The basements in Chicago are an important, yet underappreciated part of day-to-day living. This space is often used by families as a play space for kids, a laundry room, storage, a home workshop or especially in Bungalow Belt homes without air conditioning, as a summer kitchen. For the newest McMansion homes that have basements with tall ceilings and finished spaces, the basement becomes a place to entertain, a guest room, a man cave, a home theater or Zoom Room, a fitness center or space to provide a measure of autonomy and privacy to teenagers and friends. It serves all these functions equally well because there is rarely a need to gussy-up the space to accommodate most of these activities, the lack of natural light is often a positive, and being mostly underground, this space is largely sound insulated and cooler during Chicago’s hot summer months.
Only one problem: these spaces are also susceptible to water intrusion, humidity and mold. And mold like our man-made electromagnetics, are at the top of my list of factors that can make modern-day home construction so unhealthy.
As an example, it is rare that the concrete poured to construct the basement floors and walls of a modern Chicago home is given enough time to completely cure before construction begins. That is a problem unbeknownst by many a new homeowner, and typically found only after living in the space awhile and then realizing that water is behind the walls.
The story goes that legendary Chicago homebuilders like Albert Schorsch—whose best known homes were built in the 1930s on the blocks immediately east of Shabbona Park, in a part of Chicago now known as Schorsch Village—poured his basement foundations in the fall, covered them with hay, and allowed them to dry over the winter before starting spring construction. That just does not happen any more; and as a long-time resident of Roscoe Village I know of at least two basement foundations on my block that have completely failed as a result of poor attention given to foundation drying during new home construction.
My Little Big Homes use a different approach to building and curing a basement foundation and basement walls. We allow our concrete to dry by building foundation walls using pre-insulated blocks made out of recycled wood known as Nexcem or Faswall. As the center block voids get filled with concrete, each block’s insulation provides the thermal protection that allows the concrete to cure at a rate that ensures maximum durability and strength. And by attaching a dimpled high-density polyethylene sheet to the outside perimeter (one of the few non-natural building materials used in my home) we provide a pathway for water to escape for the life of the foundation.
Using this technique means the entire basement space is insulated and dry without having to add any asphalt water proofing coatings to the outside of the foundation—coatings that inevitably fail and only serve to add chemicals to the finished home. Moreover, the interior basement walls are finished using clay plaster—a top coating that not only provides a fabulous finished look, but because clay is hygroscopic, also absorbs and desorbs moisture over the life-span of the home helping to naturally regulate relative humidity and basement comfort.
Specifying more than the conventional amounts of aggregate, or even using pumice stone to help insulate the slab and continually drain away moisture, are additional ways we ensure the creation of a comfortable, durable, healthy basement space every Chicago family deserves.
I hope you can see just how much attention is required to design and construct a Little Big Home basement; to make it Green and keep it Healthy. Needless to say if I went into this kind of detail for the remainder of the home, you'd be reading a book many inches thick just to learn about all the ways the Little Big Home is healthy. Instead I will post another 15 to 20 rapid-fire blog posts that describe these key differences over the next few weeks, and in so doing I hope make crystal clear the breadth of health, financial, and environmental benefits your family will gain by living there.
Stay tuned.
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