When Can Finishing A Basement HURT Your Home Value? TAGS: basement | basement egress windows | basement remodel ideas | Egress windows | finishing a basement | means of egress | Refinishing your basement

Finishing your basement will increase the value of your home, right? Not if you don’t do it right. With the housing market on the road to recovery, a lot of homeowners are looking to see how they can leap-frog the competition and get their houses back to full market value as quickly as possible. Finishing any available basement space is a smart way to do just that. Just think about it – creating a basement apartment, or just extra livable space in a basement, can easily add hundreds of square feet to a home’s footprint; and offer great options for …Continue reading →

The Utility of Basement Window Wells TAGS: Adding egress windows | basement remodel ideas | Egress windows | emergeny escape | means of egress | safe basement exit

Many household utilities are located in the basement – which is why a window well is an important addition to your finished basement. Basements are one of the most functional areas of any home – a great place to locate important utilities like a furnace, hot water heater and electric boxes out of sight, and away from children. But utilities are one of the leading causes of fires – so placing them downstairs, in a basement, increases the risk of a basement fire. If one breaks out – does your basement have a means of egress? A means of egress …Continue reading →

Basement Window Well Adds To Inheritance TAGS: basement | basement remodel ideas | building codes | Egress windows | finishing a basement | Installing an Egress Window

Investing in a basement window well is one way to look after your loved ones. 2008 was a rough year for a lot of Americans – but for Dave Buchanan, it was harder than most. That was the year he was due to retire, and unfortunately cashing in his 401k coincided with one of the worst stock market crashes in American history. “I ended up getting less out of my 401k than what I’d paid into it,” Dave explains. “I was gutted.” Fortunately, Dave’s canny financial planning meant that he and his wife weren’t reduced to eating Ramen noodles as …Continue reading →

10% Off Sale on all St. Paul items TAGS: basement remodel ideas | Egress windows | finishing a basement | means of egress

For the entire month of May receive 10% off the entire line of St. Paul products.  Including all StoneWall Egress Kits, StoneWall Egress Wells, Safe-T-View Covers, and Life Step Egress Ladders.   Start shopping here – 10% Off St. Paul Tweet

Make the Most of Your Basement: The Darkroom TAGS: Adding egress windows | basement remodel ideas | building codes | Egress windows | emergeny escape | finishing a basement | Refinishing your basement

Fashion photographer Danny turned his unfinished basement into a darkroom – and added a basement window well for several important reasons. “Film photography isn’t dead,” explains Danny Patterson, a fashion photographer from New Jersey. “It’s still a medium used in high art, and a lot of fashion magazines still love the look of a photograph taken on real 35mm film.” But Danny, who specializes in photographs taken on real film, admits that the digital revolution has changed a lot of things. “Everything that used to be commonplace has got more difficult to get hold of now, though,” he admits. “You …Continue reading →

Basement Window Wells Saved a Book Collector’s Life TAGS: basement egress windows | basement remodel ideas | building codes | Egress windows | emergeny escape | means of egress | safe basement exit

Bruno Holmes is a rare book collector, who remembers vividly why he is passionate about fire safety in his new basement library. “Back when I was working in England,” explains Bruno Holmes, a rare book dealer for a prestigious auction house in New York City, “I was caught in a fire once that nearly claimed my life.” Born and raised in the south coast of England, Bruno’s first foray into collector’s books was running a second hand bookshop in a basement-level store in greater London. “It was an old Georgian building, accessible by steps in the front, and a little …Continue reading →

Install a Dry Well to Prevent Window Well Flooding TAGS: Adding egress windows | basement remodel ideas | damp basement | Egress windows

One concern residents in flood-zones have about their basement window wells is that they could leak water into their finished basements. Here’s some advice. We’ve already blogged about the importance of where you install your basement window well to prevent flooding. But that’s not the only thing you can do to help ensure water stays out of your basement during the rainy season. If you’re in an area prone to flooding, there’s more you can do too.When installing a window well, it’s very important to backfill it with pea gravel or other rock material to help with drainage – especially …Continue reading →

The Home Gym: Making the Most of Your Basement Space TAGS: basement | basement egress windows | basement remodel ideas | building codes | finishing a basement | means of egress | Refinishing your basement

One popular way to maximize the space of a finished basement is to convert it into a home gym. While the initial outlay can be expensive, it’s one of the few investments that literally “pays for itself” in the gym dues you save every month – not to mention your improved health! Home exercise equipment tends not to get a lot of use. Some people even joke “it’s the most expensive clothesline you’ll ever have!” This is largely because home exercise equipment is large, bulky and needs a lot of room to use it effectively. Which is where a basement …Continue reading →

The Home Office: Making the Most of your Basement Space TAGS: Adding egress windows | basement | basement egress windows | basement remodel ideas | Egress windows | means of egress

While Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer recently made waves by banning working from home, flexible hours and work-from-home initiatives are becoming significantly more common across America. As a result, more and more homeowners are looking to find space in their home for an office. The basement is a logical choice. Working from home isn’t easy. Even if you don’t have kids or pets to contend with, it’s often difficult to get into the “work” headspace when you have the opportunity to send your emails and work on your presentations without even clambering out of bed. That’s why people like Yahoo!’s CEO …Continue reading →

A Kid’s Playroom: Making the Most of your Basement Space TAGS: basement | basement remodel ideas | Basement Windows | Egress windows | Refinishing your basement

Somebody once equated having young kids to owning a blender, but not having a lid for it. The metaphor is accurate – most parents know how messy and chaotic kids can be! This is why finishing a basement and turning it into a kid’s playroom is an idea that appeals to a lot of parents. There are a lot of advantages. Firstly, it’s totally secure. There are no exterior doors and patio windows to worry about, so parents can leave their kids to play in the basement without them worrying about wondering off. Secondly, it’s self-contained. Kids can make an …Continue reading →