Whenever a homeowner has plans in increasing their home’s value, they will often take having the outside repainted or having the kitchen remodelled into consideration. Meanwhile, the option of having their basement undergo some waterproofing isn’t normally on their list of things to do.
In case you’re a homeowner and would want to get your home sold at a much quicker pace, then you should consider . After all, there is quite the number of benefits of having your basement waterproofed by professionals. These include:
- A reduction in your power bills – Even though it’s not a readily obvious benefit, having your basement undergo professional waterproofing can help in reducing the amount you’re paying for power. The reason behind this one is that during waterproofing, all the cracks in your basement get sealed and the same goes for any crevice. This process effectively blocks out the cold and the moisture.
What’s more is that waterproofing keeps the warm or cold air from getting out. The air coming from your air conditioning unit does nothing good outside your home, so why should it continue slipping through all those cracks?
- Helps in safeguarding your home investment – It’s often mentioned that a home is a castle and, since that can be the case, you’ll definitely want to do everything you can in order to protect such an investment. Stray water has a way of finding itself into your home with the help of a leaky basement and, as a result, starts wearing down the foundation, the flooring and the walls, among others. After all those months you’ve spent carefully decorating and making sure that your new house becomes a home, why should you let a leaky basement slowly erode the investment you’ve made? By having your basement waterproofed, you’re certainly helping in safeguarding the foundation of your home from getting eroded.
- Helps in preventing stored items from getting damaged – In case you or your loved one don’t intend to do that much in your basement, it’s still a great place for you to store your items. However, that can only be ideal if your basement has been waterproofed. Having a leaky and moisture-filled basement could ruin items like albums, beddings, books, clothes, electronics and toys, among others items. By having your basement undergo thorough waterproofing, you’re making sure that all the items that have been stored there are going to not just be dry but safe as well.
- Helps in increasing living space as well as value – A lot of people consider the basement to a place that’s both a damp and drafty place to store whatever seasonal items they may have in their possession. However, a lot of these people’s basements account for a whole floor of their homes.
Truth be told, whenever square feet is being talked about, basements could account for almost a half of a home’s overall space. As such, why should you let all that space relegated to being unused? By having your basement undergo waterproofing, you’ll be leaving your home with a living space that’s a lot cleaner and, of course, more spacious.
- Helps in avoiding long-term health risks – Water and humidity happen to be crucial factors with regards to potentially toxic molds growing in your basement. They could leave your respiratory in a damaged state, cause you headaches, make your experience both itchy eyes and skin, give you a runny nose and make you sneeze. Such side effects could range from the mild all the way to the severe, depending on the sensitivity of a person to these molds. A lot of people don’t worry about toxic molds growing in their basements because they think that it takes years for this problem to develop into something severe. However, this simply isn’t true.
In fact, a toxic amount of black mold could easily grow within a short time span of 24 to 48 hours. You don’t want to run that risk now, do you? Because you definitely don’t, having your basement waterproofed avoids just that.
- Helps in having peace of mind – Waterproofing your basement is going to absolutely give you the peace of mind you’re looking for as well as reduce the stress you’re feeling when it comes to that basement in your home. You no longer need to wring those towels or those mop heads after a heavy downpour.
Moreover, you no longer need to hold that blow dryer over your waterlogged books, photo albums or your rugs for that matter.
To put it simply, getting your basement waterproofed is certainly something that you, as the responsible homeowner, ought to take into consideration. Once you think about the benefits of waterproofing your basement as well as the issues that come up if you don’t, it’s crystal clear just how beneficial waterproofing is.
My husband and I learned this a little too late; we moved into our first house, and got a minor flood just a few months later. The damage wasn’t terrible, but we definitely should have taken precautions beforehand. We’re going to be waterproofing it this weekend 🙂 austinwaterproofing.com.au
I had never thought about waterproofing my basement before! Although, I like the idea of reducing my power bills and giving me more peace of mind! We had a few houses flood near us a couple of months ago from the crazy rain. It was nuts, but thankfully our house was alright! if it happens again next year then I definitely should do that! How much does it cost to get a small basement waterproofed? http://www.centralpennwaterproofing.com/Waterproofing-Services-Power-Washing-Marietta-PA.html
Thanks for the post. I didn’t realize there were so many benefits to waterproofing your basement. I store a lot of things in my basement, and I would be heartbroken if they were damaged. It seems like it can definitely be a good idea to do whatever you can to protect your possessions.
Excellent article, Erin! I’ve been thinking about waterproofing my basement, so I’m glad that I stumbled upon your article. I think you’re absolutely right: waterproofing your basement helps avoid long-term health risks. I’ll be sure to look into some different services that can do that for me. Thanks for writing this post—it’s been very helpful!
This is a really interesting article. I did not realize waterproofing my basement would have so many benefits. One thing that sticks out to me is that it actually helps with a reduction of power bills.
Thanks for sharing all of these benefits of getting your basement waterproofed. I think it is really awesome that waterproofing it could actually reduce your energy bills every month. It sounds like I should probably consider this then, especially since it takes a lot of heat to keep my basement warm. I would love to have those bills lowered!
It is really interesting to me how this process is done. If you can just do a couple things, you can save yourself a lot of damage and inconvenience in case of a disaster. I appreciate all of your helpful tips on how to effectively do this and who to contact. Thank you for your helpful article and for the applicable tips!
Thanks for the information! I think it’s really interesting how waterproofing my basement could help to reduce my power bills. That’s something that I wouldn’t have thought would correlate with basement waterproofing. Reading this helps make it all make sense considering how it helps to prevent warm or cold air from escaping my house. If it will also double as insulation for my home, then that’s another reason to waterproof my basement right now.
I’m really glad that I read this. I like what you said in point number two. Water in the basement can spread and ruin the foundation, flooring and the walls. We get seasonal flooding each spring; the water flows down the hill behind our house. We thought that we were pretty good about cleaning up the water, but I can see now that we might be missing things. We’ll have to look into waterproofing our basement.
I would agree that safeguarding your house is very smart especially when winter comes around. Keeping a long term mindset for your home is a good idea, so that you avoid problems later down the road. I like that you pointed out that taking the steps now can actually save you money. Thank you for sharing!
Making a basement livable is a really great idea! I know that I’ve lived in basement apartments before and that would not have been possible if the foundation wasn’t waterproofed. The next time I buy a house with a basement, I’ll have to make sure the foundation has been treated properly. Thanks for this great info on foundation waterproofing!
My basement apartment has flooded twice this winter and so I am currently in the process of having a restoration done. I am also very much interested in never experiencing a flood again and so I definitely think that waterproofing the place would be very important, especially since I would like to avoid having my possessions damaged again. However, I hadn’t realized that waterproofing my basement could lead to a reduction in my power bills and I definitely think that it would help make it so that I don’t have to overuse my HVAC system during the winters and summers.
Thank you for your advice about being able to reduce power bills. My grandparents have a pretty old home with a basement, and I feel like it cannot hold warm air. Undergoing this process seems like you get more out of it than what you put into it.
My sister recently has moved into an older home. She got a really good deal on it, but the basement could use a lot of work. She need the space because she has four kids. I didn’t realize that waterproofing a basement can help prevent the buildup of black mold, and black mold can grow in just a span of 24 to 48 hours. That seems like an important precaution to take when there are four kids in the house. I’ll make sure my sister knows.
When it comes to basement waterproofing, I had only ever though the benefit was to keep water damage from occurring in your basement. I didn’t know waterproofing can also get you a reduction in your power bill! The article states that waterproofing seals cracks in your basement which helps prevent air loss. Does the size of the basement determine the amount of money you could save in your energy bills after waterproofing? I’d be curious to know.
We went on a family vacation last weekend, and when we came home, we found that our basement had flooded. We aren’t sure how the water got in, but do wen’t want it to happen again. For me, that would provide peace of mind, like you said. Now when we leave, I won’t be stressing about it the whole time.
I think your stance on how basement waterproofing is a good investment to safeguard your home is really good. I’m a big fan of taking preventative measures, especially for investments as big as a home. I’m looking at moving into my first home this year, so I’ll definitely look at having my basement waterproofed to protect it from future damage.
It’s nice to know that lower power bills aren’t a readily obvious benefit. Although it might take some time to notice, waterproofing still sounds like a good idea. I feel like most beneficial things tend to happen in the long run.
My fiance and I are thinking of having our bathroom waterproofed. While it is not the basement like your article addresses we think there are applicable points like preventing items from being damaged. We don’t want our home to have leaks or damage and I believe waterproofing will solve that.
It’s awesome that you point out that having your basement waterproofed can increase the value of your home. I want to get my home ready to put on the market, so I’m considering hiring someone to waterproof my basement first. I’m going to search for a good provider of basement waterproofing services in my area to hire.