The Basement: Downstairs Playroom or Down in the Dumps
An unfinished basement is the cheapest square footage you can buy, just a few thousand dollars, in most cases. Finish it yourself and you can inexpensively raise the home's square footage and increase the resale value.
As we start to walk down the basement stairs, the first thing you should
do is smell, real hard. A well ventilated, dry basement shouldn't smell bad (you'll know a bad one when you smell it)
- Is there an odor of mold or mildew?
- Is there a stinky water smell from wet carpet padding? You can dry the pad out but you can't get rid of that smell unless you replace it;
every time it gets humid the smell will come back.
If odors are present, it is a strong indication that the home may have a
severe, expensive to fix, mold or flooding problem. If you are seriously
considering this home, you may want to bring in a professional home inspector to
investigate more closely before you make any decisions.
Next, you should carefully:
- Look for water stains, damage or other evidence of
water.
- Look up at the ceiling. This is your chance to look
underneath the half bath; underneath the kitchen.
- Check the supports under the fireplace. Did the
builder use concrete lintels to support the weight of the fireplace? Some do
and some don't.
