All; I am currently in the process of evaluating interior drainage waterproofing companies and I wanted to share my experiences so far. I am not expert in the field but from reading and talking to people over the past couple of years I have learned a couple of things concerning basements that have water problems. (a) first check to see where the water is coming from. Check your gutters, liters, e.t.c and make sure that they are clean. If your gutters are fine make sure that you have extenders at the bottom of your liters to push the water far away from the foundation of your house. If your gutters need replacing replace them. If you have water coming from around your windows putting in a interior drainage system is not going to solve your water problem. (b) the best kind of waterproofing is from the OUTSIDE NOT from the INSIDE. You want to prevent the water from coming into your house. WHERE PRACTICAL dig arond the foundation of your house and seal from the outside. All interior drainage systems do is route the water into your basement them back out via the sump pump. Inside drainage systems are practical when your house sits on a high water table (as in my case)or is below sea level. With interior drainage systems you are more prone to termites and radon gas getting into your home. Since I will be going with an interior drainage system I plan on monitoring the radon levels in my home. (c) Where practical check you walls for leaks. Seal all cracks with hydrolic cement or something similar. Below are the companies that I have met with over the years and my notes on each company. Most of them are bad and one is good. ValueDry - definitely one of the more expensive waterproofing companies. The first time I met with them was in 2008 for both homes. The reps were very informative and polite. When I called again this year (2010) the sales manager said that I could email him some questions since they had come out to see my primary home in NY already. He emailed me back a quote (still expensive) and told me that I had three days to consider (most of the other companies give you 30 days). When I emailed him back a few days later with another question he told me that since the three days has passed the "special price" that I had received was no longer any good! NOTE: turns out company is not licensed in the county of NY where I live. Sounds like the company didn't really want my business. American A-1 - my first time interviewing them. Read allot of good reviews about them on web. Checked references and the references were good. Had a good product at a decent price. Salesman was nice but was probably new on the job and not very knowledgeable. Tried to "con" me into buying stuff that I didn't really need. Really did not know his stuff. Tried to telll me that he had to drill a hole in my foundation BEFORE he could quote me a price and BEFORE we signed a contract. Guys who know their stuff will be able to look at the foundation near the floor and tell you what kind of foundation you have. I told him he could not just drill my floor BEFORE we agree on terms. So the deal was off. NOTE: turns out that American A-1 is under a company is not licensed to do work in the county of NY where I live. They told me that they were. American Dry Basement Systems - definitely has some of the most rude salesmen of all the companies that I have ecountered. My first experience with them was in 2008 in my home in NY. This guy was busy "bragging" about how great the company is but didn't want to leave us any references OR literature. He thought that since he lived in the area that it would be an easy sell. I tried to ask him questions and basically his answers did not make any sense. When I tried to point this out to him he talked all over me. Salesman didn't seem to knowledgeable when I asked him certain questions. Since I didn't have any work done in the basement in 2008 and I called them again in 2010 and thought I would give them a second chance. This time I got a guy that got rude with me over the phone. ADBM, if you are reading this you definitely need to send your guys back to school to learn how to talk to people. NOTE: ADBM is not licensed to do work in county of NY where I live. They told me they were. Vulcan - "The bigboys on the block" that have been around for years. So, since you have been around since 1949 why do you only offer only a 10 year guarantee when the other companies that have not been around as long as you offer 25 years or more? Price came in way less than the other competitors. Is it because your company offers a different kind of conduit for the water (polyethylene) which cost less is not as strong as PVC pipes? Salesman was also prone to bragging. Could not give me an answer why they only guarantee for 10 years. Also, why are you not a member of the National Association of WaterProofers and Structural Repair Contractors. I couldn't get a straight answer on this either. Salesman didn't seem too knowledgeable. Most states require a dedicated line for the sump pump. Salesman who claims to have been in the game for a long time did not know this! Mid-Atlantic - met with them back in 2003. Salesman was very nice but when he saw that we had a finished basement (one part is a office, the other part is a living room area. we also have a tiled floor) the look on his face was "man, is your basement going to get jacked up by the time that we get done with it". He was very honest in telling us that the area would really get messed up with the jack hammering and everything else that had to be done. I believe he quoted me a price of $12,000 back then to do two walls. Good thing I didn't have it done then! Why? (a) that was during the housing boom when prices for everything concerning a home was much more expensive so quotes for waterproofing was also more expensive back then also (b) if I only had two walls done I would have had to call them back to do the other two walls years later because now my entire basement floods in comparison to just one section of the basement. 1st Quality Basements Systems - meet with this salesman about my home in NJ back in 2007 or 2008. Very courteous and professional. I believe he quoted me a price that I thought was too high for me to pay for an investment property that I was already loosing money on (might have been $7000). Ended up just putting a sump pump in the basement. Still have a water problem just not as bad. If I ever do have to waterproof this house I would find this person's business card and contact him. This company is part of Basement Systems Inc which the below company is also a part of. They are totally independent of each other. Basement Systems of New York - very good experience so far. The salesman was very knowledgeable. I met with them a few days ago concerning my home in NY. The salesman broke everything down to me in simple terms that I could understand (now I know the difference between monolithic and two slab foundations). Waiting to hear back from them on a quote. If the numbers add up I will go with this company. Note: all of the companies that were not licensed in the part of NY where I lived wanted to charge me MORE MONEY to do the job than companies that were licensed in NY. That seems real backwards to me. If anything, they should charge me LESS!!! I read a a good article on the Bob Vila website about basement leaks. It is attached below. It is definitely recommeded reading for anyone who wants to understand basement leaks. Feel free to email me with any questions at max4ever69@gmail.com Best, Max

go to your nearest historic district and start making friends. word of mouth is the best way to find out about craftsmen who do old-house-specific work. I would reinforce the caution to hurry and replace windows and at the very least, if you absolutely must - add on triple track storms while you seek a repair person. New windows will never be capable of outlasting or outperforming the old ones with proper care and storms no matter how hard a new vinyl replacement salesman screams otherwise. Finally, if you DO replace the old windows PLEASE let people know you have original sashes - do not let your replacement company break and toss them in the trash - I assure you that someone will absolutely pay you for them or you could be the bigger person and gift them to a person for reuse or gift them to a local salvage place. Even if someone doesn't reinstall the sash into a window, the glass itself can be reused in various ways - I use old discarded glass for picture framing since the wavy glass is so so so so so desirable to old house nuts like me.

I am going to get flamed considering how the responses have gone but.... Architecturally, it is really hard to make one type of building into another. Your roofline is such that it maybe hard to push into the Craftsman detail and feel. You, however, can still use traditional molding with for example "shaker" style interior trim which will complement the exterior. If you are drawn to French doors because of the mullions, they will look absolutely rediculous in a house where no other windows have mullions, IMHO.... Which means that you will have to update all windows with mullions. You see how one thing leads to another. Even so, you already have slider type for your bedroom windows and they can look awful with mullions. If you get French doors with one large glass in the center, then the look is minimally different from the sliders. You are only chosing to have the option of opening both doors. There is not enough space to have the French doors open into your room. So the windows will have to open out. Is there enough space outdoors to accomodate that? Look at the roofline. That is one thing you cannot do much about. Craftsman houses often had hipped roofs or gabled roofs with BIG eaves with decorative rafters. This makes the building substantial and anchorded down to the ground. These are the details that give the building their "feel" or certain look. Unfortunately, it is the small eaves on your house that you will have a hard time working with. Because of the small eaves, the house has more "colonial/fedealist" feel, if you were to pick a traditional architecture. I have seen 60s nondecript ranch houses with relatively low pitched roofs with large eaves which have been given craftsman detail with a degree of sucess. They often change out all of the windows, resided using cedar shakes on the upper part of the building in addition to lower level lap siding, and entire house trim etc. These houses have had "major" over haul that cost BIG bucks and they look it. Not just a few things here and there. All in all, from the exterior, the small vertical windows are such that they will be very difficult to transition the house into more traditional look from the exterior. One thing you may consider is to change those windows out with wider double hung windows. (Again, expensive..) I suggest you really play with the decorative pieces on the house by drawing or using architectural software and see how they look before spending money. I agree with your realtor that you will have easier time making a "stunning" modern house versus a "stunning" craftsman with the same amount of money spent. For the interior, you can trim with more "substantial" apearing/larger baseboard, window casings and moulding, which will result in a mixed contemporary/traditional feel. Shaker style goes well as a transitional architectural element. Often, people find the lack of trimwork in contemporary houses hard to live with. You can put more detailed trim that has a contemrary feel and not make it necessarly craftsman..... For example, firsthouse mp with the sliders, has very contemporary feel to his room but he uses shaker/craftsman molding style. Notice the matching mullions on his windows and sliders. Try to imagine his large kitchen window as a vertical slider, rather than two side by side double hung. It would not look good in that room.

UPDATE: Thank you so much for all of your comments and suggestions! My landlord has consulted with contractors, and is not willing to change any exterior appearance. ADUs are legal in our county, but but the county is not aware of this ADU. My landlord is concerned about potential increase in property tax and potential cost of county-required upgrades were the county to become aware. So, she is willing to give me the space in the front of the building, to knock down the wall between main room and current unfinished front of the building, move the stairs to the rear of the unfinished area (above washer and dryer). Also, willing to replace green door with a half French door (full glass). She is also willing to replace the existing a/c with another window, since the space exists in the cinder block. This is all assuming that the cost is reasonable. I am going to ask if recessed lights can also be added. Finishing the unfinished attic would be fantastic, because there is the potential for windows on all four sides. Of course, I would love French doors on the front of the building. Neither of these are options due to concerns regarding county regulations. Any suggestions regarding stair placement? (Water heater sits to the left of the washer and dryer). Weedyacres recommended rotating into the current living space. What would you think of rotating them over the washer and dryer? Where the bikes (in the photo) currently sit?