01Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Use ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Healthy Basement Society ("HBS," "we," "us," or "our") governing your access to and use of the website at healthybasementsociety.org (the "Site") and any related services, content, datasets, and reports (collectively, the "Services"). By accessing or using the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

02Eligibility

You must be at least eighteen (18) years of age, or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, to use the Services. By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you meet this requirement and that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms. If you are using the Services on behalf of an organization, you represent that you are authorized to bind that organization to these Terms.

03Permitted & Prohibited Use

Permitted

You may access the Services for lawful, personal, educational, journalistic, academic, and non-commercial research purposes. You may quote and cite published findings with attribution to "Healthy Basement Society" and a link back to the Site.

Prohibited

You agree not to:

• scrape, harvest, or systematically extract data from the Site beyond reasonable, good-faith automated retrieval that respects robots.txt and rate limits;
• attempt to re-identify individuals from aggregated data, or combine aggregated data with other datasets in a manner reasonably likely to enable re-identification;
• misrepresent HBS findings, alter visualizations to suggest different conclusions, or remove standard disclaimers when reproducing content;
• upload viruses, malware, or content that infringes intellectual-property or privacy rights;
• interfere with the Site's security or operation, including by probing, scanning, or testing vulnerabilities without authorization;
• use the Services to harass, defame, threaten, or solicit any person;
• use HBS content for political advertising or to mislead consumers about the source of any product or service;
• frame, mirror, or otherwise present the Services in a manner that misrepresents affiliation or endorsement.

04Research Data License

Aggregated research findings, charts, and report PDFs published on the Site are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license unless a more permissive license is specifically indicated. You must attribute the Healthy Basement Society and provide a link to the source page or report when reproducing or adapting findings. Commercial use requires a separate written license; contact [email protected].

Raw aggregated datasets (CSV exports) are available to qualified researchers under a non-commercial research license that prohibits attempts to re-identify individuals, requires citation of the methodology document, and obligates licensees to report any inadvertent re-identification or data-quality concerns.

05Intellectual Property

The Site design, code, visual identity, written narrative, methodology documents, and all original creative content are the property of HBS or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other applicable laws. Except for the limited license granted under Section 4, no rights are granted by implication or otherwise. "Healthy Basement Society" and its logo are trademarks of HBS; you may not use them in a manner that suggests endorsement without prior written permission.

06User Submissions

If you submit feedback, suggestions, inquiries, or other content to HBS through the Services, you grant HBS a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable license to use, reproduce, and adapt the submission for the purpose of operating and improving the Services and the research program, subject to our Privacy Policy. Do not submit information that is confidential, that you do not have the right to share, or that contains third-party Personal Information.

07Disclaimers

The Services are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise. To the fullest extent permitted by law, HBS disclaims all warranties, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and accuracy of content.

The research findings on this Site are statistical aggregates and do not represent any individual property or homeowner. Findings are not professional engineering, medical, legal, real-estate, insurance, or financial advice. You should consult a qualified professional before making decisions about your home, foundation, basement, or any specific property based on information from the Site. HBS does not guarantee that any pattern observed in aggregate data applies to any individual home.

08Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall HBS or its officers, directors, employees, advisory-board members, contractors, or licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenues, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or related to your use of the Services, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, statute, or otherwise, even if HBS has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

HBS's total cumulative liability arising out of or related to these Terms or the Services shall not exceed one hundred United States dollars (USD $100). Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages; in such jurisdictions, HBS's liability is limited to the smallest extent permitted by law.

09Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless HBS and its officers, directors, employees, and contractors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to (a) your use or misuse of the Services, (b) your violation of these Terms, or (c) your violation of any law or third-party right. HBS reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense of any matter for which you are obligated to indemnify, in which case you agree to cooperate with HBS's defense.

10Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Services at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including violation of these Terms. Upon termination, the rights granted to you under these Terms will cease, but Sections 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 will survive.

11Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the District of Columbia, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. The federal and state courts located in the District of Columbia have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Services, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply to these Terms.

Before initiating formal proceedings, you agree to first attempt to resolve any dispute by contacting [email protected] and engaging in a good-faith informal negotiation for at least thirty (30) days.

12Changes to These Terms

HBS may modify these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be highlighted on the Site for at least 30 days before taking effect. Your continued use of the Services after the effective date of revised Terms constitutes acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Services.

13Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to [email protected] or to the mailing address listed on our contact page.