One of the things I’m working on, slowly but I’m working on it, is trying to reclaim areas of our house that we’ve sorta given up on. One of those areas is our basement. Our basement is actually in pretty decent shape but I’d really like to put a workout room in this coming year and that will require a few things to be done first.

In order to do that, I want to make sure we get it cleaned up a little better.

The big issue is that our basement gets wet. Every single time we have a hard rain, the basement floods. It’s not super bad but it’s enough to qualify as a damp basement at the very least.

If we planned on staying in the house, I might look at waterproofing but we need out as soon as we can. So rather than address the root of the problem, which is probably related to drainage around the house, I need to treat the symptoms as they arise.

Anyway, the two major issues I’ll likely to need to address are physical water and potential mold. I don’t want any equipment getting wet, especially if it’s powered equipment. As I’m sure you know, water and electricity don’t mix.

My initial thought on the water is to use those thick, black, rubberized floor mats that you see in the gym, usually around the free weights. I’ve seen that at Home Depot and it’s pretty affordable-ish. Maybe that would work, maybe it wouldn’t. I’ve not yet thought it through and I’m currently just sorta kicking around ideas.

As for the mold, I’m not sure what’s best. I’ll need to research mold killers to figure out what the best approach is. My main concern would be how safe is it to use around people and animals. That’s not something I’m super familiar with, so I need to look into that.

If I ever actually get this out of the planning stages, I’ll look at actual equipment to use. I have some basic things like TRX, as well as some free weights. I’ll definitely need a bench and ideally a treadmill. This is sorta wishful thinking but I also believe it’s important to take care of ourselves. I’ve been talking about self-care alot lately and this is part of that journey.

I know there are a million other things I should probably prioritize but this is important also. As an Autism and Special Needs parent, it’s really challenging to do things like go to the gym. I’ve manged to walk almost daily but that’s not easy either. If I could do this at home, it would be so much easier. I could see this benefiting everyone in the house.

We’ll see how things go in the next few months.