Waterproofing Your Basement Walls

You can consider remodeling the basement of your home to extend your living space. But you must concentrate on certain factors to keep your renovated basement clean and comfortable.  Often the basement gets wet due to surface water or groundwater leakages. The groundwater leakage will result in oozing water through the basement floor and wall.

Also, it will leave stains on the lower basement walls. On the other hand, the surface water leakage will create stains higher up on your basement walls. Normally, surface leakage is caused by overflow of water from rain, gutters, puddles and melting snow. However, you must waterproof your basement walls to eliminate the impact of all these leakages.

Preventing Leakages

• The groundwater and surface water leakages can be avoided simply by improving your roof drainage. Often improper roof drainages cause surface water problems surface water problems. If your home is located in a natural drainage path, you can consider building a wall to keep the water out, or build a ditch to redirect the water.
• You can also use specially designed drainpipes to lead the water away from the basement wall. The drainpipes can be connected to a dry well or sewer, where the water will be kept from seeping through the basement walls. Also, you can dig down the base of the wall footing to lay a tile drain around the surface.
• The impact of water leakages can also be reduced by treating the inside of your basement walls. You must check the basement walls thoroughly for cavities and cracks, and fill these using epoxy. However, epoxy can be adhered properly when you apply it on a dry day.

Waterproofing Your External Basement Walls

• It is also important to waterproof your outside walls to keep the basement are comfortable. You have to create a trench by digging away sail from around the external walls. After digging the soil our, you need to clean the wall using a stiff brush and water.
• The cleaning  will make the cracks visible. Now you can fill the cracks using mortar mix. The mortar mix must be allowed time to dry properly. However, the small cracks can be fixed simply by using a liquid sealer or any other patching compound. 
• After filling the cracks, you can make the basement wall waterproof by applying a heavy coat of plastic sealer or asphalt roof cement. Based on the condition of your wall, you can even consider applying an additional coat.

Many homeowners waterproof basement walls on their own to save money. But you can consider hiring home renovation services to enhance the look and feel of your basement, along with making the area completely waterproof.

6 Easy Steps to Fix Your Leaking Faucet

A leaking faucet may cause substantial damage to your bathroom. Along with affecting the look and feel of the bathroom, the problem will further result in unnecessary wasting of water. Also, the leakage can impact the overall look of your sink or bathtub by leaving stains. If you have retained the services of an experienced carpentry handyman, he can easily fix the problem within a few minutes. Often the leakage can be stopped by replacing the valve seals, or the entire faucet. However, you can also fix the leaking faucet on your own by using a set of simple tools.

1. Before repairing the faucet, you need to ensure that the water source is completely shut off. If you   are not able to locate the water source to the faucet, it is a good idea to completely turn off the water supply to your home.
2. You have to start the minor plumbing repairs by removing the faucet handle. The handle for the faucet can be taken off using a screwdriver. Use the screwdriver to unscrew the screw that secures the handle. It is advisable to use a flathead screwdriver to unscrew the screws, if the faucet handle has a plastic cover.
3. Now you have to remove the tube-shaped chrome cover. The chrome cover has to be removed carefully using your fingers. After removing the chrome cover, you have to pry the ring placed next to the tube off by using a small flathead screwdriver.
4. You also need to take the brass collar with pliers off. Then, use a flathead screwdriver to pry the plastic body off from the collar.
5. Now you can use the flathead screwdriver, and remove the valve and valve seals from the faucet. The old valve seals can be replaced with the new valve seals procured by you from the market. Many companies even provide DIY instructions to buyers to easily install new valve seals.
6. After replacing the faulty faucet parts, you have to ensure that the new components are positioned in an exact and accurate way. Once you have checked the faucet thoroughly, you can now turn the water source on to the faucet.

You can even fix the leaking faucet by reading the instructions provided by the manufacturer. The websites of many companies also carry detailed DIY instructions on how to remove, repair and replace the faucet of your bathtub or sink.

Points to Keep in Mind while Using CFL Bulbs in Your Bathroom

Each homeowner frequently explores options to enhance the look and feel of his bathroom. Some people retain the services of professionalhandymen to carry out minor plumbing repairs without causing any delay. Many homeowners even explore simple options to make keep their bathroom environment clean and comfortable.

While renovating your bathroom, you must concentrate on some simple factors to make the area more energy-efficient. For instance, you can replace the conventional bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to save over 75% energy. The CFLs further last ten times longer than the standard incandescent bulbs. But you must keep certain points in mind, while placing CFLs in your bathroom.

Reduce Humidity: While placing CFLs, you need to identify certain elements that can shorten the lifespan of the light. The presence of a huge amount of humidity can have a negative impact on the CFLs. So you must consider some simple and inexpensive options to remove humidity from your bathroom. It is a good idea to run the bathroom exhaust fan during and after taking your shower to exhaust the humidity and extend the life of the CFLs.

Switching On and Off the CFL: The lifespan of a CFL is also impacted by the frequency of switching it on and off. When you turn the CFLs on and off frequently, it will not increase your energy usage. But the action will shorten the lifespan of the CFLs. Also, you have to replace the CFL at regular intervals by incurring additional expenses. However, you will be able to save more money by turning the CFL on constantly for at least 15 minutes.

Choosing the Right Lights: It is always important to choose bulbs based on the light fixtures installed in your bathroom. Normally, the standard CFLs will fit into most of the fittings. But you will need a special CFL design known as indoor reflectors for the lights recessed into a ceiling or wall. These designs are also effective in withstanding much higher temperatures. Also, you have to choose specially designed bulbs to suit the three-way and dimmable light switches. It is a good idea to gather information from several sources to choose the right CFLs for your bathroom.

Safety Measures: When you decide to place CFLs in the bathroom, it becomes essential to understand certain safety and precautionary measures. As CFLs are designed with a small amount of mercury, the element can cause harm to human bodies. So you must take adequate precautions while handling or cleaning up the broken bulbs. Also, you can read the recommendations of the manufacturer to understand the safest way to remove a broken fluorescent bulb from your bathroom.

If you have already retained the services of a carpentry handyman, he will help you in placing the CFLs. Also, you can use his advice to choose the best places to place the CFLs in order to save more energy.

An Inexpensive Option to Remove Steam and Odor from Your Bathroom Environment

The packed schedules of modern people hardly allow them any time to keep their bathroom environment clean. Often the environment of your bathroom is damaged due to the foul bathroom odors, and harmful fumes generated by bathroom cleaning products.

You have a number of simple and inexpensive options to avail the benefits offered by professional bathroom remodeling services. Simply by choosing and installing a bathroom exhaust fan, you can easily vent the humidity, moisture and stale air, and keep the environment clean. However, you need to consider certain points to choose the best bathroom exhaust fan for your bathroom.

Size: Based on the size and design of your bathroom, you can choose from the large or small exhaust fans. While deciding the size of the fan, you need to ensure that it is effective in venting the bathroom air eight times per hour. The capacity of the fan is measured in terms of cubic feet per minute. As each cubic feet per minute is equivalent to one foot of bathroom space, you can easily decide the right size of the bathroom fan.

Type: You have options to choose from three basic types of bathroom fans, such as, wall mounted, ceiling mounted and inline. The inline and ceiling mounted models are installed on the bathroom ceiling, whereas the wall mounted fans are installed on the external walls. It is always important to decide the exhaust fan design by keeping in mind the design and structure of your bathroom.

Noise: Many people do not like the amount of noise generated by bathroom exhaust fans. However, the fans can be noisy or quiet based on the model chosen by you. The new bathroom fan models will cost more, but these are designed with specific features to give off less noise. Also, the smaller fans generate lesser amount of noise in comparison to the large ones. As the amount of noise generated by these fans is measured in terms of sones, you can easily choose a device that is not noisy.

Energy-Efficiency: Similar to other home appliances, some of the latest bathroom fan models are more energy efficient that the traditional ones. You can always check the Energy Star rating of each model to decide its effectiveness in saving energy. Also, you must consider specific features like a sensor or timer that allow you to turn the exhausts fan off based on the level of moisture or humidity in the area.

Once you choose the right bathroom exhaust fan model, the same can be purchased from the local as well as online stores. However, you must read the product and user reviews to choose the right bathroom fan that can be used over many years.