Apartment problems over a cold, damp basement and their solution

Unfortunately, we do not always have the opportunity to independently choose a house or apartment. If you got a home located on the ground floor, and the basement below it is damp and unheated, problems are most likely to arise. How can you solve them without changing your place of residence?

Of course, the owners of a problem apartment on the ground floor often have a desire to simply get rid of it, sell and buy something more comfortable. But it is sometimes impractical to make such drastic changes, you don’t want to change the area, for example, and the price may be too low. Before deciding to sell real estate, we advise you to take measures to solve problems with dampness and cold. In any case, in the future, the measures taken will raise the value of real estate, that is, they will pay off.

So, if under your apartment there is an unheated basement with damp walls and moisture, you need to take the following actions:

1. Contact the management company, house management. Especially if communications are leaking in the basement or water is flowing along the walls due to high humidity and temperature changes. Complain strongly, write statements so that the management company takes the necessary measures. Demand to waterproof the walls of the basement, fix leaks, put things in order there. Basement waterproofing from the inside will eliminate the rise of moisture along the walls into the apartment. In general, this is a problem for the whole house, so you can safely connect your neighbors and demand from the utilities to correct the situation. Sometimes desperate residents of the first floors begin to deal with the problematic basement on their own, collecting money for its arrangement. But this is a common building, so the responsibility rests entirely with the management company. As a last resort, you have the option to complain to higher local authorities or to sue.

2. If the entrance to the basement is at the entrance, all the “aromas” of dampness and cold can penetrate into the apartment through the front door. Pay special attention to it, insulate it, put platbands, replace the seals, get rid of all cracks, cover the door with vinyl leather, under which a soft insulation should be placed. The best option is if there are two entrance doors – wooden inside and metal outside. You can insulate the front door with your own hands, and the result will affect the state of the apartment immediately.

3. Effective ventilation will help fight the smell of dampness. Modern windows with ventilation valves allow you to get fresh air even when the window is closed. A recuperator, an exhaust fan in the bathroom and a toilet, an extractor hood in the kitchen will help. Check how the ventilation duct works in the apartment, whether there is a draft in it. In any case, do not forget to periodically open the windows, even if it is cold outside – fresh air is more important.

4. Experts consider the option of wall insulation from the street side to be much more effective. Be sure to find out if you have such an opportunity, because sometimes it is simply forbidden to make changes to the appearance of the facade of an apartment building. If the local authorities have forbidden to insulate the apartment from the outside, then it will have to be done from the inside, reducing the area of ​​the premises. It is important to choose the optimal thickness of insulation, be guided by the design of the outer wall and your climatic characteristics.

5. Gender will require special attention. We are sorry, but, most likely, you will have to completely disassemble it, insulate and seal it in such a way that cold air and dampness from the basement do not enter the apartment. It is necessary to roll a vapor barrier film over the floor slabs (story / isolation / kak-uteplit-dom-pravilno.560882 /), it is placed on the walls above the level of the finished floor. Insulation, for example, mineral wool, is placed between the logs. Then again the vapor barrier film, which is connected to the top layer, in order to securely close the insulation as much as possible. Above – boards, chipboard, and then – the finishing floor covering, for example, laminate or linoleum. As an option – a screed over the floor slabs, a layer of mortar on which the new floor will be laid. Sometimes the owners of apartments on the first floors put an additional layer of flooring on the old boards, trying to close the cracks under the baseboards, to make the floor thicker and warmer. But usually such measures are not enough. It is important to make sure that the logs, the base of the floor are in good condition and have not rotted under the influence of moisture from the basement. Therefore, despite the loss of time and money, it is better to disassemble the floor..

6. In the kitchen and in the bathroom of the first floor, a warm floor under the tiles will definitely not interfere, as a reliable and durable floor covering. In this case, you definitely won’t have to worry that in winter it will be cold in these rooms due to the unheated basement..

7. It is also possible to additionally install electric heaters, replace heating batteries by increasing the number of sections.

Don’t be so upset that you got an apartment on the ground floor and a basement below. The first floor has its advantages, for example, independence from the elevator and a lot of shade in summer. And with the help of modern materials, you can insulate the apartment so that there will be no difference with other floors, despite the problems with the basement..