The average Western Michigan homeowner probably doesn’t think about their basement very often—odds are it’s a place you don’t like spending much time in.
But you can make the problems with your basement worse if you stick your head in the sand and ignore them. Problems starting in your basement—air leaks, moisture and water, mold growth, and more—can negatively affect the rest of your home. Wondering what you can do to improve the condition of your basement—and by extension, the rest of your house? Here are a few ideas to help you stay more comfortable, improve your indoor air quality, and save money.
1. Basement Insulation
Basement insulation helps prevent heat loss through the very bottom parts of your Grand Rapids, Holland, or Kalamazoo house. Whether you’re thinking about basement finishing and making your basement into a living space or you’re just looking to create more even temperatures throughout your home, insulating your basement can have a positive effect throughout your house, leading to less energy waste, lower heating and cooling costs, and a home that’s more comfortable to live in.
2. Basement Air Sealing
A home improvement that goes hand-in-hand with insulation is air sealing your basement, which helps you avoid the energy waste associated with air moving in and out of your home. Air leaks in your basement foundation can introduce moisture and air pollutants into your home, creating indoor drafts, harmful mold growth, and other problems.Â
Some insulation types pull double duty and can slow both heat and air transfer between the building materials of your home—a good example is spray foam insulation. But other insulation types will need proper air sealing to work correctly, and spray foam isn’t always the right choice for every house. WMGB Home Improvement can help you with your basement remodel project to find the insulation type that will work best for your home.
3. Full Basement Encapsulation
If your home is experiencing significant air quality issues, or you have lots of moisture problems, your best option to address the situation and clean up your basement for good is complete basement encapsulation, which includes:
- Water mitigation (like French drain or sump pump installation)
- A basement vapor barrier on the ground (and possibly the walls)
- Air sealing
- Basement insulation
Encapsulation is a more involved project than simply air sealing or installing insulation, but it offers a much higher level of protection for your home.
Don’t Forget About Your Crawl Space!
Your basement is important, but don’t forget about the other spaces underneath your home, like your crawl space. The crawl space can often be home to the same problems as basements, but because they are so infrequently inspected or visited by homeowners, the severity of the issues can be much worse.
Crawl spaces can benefit from the same kind of home upgrades as basements can, including insulation, air sealing, and even complete crawl space encapsulation.
Does Your Basement Need Help? Schedule a WMGB Energy Audit Today
The signs aren’t always obvious when you’re suffering from home performance issues. That’s why home performance experts like the team at WMGB recommend having a home energy audit performed before any actual work is done.Â
Using a combination of professional expertise and advanced building science equipment and practices, your WMGB energy auditor will help get to the bottom of the issues in your home, and recommend the solutions that will make the biggest impact on your health, your comfort, and your energy costs. Our team has conducted a combined 6,000+ energy audits across the state, so trust your home with the experts that know Western Michigan best. Find the right basement solution for your home. Call 616-226-5558 or contact us today to talk to a home performance expert near you.
