Basement Finishing – License to Create!

Basement Finishing - License to Create!

So you’ve spent months, or perhaps years, carefully wishing, planning, budgeting, measuring, drawing, as well as bidding your basement finishing project and you are almost willing to start the business. One aspect in your basement finishing you possibly will not consider yet is: “should my contractor be licensed?”

This is probably not this easy question. Some states require licensing; other states without these requirements have counties and/or cities that require licensing, other places have no licensing requirements whatsoever.

You may reside in a place like ours, where it is perfectly legal for an unlicensed contractor to drag a permit for your basement finishing project. On the flip side, your area may necessitate licensing, but you will find many contractors who’re unwilling or unable to comply.

So the question again becomes: “should my contractor be licensed?”

In a word… YES!

Several years back I met a contractor, who somewhat brazenly bragged about working across town without a license and even pulling a permit. I’m sure it wasn’t a coincidence that when discussing a few of his jobs, he joked: “I know it’s nice, ’cause I did it twice!”

There are many extremely important reasons you need your contractor licensed.

First and foremost, to obtain a license your basement finishing contractor must pass a test to show mastery of specific building codes and practices. The building is often complex business and carrying it out incorrectly brings about massive headaches and stress. A licensed contractor has proved that they get the knowledge to create correctly.

Second, most places need a license to pull a permit. Your basement finishing project must be inspected from your municipality for compliance with building codes. These inspectors are there to ensure that the contractor is doing his be effective. Their approval of the effort is needed to close … Read the rest

Basement Finishing – How to Avoid the Green Stuff

Basement Finishing - How to Avoid the Green Stuff

When I’m not associated with basement finishing projects or one of my other various pursuits, I’m usually getting together with my children. If yours are (or were) anything like mine, you understand they merely can’t stand the green stuff. It didn’t matter what sort of vegetable it had been if it turned out green you weren’t getting hired in that room.

Well, there’s a few other green stuff you should watch out for; especially when you’re about to find a basement finishing project! Years ago, when the tile was installed in a shower, they’d tile right over the plaster or drywall. It eventually became apparent until this wasn’t a durable solution as water invariably got behind the tile caused the backer to mold and deteriorate.

The next generation of shower wall backer-board was essentially drywall, though a mold and water-resistant paper. This product is still used by many today, but that may be a mistake. The board could be mold-resistant (which is good), in our basement finishing experience, water-resistant is just too strong an announcement. Any shower wall backer board will eventually get wet, along with the material behind the green paper that may deteriorate.

A good wall substrate has to resist water whether it gets wet (because eventually, it’s going to) and has got to shed any water that comes from the grout right down to the shower or tub below it. A cement board like Durock can this function a lot better than the rest. It can be completely saturated in water for extensive periods and won’t breakdown, and yes it sheds water to the shower or tub below it extremely well.

Not only is this kind of product extremely effective for walls, but normally a bathroom in the basement finishing project may have a seat or bench … Read the rest