There are many reasons you might think a room in your home is especially scary. The most common reasons to think a room is scary are issues with the structure, problems with the design, or even just social constructions that can make you more likely to think a specific room in your home is especially scary. Different people associate different rooms in their home with fear, which is exactly why it’s so interesting to look into these trends.

With a survey of 2,000 people in a variety of areas in the United States, there are some interesting answers to the question of the scariest room in the home. Fixing scary rooms in your home can be easier once you understand what people think the scariest room in the home is on average.

What Is the Scariest Room in Your Home?

So, what does the poll say? After surveying 2,000 homeowners across the United States, the results were clear: people tended to think the basement was the scariest room in the home, followed closely by the attic and distantly by the garage. Here are the numbers:

• 46%: Basement
• 32%: Attic
• 7%: Garage
• 6%: Bathroom
• 4%: Kitchen
• 3%: Bedroom
• 2%: Living Room 

As you can see, nearly a full half of people responded that they felt like the basement was the scariest room in the home. Altogether, 78% of people, or over three in four, answered either the basement or the attic. How can you make these rooms a little less scary? Here are a few ways to do just that.

• Fixing the Basement

One of the biggest reasons some people might think the basement is so scary is because of horror movies. That’s right: horror movies may have had a severe impact on why people think basements are so scary. After all, basements tend to be extremely scary-looking in horror movies, and they’ve become the backdrop to a variety of utterly terrifying scenes. However, even people who don’t particularly enjoy horror movies can experience fear due to the number of structural problems that tend to plague basements.

The answer to this basement problem tends to be renovation. Many people with a fear of the basement have basements that just don’t look great. These basements may have mold and mildew problems, a general lack of light, and even pest infestation concerns. If you’re able to get a basement repair expert in and fix these concerns, you can probably create a beautiful-looking basement.

• Fixing the Attic 

The second most-feared room in the home is the attic. The attic may inspire fear for many of the same reasons as the basement. Because attics tend to be a place where people don’t go very often, homeowners might see them as inherently more terrifying. This can be due to many of the same issues: a lack of structure, dampness and pest infestations, and darkness in the attic can make it seem less friendly.

As with the basement, attics often just need light renovation to become more of a welcoming place. You might just need some basic lights, better insulation, and structural reinforcements to turn your attic from a place you dread to go into a place that can really suit your needs. However, it’s always a good idea to talk to an expert first and foremost.
 

• Fixing the Garage 

Though the garage trails substantially behind the other two most prominent rooms, having less than a quarter of the votes the attic received, the garage is still the third scariest room, according to this poll. The garage is another place where people don’t regularly stay and a room that may be unfurnished in many homes. Plus, some people may have concerns about carbon monoxide poisoning because of idling cars in the garage.

The best way to make your garage less creepy is to think about how it looks. Is this a room that you’d be happy to spend time in or a room that you’d hate to spend the night in? Sometimes, all it needs is a nice floor and a coat of paint to really make the garage pop. It’s also a good idea to install carbon monoxide detectors in and around the garage to catch that problem early.

• Fixing the Rest of the Home

The bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and living room take up a combined 15% of the answers. This is a relatively small percentage, but it’s still interesting that these rooms were such a large portion of the answers. After all, chances are that you don’t really think about how creepy your living room is. The most probable answer to this conundrum is that it might be more about what’s going on inside those rooms in individual homes.

Although individual home problems are something that you’ll have to tackle on a person-to-person basis, it’s true that a few of these rooms, like the kitchen and bathroom, tend to have a lot of piping that can really cause home structural problems. If these are your concerns, you should have a home repair expert come out to do an inspection and reassure you.

Conclusion

There’s no single room in the home that everyone will find scary. However, if you do find a room scary, there’s a huge chance that it’s because of concerns that you can fix. Whether it’s through renovation or a simple home inspection, don’t skimp on fixing the problems that are making rooms in your home so scary