One we’re looking at now, has its main floor at 2200 sf, all one level, the rest is one floor above, say about 800 sf. Dead flat topo on the lot, no opportunity for walkout or even daylight in the basement.
So, the archy imagines a hybrid, slab-on-grade for about half of the main floor, and an 8/0 cellar under the half that has plumbing above and is under the stairwell, so we can run a flight down for access. We’ll have hydronic heat, PEX in the slab and PEX stapled up under the part that’s decked over the cellar. The cellar will be half mechanical room, half storage, with a little wine cellar.
So, what’s the savings here? I’m looking at 1000 sf on slab that would be on deck over a full hole otherwise. The slab’s a wash; there would be one on the cellar floor at about the same cost. Same for the 3/4 ply subfloor; we’ll have to glue or shoot ply to the slab for something to mount the strip hardwood finish on the floor. It looks as if the savings is in the mudsills, joists, rims, beams, and posts not used for a structural floor system, plus whatever we save by not excavating 1000 sf down 8 feet. All the perimeter foundation wall footage that is adjacent slab area can be 4 foot frostwall instead of 8/0 wall. My digger won’t like it, though. Instead of one big hole, all same depth, he will dig a smaller hole and a bunch of adjacent trenches. More layout time, more room for error.
Wow, just that excavation number is a significant one. Almost 300 cy of dirt in a 1000 sf x 8 ft hole. We don’t have anyplace to put it, so are having to pay to haul it off. Lessee, a compacted cy weighs about 2 tons, we have 600 tons we’re talking about here, that’s, what? thirty triaxle loads of dirt we don’t have to haul off? Am I gettin’ this part wrong?
Roughing out the lumber savings, we might have 0.8 lf of a TJI Pro 150 9-1/2″ joist per square foot, plus maybe 0.07 lf per sf of 9-1/2″ rim and twin 11-1/4 LVL beamstock, and for now we’ll ignore the posts. I’ll plug in the numbers.
For the foundation differences, I’ll have to figure up all the yardages both ways, and see what I get.
This archy may be on to something.
Edited 7/19/2004 11:10 pm ET by Bob Dylan
Edited 7/20/2004 8:52 am ET by Bob Dylan
Replies
I love my basement.....can't say enough about the space for numerous activities and storage and wine making and a little shop, and a little kitchen, and the laundry and winter clothes storage.........room for grandson the ride his tricycle.....etc....etc.
As to the dead flat site....please pick the house up out of the lot and relandscape the whole lot....first for drainage away from the house and second for a "not" dead flat look for your landscape.
Yup ....and pay to move out the rest.
IMHO.........................Iron Helix
Bob,
>>Wow, just that excavation number is a significant one. Almost 300 cy of dirt in a 2000 sf x 8 ft hole. We don't have anyplace to put it, so are having to pay to haul it off. Lessee, a compacted cy weighs about 2 tons, we have 600 tons we're talking about here, that's, what? thirty triaxle loads of dirt we don't have to haul off? Am I gettin' this part wrong?
16,000cuft = 593cuyd
600 yds of fill can do some serious landscaping on a flat lot, if you don't want a flat lot.
Around here that fill would be sold and they'd pay you for the priviledge of hauling it away.
A seriously large and landscaped window well can bring in daylight and give an emergency exit to an otherwise dark and drab basement
SamT.
Thanks for the correction. Actually, when I edited, I failed to correct myself. The basement part is more or less 1000 sf, and thus, we have perhaps 300 cy to get rid of.
Round these parts of the northern Adirondacks, "flat" when speaking of terrain is a relative term. We've actually got about 2 feet of fall across the total 90' width of the footprint. We will burn up a small amount of the cut by embanking the edges where the foundation and walls pokes out a little too much. But we will still haul off the rest.
But, with almost 4400 sf of total house footprint, which includes the heated area, the terraces and porch, plus the 3-car garage, we will be stripping over 120 cy of topsoil (figured at 9" depth) and looking for an onsite home for it. Some will go to dress the areas where we overdig and cut, the rest will go into some decorative landscape mounds along the driveway.
I am planning my own house to be built similar to this. One motivation is in-slab heat and tile throughout the slab portion. The basement is to get utilities out of the way and leave access to some of the power distribution, plumbing, etc. I also like having the washer, dryer, refrigerator, and anything else that vibrates on concrete. I don't have a location for the house yet, but would, on a relatively flat lot, dig a foot or two less out and distribute the fill around the property, raising the whole house by one or two feet. I plan to be careful to have the area under the slab properly compacted.
Almost 300 cy of dirt in a 1000 sf x 8 ft hole
Isn't that hole going to need to be excavated to around 1200 sf x 9' and some sort of ramp to get machinery in? That's only another 66 yards or so, and most of it goes back as back fill, but you still have to move it.
I'm just cyphering here, my goesintas could be wrong.
But then, I would probably recommended a crawlspace/basement combo.
If it were my home, I would pay extra for a full basement. Of course, I'm from New England, and that is what most home buyers like here. Just about everyone uses the space for something sooner or later.
has anyone ever been in empty basment?
or a basement that wasn't used for something?
don't think I have ever been in one that hasn't been used in some fashion or another be it storage, play room, finished, workshope etc..
Many have posted that the space would be used, but I think the real question is how much are you paying for x ft² of storage? If you have room on the site how much would a garage extension or outbuilding of some sort cost you?
I don't like my basement shop because I don't have duplicates of every tool so when I need to do something I usually have to spend 10 minutes carrying tools down the stairs, only to reverse the process later so I'm ready for work the next day. My basement is worth very little to me.
Jon Blakemore
I can't give you numbers, but in general a basement is cheap space, that is, it's a good value. In the Adirondacks you have to go down 4' or more anyway, so going down 8' adds very little cost. And you double your square footage. You loose space for a stairway, but gain for having utilities, and storage for all your stuff, in the basement. Besides more concrete you'll have to waterproof the basement walls, too, which you wouldn't do with just frost walls.
You also gain easy access to the floor joists, so running additional wiring, plumbing, etc. is a breeze.
You have to be in a spot where footing drains can work well if you want your basement dry.
I did a basement with ICF's and really love it.