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  • About the Society

An independent study of America's basements.

Founded in 2026, the Healthy Basement Society conducts non-commercial, neighborhood-level research on basement moisture and foundation health across the United States.

  • Our Mission

Aggregated, anonymized data — never individual surveillance.

The Healthy Basement Society conducts independent neighborhood-level research on basement moisture and foundation health patterns across the United States. Our mission is to provide homeowners and professionals with actionable, aggregated data — while maintaining the highest standards of data privacy and research ethics.

1

Data Collection

Voluntary phone-based surveys with documented consent. No personal data stored on public platforms.

2

Anonymization

All individual responses stripped of PII before aggregation. Minimum thresholds prevent re-identification.

3

Aggregation

Data combined at county/ZIP level. Statistical summaries replace individual data points.

4

Publication

Advisory board reviews all public data releases. Standard disclaimers on every data visualization.

  • Timeline

The 2026 research program.

A condensed history of how the study expanded — and what we learned at each phase about responsible data collection.

  • 2026 Q1

Founding cohort

Pilot study launched across selected Midwestern counties. Consent script and anonymization protocol drafted with external counsel.

  • 2026 Q2

Methodology v1.0 published

First public methodology document. 12-county expansion. Advisory board convened with academic and industry members.

  • 2026 Q3

Multi-state coverage

Active coverage extending across multiple Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic states. Quarterly reporting cadence begins. ZIP-level aggregation introduced with floor-of-10 threshold.

  • 2026 Q3

Data Explorer launched

Public-facing search and aggregation tool. Independent privacy audit completed; report published in compliance hub.

  • 2026 Q4

Full-year aggregate

Methodology v2.0 in advisory review. Full 2026 annual research aggregate scheduled for publication at year-end.

  • Advisory Board

The people who review our work.

Our advisory board reviews methodology revisions, ethics decisions, and every public data release before publication.

EM

Dr. Elena Marin

Chair · Civil Engineering, Ohio State University

Leads methodology review. Specializes in residential foundation diagnostics.

JT

James Tabori, Esq.

Privacy Counsel · Independent

Reviews CCPA, TCPA, and federal compliance for every survey instrument and public release.

AP

Dr. Anand Patel

Statistician · Carnegie Mellon

Independent statistical review. Confidence intervals and aggregation thresholds.

  • Our Values

Five non-negotiables.

Written into the methodology before the first survey. Reviewed annually by the advisory board.

  • 01

Aggregate-only display

No row of public data corresponds to a single home or homeowner. Period.

  • 02

Documented consent

Every participant gives explicit verbal consent. Scripts and audit logs kept off public infrastructure.

  • 03

Floor-of-ten threshold

Geographies with fewer than 10 responses are not displayed at any granularity.

  • 04

Independent review

Advisory board reviews every public release. Statistical sign-off required for confidence intervals.

  • 05

Standard disclaimers

Every visualization carries the same disclaimer. No marketing copy edits to research findings.

Read the framework

Have a question for the research team?

Researchers, journalists, and partner organizations are welcome to reach out. We respond within five business days with documentation.

Contact the team