Basement remodeling for Lancaster households

Yes, and almost every family does. The basement is sealed at the head of the stair with a zipped poly wall, the crew comes and goes through that one route, and the kitchen, the bathrooms and the bedrooms carry on as normal. Nobody has to move out for a basement.

Less than you are expecting, because the basement is held at negative pressure. A machine pulls air out through a hopper window and vents it outside, so air moves down the stair rather than up it. The two dusty days are the concrete breaking and the egress cut, and both are timed to that.

For part of one day, and we tell you which day. The machines are pulled forward once, to where they are going to live, and reconnected before the crew leaves. Where the drain has to be moved for a bathroom the disconnection runs longer, and we say so at the quote rather than on the morning.

Yes, and it is often the sensible answer. Drainage, the sump and the vapor barrier are one stage and they can stand on their own for a year while you save. What cannot be split is anything that closes a wall, because the wiring and the plumbing inside it have to be inspected first.

One truck on the driveway or the curb rather than four, and material comes down the inside stair unless there is a hatch or a walkout. We ask about access on the first visit, because a narrow house with no back entry changes how the board and the studs arrive and what they cost to carry.

It can, and the county assessment office decides that rather than us. Adding finished floor area or a bathroom is the kind of change picked up when a permit closes. Ring the assessment office before you commit if that number matters to you, because they will tell you how they treat it.

It has to be out before we start, and that is the one job we cannot do for you. Anything left over gets moved once to the far end and sheeted, which works for a stack of boxes and not for a workshop. Give yourself a fortnight for it, because it is always more than people remember.

Yes, as long as the dog stays above the dust wall. Tell us on the first visit and the crew will use the front door rather than a propped back one, and we will say which mornings the compressor is running. Nail guns and concrete saws are the noises that unsettle animals most.

It should smell of nothing at all, and if it smells of damp then something under the finish is wrong. Closed-cell foam against the block, a dimple mat under the floor and a dehumidifier plumbed to a drain are what hold the humidity down, and they are why the room does not smell like a cellar.

Closed-cell foam, sprayed or in board, against the block. A plastic sheet stops vapor at one face and traps whatever gets behind it, which is how a wall built in the nineties ends up black on the inside. Foam is the vapor control and the insulation in one, and nothing wicks through it.

No. Egress is required where somebody sleeps, so a den, a playroom or a media room does not need one. Be honest with yourself about what the room will become, because a den that turns into a teenager's bedroom is the room a buyer's inspector asks about when you come to sell.

Ring the same number and somebody comes and looks at it. Board moves at the seams through the first heating season and that is a filling job, half a day. Water is different, and we want to see it wet rather than described, so call while it is happening rather than after it has dried.