wood construcion in the basement???
My wife and I just bought our first house, a brick row house, and the basement is pretty dry and solid with concrete floors. On one side of the basement, there’s a room that’s been built and it’s framed out in wood (with paneled walls, linoleum tiles, dropped ceiling, etc). The inspector warned that wood…
My wife and I just bought our first house, a brick row house, and the basement is pretty dry and solid with concrete floors. On one side of the basement, there’s a room that’s been built and it’s framed out in wood (with paneled walls, linoleum tiles, dropped ceiling, etc). The inspector warned that wood construction in a basement is generally not a good idea (attracts termites, not good with moisture, etc). My question is how big a problem do people think this is? The house is pretty dry and we don’t have any known termit damage, so can I just use the room indefintitely for storage, etc. — or is it really worth being proactive and taking out all the wood constructon in the basement (and use other materials if I want to recreat an enclosed room down there).
Thanks in advance for any advice on this question!!
Don’t put in wood in your basement. There’s a reason it wasn’t originallly constructed with wood below grade.
The above poster is dead-on correct, as is your inspector.
You need to worry about termites, and also keep in mind that cellulose material (ie: wood, paper coating on sheetrock, etc.) is mold food.
You said the basement *appears* dry, however if there’s a small leak in a concealed pipe or even enough condensation from a sweating cold water pipe, you are in trouble. Not to mention if there’s ever any other water-issue there you will be glad you saved yourself a very messy and potentially expensive cleanup: heavy rains, boiler problems, humidity from the spring thaw, backed up waste pipe, etc.
And you hit the nail on the head when you said there’s no *known* termite damage (“known” being the operative word). What you don’t know can eat your house. Also, just because there’s none there now, doesn’t mean a colony won’t establish itself after you’ve installed a nice, big food source for them.
Basements in 100+ year old houses do not, in general, make good living spaces and should be used, in our inspector’s words, for “storing stuff and stomping grapes”.
While the wine-making is up to you, I’d recommend keeping an eye on the wood that’s already there. Taking out framing is no biggie so it may be worth it in the long run.
Sorry to rain on your excitement but while your inspector may be overstating any risk, he is correct in saying that wood below grade can be problematic. For example, our very dry and supposedly termite free (as determined by many years of annual inspections) basement suddenly sprouted several thousand winged creatures one afternoon. After a fair amount of panic driven rip out to find the source, we discovered an extensive termite run in the main floor joist that runs the length of the house. The reason their presence remained unknown until that moment is because they were tunnelling in wood that was concealed by finish carpentry. Under cover of some fantastically detailed joinery, they were free to do what they do best without fear of discovery. Fortunately for us the worst non-cosmetic damage was to a 12″ x 12″ hardwood beam which had enough meat remaining so as not to cause structural issues. However, had we not found the problem, the termites could have easily continued to eat their way to the rest of the house unfettered.
While our case was scary, it was most certainly not an extreme example of the many issues contractors have dealt with concerning wood and basements. In my mind, the bottom line is this; If your house has any chance of having untreated wood touching dirt anywhere (like through the side walls where the joists are pocketed into the foundation or through the slab that most certainly was poured after your wood walls were assembled and therefore captures the wall assemblies in the slab), you have the potential for a great termite highway into your house and into your hearts. While I don’t recommend ripping out anything without good cause, it certainly does bear some consideration to ensure that your annual termite inspection includes a more thorough inspection behind the carpentry in a few select places.
when are you required to have a fire wall rated greater than 1 hour around a furnace?
2:27, please consider reopening your establishment.
thanks … one thing off my LONG checklist of to-do’s. ~ OP
termites shouldn’t be a worry if the wood is not wet
Thats a totally silly comment from your inspector. Of course if wood gets wet, its not good but that would be true no matter where it is. If you have a dry basements, its dry. What are you going to do – make everything out of plastic?
I have wood in my basement and its dry as a bone.
Our entire basement is covered in wood that has been there since 1930. It is basically a speak-easy. No WAY would I take it out. Our inspector did not comment on it. I can see choosing not to use wood for new construction, but to take out perfectly good wood seems silly.