Basement Types

[buckeye]

As part of the new home process, I have come across a choice in basement construction I want to pass along to the group. Should we do poured-wall or block basement? Here in south-central Ohio, most are still block walls. But you get out of this area and the usage of poured-wall seems to skyrocket. What would you all recommend? Appreciate any and all input.

 

[Thomas]

I went w/the pour walls 22 years ago and still haven't had any troubles yet.
The reason why I didn't go w/the block walls do to the cement joints,for I seen over time the joints needed to be rejointed,also water ground water might leak thru.

I notice on the new foundation the block walls are insuliated...some in the affect call Zone-O-Lite???

It could be kinda hard to add window..door later on w/a pour wall compare to block wall also.

Have you contacted your insurance company about which would be best,for in this area insurance companies rather see a pour wall.

Good luck on your quest.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I once bought a house with block basement walls. I am much happier with the house that I built with poured walls.

Can you ask the local building inspector why so many people go for the block walls? If it is just a cost thing then go with what you like.

 

[gerard]

I think poured are superior period. The only reason many people go block is not a lot of masons/contractors have the forms which are fairly expensive. I've seen block walls cave in/shift/ crack a long the mortar joints etc. A good poured wall with rebar MAY develop cracks but your less likley to have the catastrophic failures you can with block. Another excellent option is either the pre cast concrete foundations which are "boomed" in place (1 day to set the foundation) and they have 6000psi concrete vs the 3000 you would get with a poured in place.

I would also consider the styrafoam forms which you set up, add rebar, then pour on site. The forms stay in place and provide insulation and you can actually do the foundation yourself if you're a do it yourselfer. Just need someone to pour the footing first.

 

[poorboy]

Buckeye, let us know what you find out. Wife is pushing me to build this year but there are so many things to find out about first. But I will have to say that with snow and two and four year olds running around ,any quiet heated basement would be nice.

 

[GlueGuy]

Funny you should ask.

We're in the process of exploring an earth-sheltered home, and there are several ways to those as well. Poured, block, and shotcrete.

In our area, by far the biggest expense is the labor. That shoots blocks right away, as they are very labor intensive.

The poured walls can go very quickly if the concrete contractor uses portable forms, but that's not always the case. If they have to build the forms, then you will spend as much on the forms as you will on the concrete and steel.

A new variation on the poured walls is to use the styrofoam forms. These stay in place after the pour and contribute to insualtion. Only problem I've seen is when the pour "blows out" the foam. That is one major mess.

I was talking this over with friend in the construction business, and he told me the newest method is to put up the steel (rebar) for a "standard" poured wall, and instead of pouring, they use shotcrete. No forms. I have never seen one of these, but he'd just finished doing an 18,000 sq ft. house (2 stories above ground, and the basement done the shotcrete way). He said the basement portion of this house only took two weeks.

 

[BobinCols]

We built our central Ohio ranch home in 1998. Our builder recommended poured walls and that's what we went with. Poured walls for us was about 35% more than block. They used the portable forms. They poured the footer 1 day, formed the next, poured the walls, and then removed the forms. Our walls are not smooth-they look like bricks on the inside and outside. The only complaint about poured walls I have is on a couple of sections when the forms were removed there are tiny indentions in the concrete. Either from air pockets or dirty forms in my opinion. Some decisions are hard to make. I have seen excellent block jobs. Poured walls are supposed to be better.

 

[HR_Mutt]

buckeye
Are you considering 9'+ walls? Well worth the extra $.
We're happy w/ poured, would go that way again.
regards
Mutt

 

[billboe]

Is this "shotcrete" stuff similar to the way the build some pools? Interesting concept...

 

[GlueGuy]

<font color=blue>Is this "shotcrete" stuff similar to the way the build some pools?</font color=blue>

I don't really know the whole story (yet), I just learned about the stuff a week or two ago. However, the stuff they spray on pools is called "gunite" (not sure about that spelling /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif). So I don't think it's the same. Shotcrete is literally concrete; just sprayed.