle it slightly to make sure it's square and that the doors line up properly.

Very carefully, so you don't shift posi­tion of the frame, remove the doors. You'll notice a few holes in the bottom of the frame. Mark the position of these on the masonry underneath. Slide away the frame and drill holes in the masonry to take ex­panding plugs. Seat the lead plugs, replace the frame and tighten it down. Put back the doors and install any miscellaneous hardware in your basement. Finally, calk the framework to make it weather-tight and replace any needed house siding. Steps? This subject is covered in a later chapter.

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