Nothing makes quicker work of basement drywall than flooding. A heavy rain, nor’easter, poor drainage, power outages, burst pipes, and yucky sewage backups can flood your basement and turn the drywall to mush.
A finished basement adds value to your home, no doubt. Having one or more extra rooms where the kids can play helps keep your upstairs neat and your sanity intact. Add a home office, personal gym, or family room to your basement, and you might find it becoming the most popular level in your home. (Not counting the kitchen!) But there are always certain risks with tricking out a basement such as those listed above. One way to be better prepared against a total demo from flooding is to choose a wall paneling system that can stand up to submersion in water.
The EnduraFlood™ Flood-Proof Basement Wall System replaces drywall up to several feet above floor level. In other words, that’s the part of the drywall you’ll need to rip out and replace should you have a flood. EnduraFlood can’t help save your carpeting, tile, or wood floors in the basement – for that visit RenuKrete® and learn about Engineered Concrete Flooring (ECF) – but it will save you the expense and inconvenience of replacing drywall.
More decorative possibilities for basements that flood
It can be a gutsy move to add architectural features like wainscoting or wood flooring to a basement. In the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, we’ve seen for ourselves how record-breaking rainstorms can flood neighborhoods and homes that never had a problem. In some towns, the rushing water has exceeded the capacity of the existing streams and created new flood zones where none existed. If your home is in one of these areas, you know firsthand the struggle to repeatedly bail out your basement seemingly every time there’s a significant downpour.
You can wait for your town to do something if enough neighbors complain, but that means waiting months for engineering studies and grant applications to be approved, and years before the work is completed. You have a life to lead and family and friends to enjoy. EnduraFlood can help ease the worry and expense of repeated demolitions.
If frequent heavy storms such as those we’ve been having recently are going to continue, for homeowners the best path forward might be to rethink how to repair basement walls to minimize cleanup expense and time.
A breakthrough answer to replacing wet basement drywall
EnduraFlood™ Flood-Proof Basement Wall System wall panels are durable and tough, and engineered to replace wet drywall in the basement or anywhere else. Constructed of cement, EnduraFlood wall panels are not only flood resistant, but they are supremely tough and can withstand just about every bump and bang that kids can dish out.
EnduraFlood can be installed quickly and does not require multiple visits for repeated spackling and sanding. It’s a much cleaner installation process. The EnduraFlood boards are cut to size and put in place using specially designed and decorative snap-in fittings. If the boards ever have to be removed (to allow for the wall behind them to dry out), these fittings can be reused again and again. During the initial installation, the installer matches previous cuts for corners, plumbing, closets and any other structural details. The result is a new water repellent lower wall system which can endure submersion in water for as long as it takes to pump the water out of your basement. And cleanup is easy with a bucket and any popular off-the-shelf cleaning detergent.
The EnduraFlood™ Flood-Proof Basement Wall System is:
A durable and convenient solution to wet basement drywall.
Great-looking! The EnduraFlood Flood-Proof Basement Wall System is evocative of traditional wainscoting and complements the remaining drywall above flood level.
Easily removed when needed by technicians for access to foundation wall, insulation, etc., and quickly re-installed.
Economical long term. Patent-pending EnduraFlood is less costly compared to repeated basement flooding repair and wet wallboard replacement.
Before the next flood, be prepared with EnduraFlood
When your basement floods it saps the energy right out of you. Making repeated repairs in the basement or garage due to flooding also gets costly. One way to cut your losses is to go on offense with a wall system that stands up to basement floodwaters. With EnduraFlood you’ll still have to pump the water from your basement, and you’ll still have to clean and sanitize the submerged areas, but no longer will you need to cut out and replace wet drywall. And if you’ve ever had to take on that job, you know that’s no small thing.