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Just looking for opinions. I am looking at building a retirement house. Any comments on advantages/disadvantages of a basement. Why not just build a 2 story out of the groung instead of a 1 level with basement?
Thanks
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Why not two stories + basement? I use mine for long term/infrequent use storage. Christmas decorations, yard care items in winter, etc.
*Without exception, all my foundation designs have 9 to 10 foot ceilings and are useable comfortable living spaces.Basements should not be built for storage space, that's why we have lawn sales.A properly designed and constructed concrete or masonry basement foundation is the most cost effective room of the house. To design a house without a useable foundation is a waste of paper.You recover half of your heating and cooling cost of the space from the ground.Gabe
*I always like to say "there's no replacement for a basement". Cheap square footage, great storage, easy access to all your mechanicals, easy to remodel into living space later if you choose to (and relatively cheap). If it's a retirement home you may want to consider the possibility of an elevator (really) by at least providing for it in the future (access mainly). You can put the laundry there also with a chute from the upper floor(s). Wouldn't even be a question in my book. Sam
*Gabe- Good point about the lawn sales.....Sam
*Please, please, incorporate at least two OUTSIDE entrances into the basement. If only one, make sure it has good access.Getting large things in and out of the basement is a major ordeal for some of us who bought existing homes with the basement door on the wrong end of the basement and far away from the utility room.Now I want to dig in for a door directly into the utility room and have to figure out a path for the french drain. Not fun.I really appreciate houses that have a walk out basement with both sliding glass door and a regular door into the utility room.
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There are a few more aspects of the economics/feasibility of building a basement:
The further north you go, the more feasible basements are. What I mean is that if your footings are 4' deep, you might as well go the extra ~5' and build a basement. On the other hand, the further south you go, the shallower the footings, and the less prevalent basements are.
Another consideration is site conditions. If there is a large amount of rock on site the expense of a basement goes up, and the economic feasibility goes down. Further, flat lots are less desirable for basements, since, for most folks, a walkout basement is preferable. Also, I understand that sties with expansive soils effect basement design/cost - although I have no experience with this last site condition.
Also consider that there is extra costs involved in the waterproofing necessary for a basement, vs. the damp proofing necessary for, say a crawl space home. Maybe $1,000 vs. $300?
Where I live, basements are less popular than, say, in the northern USA for at lease some of the above reasons. For example, our footers are only required to be 12" below grade. We simply build steep pitched rafter roofs with walk up attics to store our Christmas decorations and yard sale items.
Still, basements are gaining popularity and coming down in price now that poured concrete basements are becoming more readily available in my area.
Off topic, but what do you all think about the precast basements? Like for example, Superior Walls".
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I'm from the East Coast, very near the Dismal Swamp. (For years, the local slogan was "visit cheery Tidewater - see the Dismal Swamp!")
But I've never ever never seen a basement in that area that didn't have a rubber duck floating and bobbing across the floor.
That area (Portsmouth, VA - near Virginia Beach) was 3' above sea level and the only basements were "English basements" which aren't really basements at all.
Now, living in the Midwest, everything has a basement. Aren't Basements a regional thing? Or is that just my limited life-experience showing through?
Rose
*Basements in the south, with lots of clay soils, are really troublesome because the soil moves so much with water. Dallas this summer had articles about people watering their foundations to keep the soil from shrinking. Then, expansion pushes things around. There, slabs on a good gravel base makes the best sense.Along the coast, or in swampy areas, water coming in is a problem. Or, as some posts in the past have mentioned, the whole house can actually float if the water table is high enough. Again, a good argument for slab or even post and crawl space.In the colder midwest, we always had basements because our furnaces were so big and the old ones were gravity fed. And then we got used to them. They certainly make a fine place for woodworking tools....whoops! This isn't Knots, is it?In summary then, a basement is an excellent option for those places where it can be safely constructed. It gives a LOT of space without making the house hulk over the property. And for those with needs for messy projects, it is wonderful because the wife merely shuts the door and tells the guests, "Don't go there".
*Rose, isn't it "The Great Dismal Swamp"? Wouldn't want it confused with some other cheery spot on the planet. Joe H
*Oopsie. I think it is "The Great Dismal Swamp."You'd think a NATIVE of that area would know better. (like me!)Thanks for the well warranted correction.In Elementary school, we learned that fugitive slaves would hide out in the Great Dismal Swamp because it was the one place even the most hardened bounty hunters wouldn't enter. Hubby and I used to take a canoe ride down parts of the Elizabeth River a ways from the swamp and I remember there'd be snakes dropping out of the trees overhead. Thankfully, they never landed in the canoe. Point being - there's an awful lot of mean snakes in that area. Rose
*Good in case of tornados, but I'm not selling insurance. Also entrance-exit is a good point. My mother had a beautiful oak post and beam saltbox built a year or two before she died with a full basement, room for storage galore. And a narrow, steep set of beautiful oak stairs, no other access as it was all surrounded by fill and styrofoam insulation. Like a rock. Really hard to store anything larger than a drying rack down there.
*Interesting thread. Here in central Virginia there are some areas of shrink-swell soil. Are these the same as the expansive soils mentioned above? Here the crawlspace foundations seem to have the cracking problems, but basements, which are further into the ground, have less cracks.My money is go for the basement as long as you do not live in high water table areas (ex. Tidewater).Frank
*POST TO # 12Frank,Hi ya. Never heard the term shrink-swell so ... could be. Has to do w/ the take-up and release of water (wet/dry cycles).From what I understand, and I'm no soils engineer, there are a couple different types of expansive soils. Throughout So. Calif. anyway, it's a type called montmeliorite, though that's probably NOT the right spelling.Anyway, this interested me: >>Here the crawlspace foundations seem to have the cracking problems, but basements, which are further into the ground, have less cracks.<<With our local expansive soils here, my understanding is that if the footings are 2 feet deep into undisturbed, native soil - then the swelling is so minimal at that depth as to not be considered a problem. (Inside the footings we are mostly slab-on-grade in these parts - w/ a smattering of stem-wall crawlspace foundations).Which leads me to thinking that some of these crawlspace footings you mention just aren't going deep enough (obviously, the basements do).Here in California, the extra cost of the excavation is considered by most to be prohibitive, what with the extra equipment/labor, some areas have a lot of rock, etc. etc.Also if you move more than 100 yards of dirt, you gotta have another permit (grading) from a whole 'nother office - everything costs through the teeth out here. I went to ODU in Norfolk for 2 years, and Virginia is a WAAAAY less expensive place to live.Oh - one last thought re: crawlspace versus slab: After a couple decades of looking at both, I have observed that slab-on-grade appears to harbor fewer vermin (mice, cockroaches) than any other foundation. I never heard anybody talk about this before - can anyone add to or clarify that observation?Geo.
*Lived in California when the great drought of 76-77 ended with 29 straight days of rain. All these carpenter ants (we were told) came up through the slab and built tubes behind the cabinets, came flying out occasionally for several weeks. Exterminator said they were generally content to live in the dirt, but the soggy soil drove them to higher ground.Walk-out basement--cool in summer, warm in winter! Use dimple plastic membrane around the exterior to keep expansive soils from adhering to walls and lifting them when the soils freeze.If you use basements for bedrooms, you have to provide an escape window in each bedroom. You also need to consider radon gas mitigation in some parts of the country. Commercials on TV here say it's the second leading cause of lung cancer and radon testing is de rigueur when you buy a house inspection.
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Terry,
It would help to know more about yor site condition and location. The preference is yours, cost is the issue (or is it?).The variables are endless with regards to the two options you've suggested. If SOG is the norm where you're planning to build, go for it. If there isn't a norm, take your plan to an engineer or two(soils/structural) and get a recommendation. Have your builder do a cost analysis with the information from the engineers, the final decision is yours. As some others have inferred, basements tend to be regional, they're frowned upon in areas with excessively expansive soil and high water tables, and smiled upon in areas that enjoy stable soil and cold temperatures.
Do you need two levels? Would a really large ranch style home w/o a basement work? Have you considered a "garden level" or "partially exposed" foundation. Tri-level, multi-level?
Cockroaches are going to be far more interested in your flooring, countertop, and cabinet selections than in your choice of foundation. Mice however, will prefer a crawl space or basement over SOG.
The Machine
*Several good posts on this subject. It would have been helpful to know where this house was going to be built since this decision seems to depend heavily on the regional considerations. I personally love basements. Growing up in Southern Manitoba, it was th only cool place to be during the heat waves of 40C. However, I would tell anyone not to include a basement in any new house in the Northern Plains. Radon gas is just too prevalent in these areas and it can be avoided by not including a basement. If you are considering a basement, look into the levels of Radon gas in the area.
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Just looking for opinions. I am looking at building a retirement house. Any comments on advantages/disadvantages of a basement. Why not just build a 2 story out of the groung instead of a 1 level with basement?
Thanks
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I built my home (Atlanta, GA) on a slab and generally like it. A local realtor told me some people have more of a problem with bugs on a slab, but I don't get it. Something about them having nowhere else to go but into the house (no dark, damp crawlspace). A slab also has thermal mass, which can be beneficial if your home is oriented correctly (mine isn't). A concrete slab with steel framing: I think that's the ticket.