Go Back  DoItYourself.com Community Forums > Interior Improvement Center > Basements, Attics and Crawl Spaces
Reload this Page >

Preparing for water in basement b-4 finishing basement

Preparing for water in basement b-4 finishing basement


  #1  
Old 03-29-02, 07:31 AM
TOMSMITH
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Question Preparing for water in basement b-4 finishing basement

My husband and I are getting ready to put a full bathroom in our basement and have already had one disagreement about how to re-finish and I am wondering if there is a way to prepare for small types of water damage in a finished basement. I don't know about the rest of the US but in the area we live in - spring rains combined with snow run offs and/or sump pump disasters could cause a basement to flood.

My question is this: Is there a way to keep sheetrock, sole plates etc off the floor and bottom of basement walls. (This is where my lack of carpenter skills show as you will soon see!) For instance can I attach a sole plate to the wall about 2" to 4" up and then bring my studs down to that? Then sheetrock down to the bottom? Then maybe hiding the bottom with a wide type of trim down to the carpet.

Or are there other ways to prepare for small water problems without having to go through the problem of your sheetrock getting wet and ruining your finishing work.
 
  #2  
Old 03-29-02, 06:06 PM
S
Member
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: massachusetts
Posts: 571
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Pressure treated sole plate.....single,,,,double.....4*4.......
sheetrock above sea level and then

rip some strips the same thickness as your sheetrock to run on the sole plate as a backing for the bottom of the 5 1/2" base available at HD


You might also check in with a few water drainage companies. One method is to cut through the floor on the perimeter to install drainage that leads to a few sumps.........
 

Last edited by StephenS; 03-30-02 at 04:36 AM.
  #3  
Old 03-29-02, 08:25 PM
tedn332
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Use treated lumber for your bottom plate and hold drywall up off floor 1". If you expect more than 1" of water, double the bottom plate and hold the rock up and shim below it to make the baseboard work. You mentioned carpet........is this wise if you expect water?
 
  #4  
Old 03-31-02, 08:47 AM
TOMSMITH
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Thank you for your reply's. We have lived in our current home for 4 years now w/o any water coming into our basement. Therefore I don't think we need to any major drainage modifications. We will go ahead with the pressure treated soleplates and keep the drywall up off the floor an inch or so. If we put in carpet we won't glue it down so we can quickly get it up off the floor if necessary.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: