The basement in my house was uninhabitable.
It was incomplete and smelled of mold and mildew.
At first, it did not bother me because I did not need the extra space, but when I realized the mold and mildew would affect the rest of the house, I had to take action. At first, I bought a portable heater from a heating dealer, but that too did not fully address the issue because it got so stuffy during the warmer seasons, so I had to look into purchasing cooling equipment. After consulting an air conditioning expert, I decided to finish the basement and find a way to make the air conditioning installation work down there and seek professional advice. It was going to be an expensive venture, but at that particular point, I had no choice. I went into the air conditioning business office to seek professional advice, as the cooling specialist had suggested. The a/c rep told me that if I had a heat pump in place or a boiler system, I could consider having heated floors in the basement and an air conditioner tune-up to determine why the air conditioning system was not working correctly. Since my house had that kind of system in place, I agreed to this kind of cooling technology which was new to me. It also worked to my advantage because I would not have to scout for cooling products. Everything, including air conditioning repair, was installed during the completion of the basement. I even had them put a few windows on the backyard wall. During the process, I learned more about air conditioning, including how often I needed to replace the air conditioning filter.