An unfinished basement can be one of the most scariest and spooky areas of the house and that's probably because they never really were designed for living in the first place. Historically, the basement was designed as a storage area - purposely kept dark and cold to preserve perishable items like food and drinks. Today, we don't need our basements to preserve perishables - we have refrigerators for that! So why are so many basements still unfinished?

Who knows. The fact is that the basement is one of the largest rooms in a house and it has huge potential for fantasy fulfillment. With today's advancements in home improvement, there's really no excuse for anyone doing laundry or storing unused toys in a creepy unfinished basement filled with unsightly pipes, exposed wires, and yucky spiders.

Typically the same width and length of the entire home, the basement could be viewed as a second home, an at-home-business office, a workout gym, play area for the kids, or even your very own miniature golf course. It's potential is as wide as the living area upstairs and if carefully planned, can double the fun of interior living.

Your contractor can help you come up with a plan that could make the basement area indistinguishable from the upstairs area by doing a few simple things:

1. Insulate the Basement. Although heat rises, a lot of energy is lost in the basement because it's rather porous compared to the rest of the house. After all, it's surrounded by the outside ground and it's prone to minute cracks, water leaks, and air drafts from non-sealed joints and crevices. Insulating a basement will help keep that heat in the basement during the winter months and allow you to enjoy doing laundry downstairs as if you were upstairs standing next to a warm oven.

2. Hang drywall. Nothing brightens up a room more than fresh new drywall. Drywall is usually white or off white and it does a tremendous job of hiding the dark gray stone walls that you might be used to looking at in the basement. Of course drywall isn't just for walls - your contractor can hang it on the ceiling as well and turn a dreary place into a light-filled room.

3. Install carpeting, wood, or tile Flooring. This is a great step towards transforming a cold cement rectangular prism into an inviting space to spend some quality time. A little insulation between your new flooring and that cold cement floor that you now have will help keep your toes as warm as they are inside your favorite houseshoes.

4. Put in decorative lighting. Soft studio lighting embedded into a sound-proof ceiling gives what was once a very hard-looking environment - a soft new look.

These very basic changes are low cost additions and give you a platform for adding complimentary furniture, appliances, an entertainment center, or anything else that your heart desires. Just remember - it all starts with a solid plan and a good contractor.

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BIO :
Author Paul White represents FloridaHomeBuild.com. A site designed to help home owners from Florida locate local home contractors with their home improvement projects.
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