Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Finishing Basements: Step-by-step Projects for Adding Living Space without Adding On (Black & Decker Complete Guide)

Review by Matthew Brooks for Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Finishing Basements: Step-by-step Projects for Adding Living Space without Adding On (Black & Decker Complete Guide)
Rating:
I should warn that if you have no experience finishing basements it’s not likely you’ll be able to do a good job based on the readings of only one book, at least if you’re obsessive like I am. However, of the books I’ve looked at this is one of the better ones.

What truly differentiates this from the other books I’ve looked at (Stanley’s basement book and the 2007 version of this book–which unfortunately is still being sold at Home Depot instead of the current 2009, and a half dozen others), is its advise about insulation. FINALLY a book about basement finishing stops with the rubbish about batt insulation and vapor barriers, a technique advised against by pretty much all authorities on basement insulation (e.g. buildingscience.com) and talks about extruded foam boards. And not just foam boards, but a continual layer of foam, not the poor approach of furring wood strips against concrete and board between them. Also this book emphasizes and properly qualifies what it means to have a dry basement that can be properly insulated from the inside. Strange to me, though, is why it says not to seal the bottom of the foam where it touches the floor. I have recently done my basement with the foam and there is a good bit of air movement under the gap, plus the other resources I’ve found do indeed say it should be sealed off.

Be sure you aggressively insulate joist bays, too, with foam and caulking and/or great stuff spray foam.

Although finished basements have been around for decades, the contemporary approaches to them get around certain issues we’re familiar with like moldy walls and that’s why a book needs to stay abreast of current best practices and insulation is a key one of those.

My main criticism here is I am pretty sure the book still says that if roughing in an under-slab bathroom that a masonry blade can be used on a circular saw. Please do not ever try this. You’ll need a dozen of them. Go with a diamond blade or even rent a wet saw and/or jackhammer. If you do not properly score the lines you’ll end up with a huge section of concrete that has to be moved as cracks span out. I know this because it’s what I went through recently. Masonry blades on a circular saw cannot possibly move efficiently the amount of material away to score the lines for a full basement rough-in.