Roger James Martin is a fully licensed General Contractor and Team Leader for Divisions Unlimited Inc, an environmentally conscious Custom Home Builder specializing in new custom home construction, custom home remodeling, kitchen remodeling, and bathroom remodeling for residential or light commercial properties.
A home renovation in Boston is a great project to have particularly if you are planning to expand on your existing home structure and increase valuable living spaces. This is a great cost-effective alternative than making a purchase for a new home, which is more practically true due to the current economic crisis that the world is facing at this moment.
An important element to consider before proceeding with your home renovation Boston project is in increasing living spaces. According to expert builders from Divisions Unlimited Incorporated, you can achieve this by renovating unfinished spaces in your home and convert them into useful areas. Such areas include unfinished basements and other open areas within the property. Converting them to finished areas through innovative ideas and construction methods can definitely increase space for living areas. You just need to ensure that your contractors are qualified and capable enough to perform such customized remodeling on your home.
The following are some innovative tips that you can use as reference for your renovation project for unfinished spaces in the home and convert them into useful living areas.
* Dealing with Uneven Concrete or Earthen Floors
Unfinished basements or crawlspaces have uneven concrete or earthen floors. Most of these floorings are intentionally slopes to one side basically for drainage purposes. This can be remedied using two methods, which you can arrange for your contractor to build. The first technique is to cover the floor with a concrete overlay and the second one is to install a wood subfloor over the concrete layer. The critical point here is to determine the highest point on the area from where your new floor level will have reference to. Your contractor should effectively do this, otherwise you will have drainage and eventually flooding problems later on. Make sure that the drainage system remains intact and functional before you proceed with your home renovation Boston project.
* Dealing with Uneven Walls
Aside from the floors, the next areas to consider in your home renovation in Boston project are the walls of the unfinished area. Basement walls are foundation walls and these are usually not plumb and straight. These can be overlaid with your tiles of choice or you can use wooden panels for a natural effect. If you are planning of installing additional walls within the area to subdivide it into smaller sections, then you can have the walls installed directly on the concrete floor using anchors and base plates. Another wall building method that builders use is to fabricate the walls on the floor and then it will be hoisted or tilted up in place. However, the contractor who will use this method should consider proper gaps and allowances so the wall will not get stuck up as it is tilted up.
* Dealing with Utility Systems
These unfinished spaces usually contain or have exposed portions of basic household utilities like HVAC mechanical systems, electrical works and plumbing facilities. These will require ductwork, access panels for maintenance purposes and proper insulation before covering them up. Once properly covered, the area that they previously occupy can now be utilized as extra rooms and living spaces. You should also consider installing fire and sprinkler systems in these new rooms as part of your home renovation Boston project.
Utilizing unfinished spaces in a home and converting them to useful living spaces is a cost effective and practical way of improving the look and functionality of your home. Following proper building techniques coupled with careful planning and consideration could provide the homeowner with very satisfactory results.
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