Basement Finishing in Woodstock, GA

Basement Finishing for Woodstock homes

The core of the stock is the Towne Lake build-out that began in the late 1980s: Eagle Watch, developed by Arvida around an Arnold Palmer golf course and filled in through the early 1990s, then Towne Lake Hills around the Arthur Hills course that opened in 1994, with Wyngate, Rose Creek and the rest following. These are mostly two-story traditional houses, often brick or stone on the front with lap siding on the sides and rear, set on rolling, wooded ground that drains toward Noonday Creek and the Little River arm of the lake. That grade is why so many have full or partial basements, some daylight or walkout, a lot of them still unfinished, and why tall rear decks are common. Downtown is the other end of the range: the Dean House from 1875, the 1894 Century House and early-1900s frame houses along streets like Rope Mill Road, now ringed by the townhomes and small-lot houses of the newer downtown build-out. The old houses mean wood clapboard, plaster and old paint layers; the new ones mean early repaints and finish upgrades.

Areas we work in Woodstock

• Downtown Woodstock
• Towne Lake
• Eagle Watch
• Towne Lake Hills
• Wyngate
• Rose Creek

Near Elm Street Cultural Arts Village (Woodstock Arts), Olde Rope Mill Park, Dupree Park and across the rest of Woodstock.

Basement Finishing on Woodstock houses

Basement finishing is one of the most common remodeling projects in Woodstock because so many of the Towne Lake houses have a basement waiting. The lots in Eagle Watch, Towne Lake Hills and Rose Creek fall away toward the creeks and the lake, so plenty of homes have a daylight or walkout lower level with windows and a door on the low side and poured walls buried on the uphill side. Many were left unfinished with a plumbing stub for a future bath. Owners finish them as a family room, guest suite, office or media room. The walkout side makes the space feel like a real floor of the house; the buried side is where the moisture and insulation work happens.

What usually gets missed

The uphill wall decides the project. Water coming down the slope presses against the buried foundation, and a basement that seems dry in July can show white efflorescence and damp patches after a wet winter. Framing and board go up against that wall only after we check the grading, the gutters and downspouts, and the concrete itself for staining or cracks. We use materials that tolerate moisture at the base of the wall, and leave the sump and cleanouts where they can still be reached.