Why Wood and Basements Don't Mix

Organic materials should never be present in your basement because they will easily mold and rot, creating all sorts of problems for you and your family.  Organic materials are materials that come from a tree or animal such as wood, plywood, particle board (laminate floor backing), cardboard, jute (carpet backing), paper, and rubber.  All of those materials come from trees.  Leather and furs are materials that come from animals that are popular in basements.  When organic materials are dead, they naturally need to be turned back into dirt and returned to the earth.  How does this happen?

The purpose of mold, rot, and bugs is to decay organic materials and return them to the earth.  But how do mold, rot, and bugs know when and where they have a job to do?  The answer is simple—water.

For example, when a dead tree limb falls in the forest, it’s damp.  Mod, rot, and bugs are then triggered to eat away the dead material.  They make no distinction between a dead tree limb in the forest and a damp 2x4 or paper-faced drywall in your basement.  If the organic materials in your basement are wet or damp, the mold, rot, and bugs will find them.

That is exactly why inorganic materials should be used in your basement.  If the material was once alive, keep it out of your basement.  Inorganic materials are materials that are from the earth and were not alive at some time including sand, cement, metals, vinyl, and plastic.  They should be used in environments that are likely to be wet, meaning your basement. 

This is why Woods Basement Systems and Total Basement Finishing use entirely inorganic materials when finishing your basement.  Products such as ThermalDry, Basement to Beautiful walls panels, and ZenWall paneling will keep your basement dry and free of mold or rot.