renovation

Basements are notorious for being damp, dark, inhospitable places - the antithesis of what we like to associate with green and healthy living. As a rule, the basements in older homes were not designed to be functional living spaces. Yet for many of us, the basement represents potential bedroom, recreational or home office space at an affordable cost.

While some basements are unsuitable as living space, others can be transformed as long as some "green building science" principles are followed. The following is a partial list of things to consider:

Each month, like a roving band of grain threshers or barn raisers, my family of four and two other households descend upon one of our homes to paint, build, garden and clean, and to eat, drink and be merry.