Basement Storage DOs and Donts needed please (Roy: house, buy)

[sheriffwoody]

Moving from Las Vegas to Sugar House, and first time with a basement. Half of basement is finished half isnt and I want to use it for 1 year + storage bins/boxes. Family photos, old kids school projects, camping gear etc. Does it flood here? Shelves? Boxes ok? Thanks!

[kletter1mann]

The owner or landlord should be able to tell you if basement ever flooded. Highly unlikely here though. Just keep stuff off the floor. Basement may have high humidity or it may be dry a bone. Either way, keep moisture sensitive items in sealed plastic container and you should be good.

[irman]

Any basement in Utah will somewhat have residual Radon gas seeping in. To keep it out by means of a professional setup will be expensive.
An easy way is to set up a ventilation system where you suck the air from the lowest point in the basement, preferable in the unfinished area and then vent it to the outside. The homeowner himself can easily do this. It takes a few plastic pipes of the correct diameter and a few in-line fans that run on house current. All Utah basements, as far as I know always have at least one small window. Replace that with a wooden panel and vent the air through that window.

If you want to store things in an unfinished basement, collect a few used pallets and use those as a base. The air can then freely circulate underneath the storage items. If you like shelves, buy used via KSL classified.

Do not sleep in a basement unless you have done a Radon test and there are windows that can be used as an emergency exit.

If that basement has a toilet, do some flushes and see if the water drains at a normal speed.

Check for residual mould around the bottom edges of the basement. It looks like black soot...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C82SZRM...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

[COcheesehead]

Radon abatement runs about $1000 - $1500 and is highly recommended.

[SWFL_Native]

Originally Posted by COcheesehead

Radon abatement runs about $1000 - $1500 and is highly recommended.

x2 we did it in our house and money well spent IMO.

[CARas2020]

Originally Posted by irman

Any basement in Utah will somewhat have residual Radon gas seeping in. To keep it out by means of a professional setup will be expensive.
An easy way is to set up a ventilation system where you suck the air from the lowest point in the basement, preferable in the unfinished area and then vent it to the outside. The homeowner himself can easily do this. It takes a few plastic pipes of the correct diameter and a few in-line fans that run on house current. All Utah basements, as far as I know always have at least one small window. Replace that with a wooden panel and vent the air through that window.

If you want to store things in an unfinished basement, collect a few used pallets and use those as a base. The air can then freely circulate underneath the storage items. If you like shelves, buy used via KSL classified.

Do not sleep in a basement unless you have done a Radon test and there are windows that can be used as an emergency exit.

If that basement has a toilet, do some flushes and see if the water drains at a normal speed.

Check for residual mould around the bottom edges of the basement. It looks like black soot...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C82SZRM...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

My sister in law has a house with mostly finished basement. She has a couple bedrooms which others have slept in. They have not had any problems. But they may have had it cleaned up. My husband and I slept in the basement many years ago. Woke up to a huge snow storm going on.

[irman]

Originally Posted by CARas2020

My sister in law has a house with mostly finished basement. She has a couple bedrooms which others have slept in. They have not had any problems. But they may have had it cleaned up. My husband and I slept in the basement many years ago. Woke up to a huge snow storm going on.

This is what Radon could do to you if you did breathe Radon while sleeping in a space where there is too much Radon... Hence the requirement to get it tested!

"When you breathe in radon, radioactive particles from radon gas can get trapped in your lungs. Over time, these radioactive particles increase the risk of lung cancer. It may take years before health problems appear. People who smoke and are exposed to radon are at a greater risk of developing lung cancer."

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/pr...don/index.html

[SWFL_Native]

Just saw the house is in Roy. The only things to be aware of are the bugs and sometimes smells coming off the lake. The further west you go the bigger the issue will become. I’m sure if you already did a visit and tour of the area you’re familiar with any of these issue and how big of a deal it was to you.

For us it made us write off a large share of that area when we were looking at Davis county.