Remodeling Tips From a Pro

Here are a few remodeling ideas for the current real estate market to boost resale value and make the home better suited to your current lifestyle and situation. Most of these are improvements homeowners can make that help create a better indoor environment as well as increase the home’s value.

If the basement is predominantly used for storage and is unfinished, that is excellent raw, untapped space prime for the finishing. When framing out walls for a new hang-out zone, make sure to leave a space of about 4 inches from the framework to the concrete walls for air circulation. This will prohibit moisture from allowing mold to grow, which can cause a host of health issues.

When it comes time to sheath the framework, stay away from traditional paper-faced drywall, which is a potential food source for mold. Instead, select a drywall with fiberglass mat facings like DensArmor Plus paperless moisture- and mold-resistant interior drywall. It works really well in high-moisture areas such as basements, bathrooms and kitchens. It is also the first and only gypsum drywall product to be Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified and Greenguard Children & Schools Certified. These prestigious certifications from the Greenguard Environmental Institute recognize indoor products that have low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). DensArmor Plus is also listed as a microbial-resistant product, which means that it resists mold growth.

When selecting flooring for your new basement area, go for products that will not allow mold to grow, especially if being placed directly on a concrete slab. Choose laminate flooring, which can look like wood, tile or stone. Tile and epoxy coating are also excellent choices, but never go with carpet.

Be sure to properly dehumidify the basement using a portable dehumidifier. If there is a forced air heating and cooling system, a whole-house dehumidifier can be used to remove 90 pints of water from the air in the home.

Paint new-found space in a light, airy shade to keep the space open and non-cave-like. Look for paints that have low or no VOCs and are, non-solvent and carcinogen free – especially in a space without windows. Mythic makes a truly green paint that is non-toxic and non-VOC, and covers like a dream! If you don’t like any of their 1,200 custom colors, they will mix in a competitor’s color at your request. We just used Mythic paint in our new son’s room and it coated beautifully. It had no odor, and is just the most amazing slate gray color I could find.

If the basement is too dark and lifeless to be a favorite room in the house, create a vista for you and your family to enjoy. Purchase a few inexpensive artist light boxes online or at an art store and mount them on the wall of the basement space. Lay them out evenly or in a fun pattern on a single wall. You can then illuminate transparencies of your favorite vacation photos to create a rather enviable view.

Bathrooms are another space that a family quickly outgrows, and is a space that gives an excellent return on investment. The Cost vs. Value report nationally places bathrooms at a 78.3 percent return on investment. If a tiling project is in your bathroom’s future, be sure to select a tile backer that is moisture resistant, especially since this is a very humid space. Even though tile is not porous, water can seep through the grout and cause mold to grow where you can never see it until it is too late. DensGuard Tile Backer is the ideal substrate for ceramic and stone tile walls, and is more effective than cement board in preventing moisture from wicking behind the tile over time.

If budget is a concern when choosing tiles for the bathroom, select an inexpensive tile for the main coverage area of the wall, then sparingly use a gorgeous more-stylized, expensive tile to create a random or not-so-random pattern on the wall.

When working on bathroom space, be sure to install a vent fan and vent it to the outside. Too many times, I see a vent fan venting into an attic space, which causes insulation to work improperly and pools moisture into the attic area leading to many other issues. Today’s vent fans can look like a ceiling can – one from Braun you would never guess is a fan – to actual ceiling mounted light fixtures that also circulate air. Be sure to select one the right size for your bathroom space.

Homeowners interested in additional information can visit their local home improvement store to get more remodeling tips. They can also visit www.gp.com/build and to learn more about some of the products mentioned.

Leslie Segrete is the designer and carpenter on The Learning Channel’s While You Were Out and Trading Spaces, the designer on WE TV’s The Ugliest House on the Block; co-host of The Money Pit and editor at large for Country Home Magazine. www.lesliesegrete.com.