House with a basement

[MossRoad]

Plus, for those of us in earthquake country, a garage under the second story is likely to pancake.

What's the difference if its a garage space or a house space under a 2nd story? Don't they have 2 story houses there in earthquake country? Or no houses with 24x24 rooms in them?

 

[Travelover]

What's the difference if its a garage space or a house space under a 2nd story? Don't they have 2 story houses there in earthquake country? Or no houses with 24x24 rooms in them?

It has to do with what happens when you have a high lateral force. A first floor with multiple walls resists the lateral force, where as a big open space, particularly with big cut outs in the walls for the garage doors will just matchbox. But you are right, an open floor plan on the first floor is not good for quake resistance. When the next big one hits the PNW, I'd rather be in a ranch.

 

[aczlan]

Make the stairs wide enough that if, for some reason, you lose the ability to comfortably use stairs, you can put in a chair lift on the stairs. They are very nice when needed.

Hear ye, hear ye. My in-laws have a stair chair and it makes having a 2nd floor possible (joint issues make stairs painful for them).

Aaron Z

 

[MossRoad]

My in-laws had a tri-level house. 1st floor had garage, country kitchen and living room. They had either go UP half a flight of stairs or DOWN half a flight of stairs to get to any bedroom or bathroom. Laundry was a full flight down under the 1st floor. They built a new 1 floor house. Everything on 1st floor... except the laundry, which is in the 9' deep basement! MOM! What are you thinking? 25 years later, they are both having joint and stability issues. I recently built a gate across the basement steps so they don't fall down them when going out to the garage. There is a small closet in the garage that's back wall is against the 3rd bedroom closet. A stackable washer and dryer could easily be put in there, but they won't let us do it for them. They insist on going to the basement to do laundry. Scares us.

 

[teg]

We built with thoughts of finishing out one side of the basement... but have put finishing off the basement to another day. It's plumbed for a bathroom and I will get that "finished" hopefully this year. We've always had basements and would not want it any other way. The greatest Man Cave!!! I don't think finishing it is that good... I would make the first floor larger!

Dehumidifier is your friend... if you don't want it to smell (that's our case).

Stress to your builder, that if it cracks (because too much water in concrete) for 5 years, it's his dime to fill the cracks!!

We had planned ahead and add 3 pipes from the basement straight to the attic. We had them capped, I'm using one for Radon mitigation (fan piped from the basement floor) I would have them put in a 4" pipe into the ground. We have 3" pipe... doesn't matter either way. (look up the radon thread.)


Need to get newer photos!! these are a couple years old...
View attachment 539625 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View attachment 539626

 

[dougtrr2]

You mentioned putting a wood stove in the basement. Consider the path of the wood from the outside to the stove location. When you burn a lot of wood you realize how dirty it can actually be. We built out house with a walkout basement and the wood boiler room has a separate door directly to the outside. Regardless of whether you do full basement or walk out basement I would widen the stairways to 42". It makes getting things up and down a lot easier.

Doug in SW IA

 

[fidowanttobe]

I am in my 10th house, and the only one I have built. This one has a walk-out and I love it. HOWEVER, if I ever do it again, the only steps I will have is going to the "upstairs" above a garage, and the threshold at the entrance doors! Without a doubt, it will be slab on grade. One of the houses I had actually was built by a man in a wheelchair so it was a large ranch. Absolutely loved that house and I have no one to blame but me why I didn't build this one that way.

 

[zmountaineer]

I have always had walkout basements. One piece of advice I can give you that I haven't seen mentioned yet is to go with steel I-beams to really open up the basement. We went with 12" I-beams and the support posts are MUCH further apart than if we went with wood. It would have been something like every 6ft there would have been a support post. A ranch style house would probably be different than our 2 story. We also did 9ft basement walls.

 

[MossRoad]

I have always had walkout basements. One piece of advice I can give you that I haven't seen mentioned yet is to go with steel I-beams to really open up the basement. We went with 12" I-beams and the support posts are MUCH further apart than if we went with wood. It would have been something like every 6ft there would have been a support post. A ranch style house would probably be different than our 2 story. We also did 9ft basement walls.

View attachment 539644View attachment 539645

A good friend of mine and her husband had a modular home built for them. He is an engineer. So he figured out the size of steel I-beam he'd need to run the length of the entire house, and had the foundation built to support it. The entire basement is free of any posts! HUGE! Very nice thing to have. He coordinated delivery of the I-beam with delivery of the house, so the same crane set the beam and both halves of the house the same day. Worked out great!

 

[newbury]

<snip>Who really wants guests coming over, and how long do they stay?

Just my thoughts.

Feeling a little ant-social today?

When I add on to my house, I'm going to put in an over sized front door. I haven't shopped around to see what's available, but I've ordered enough doors to think that I can probably get one built any size I want. It's just a matter of what I can afford. I'm also thinking that I can make one 48 inches wide, which would be perfect!!!! I'm still just day dreaming, but I think it's a good dream.

SWMBO wants an addition to our retirement home, one of my preq's are doors wide enough to drive a BX1800 thru.

I've two houses with walk out basements.

The one in suburban Northern Virginia just walks out into a 12x6 cellar hole with 3' walls and stairs up. I've a porch above. It provides an excellent paint studio in the summer. I suspend Polycarbonate Roofing Panels underneath the porch, thus I've a dry place to paint "stuff" outside, yet easy access to my workshop in the basement.

The one in Mississippi walks out onto a 30x20(?) covered deck and a pool. Nice concept but we don't use the pool nor the basement much yet and I've 5,500 sq feet of workshops 100 yards away where all my tools are and I almost live.

I grew up with my Grandfather and Father all having basement and basement workshops. Beside the utility of a shop that was always cool (temp wise) due to the subsoil temps they always provided a good place to get away from the "womenfolk". The womenfolk got a sewing room/craft room. SWMBO has a 26x12 craft room in Mississippi in the main house and I've my "shops".

 

[zmountaineer]

A good friend of mine and her husband had a modular home built for them. He is an engineer. So he figured out the size of steel I-beam he'd need to run the length of the entire house, and had the foundation built to support it. The entire basement is free of any posts! HUGE! Very nice thing to have. He coordinated delivery of the I-beam with delivery of the house, so the same crane set the beam and both halves of the house the same day. Worked out great!

Ours is 2 posts on 60 ft length. The entire time of building the house they only had one post on the 40ft joint. They only put it in when they put the concrete floor in towards the end. I'm half tempted to cut out the one at 20ft. I'd probably better consult an engineer before I do, though....haha.

I have another 12" beam in there as well and a couple of the wood ones in areas I didn't care about it being open.

 

[kcflhrc]

I have owned a Ranch with walkout, a 2 story without walkout, and my current home is a 2 story with a finished walkout basement. I would do a Ranch with walkout if I was you.

 

[TheMan419]

For me a basement is necessary as we live in the land of tornadoes. Need that as a storm shelter. So if that is a concern there is your answer.

Our current home was built in 1874, so we have a minimal basement. Could not be converted into living space of any sort. Just enough for a root cellar or protection from a tornado. I would love to have a full basement again. That is trade off to live out in the country though.

Also storage. We miss having the basement for storage.

 

[kcflhrc]

You wont find many homes built in Kansas without a basement, whether it's a ranch, 2 story or what. Now a home built in 1874, that's a different story. But most of those aren't standing anymore anyway. Ours was built in 1970 on our 10 acre tract. 2 story with main level master and full finished basement. Way more house than we need but the price was right. We rarely even go upstairs where there is a full bath and 4 bedrooms. Just the 2 of us now

 

[MossRoad]

For me a basement is necessary as we live in the land of tornadoes. Need that as a storm shelter. So if that is a concern there is your answer.

Our current home was built in 1874, so we have a minimal basement. Could not be converted into living space of any sort. Just enough for a root cellar or protection from a tornado. I would love to have a full basement again. That is trade off to live out in the country though.

Also storage. We miss having the basement for storage.

About 30 years ago I worked with a woman who's husband had a small business with his sons putting in full basements under houses that had only crawl spaces or Michigan basements. He'd knock a hole in the side of the foundation just big enough for him to crawl in, then start filling metal pails with dirt and handing them out to the sons. As he got more room under there, they'd shove a conveyor under there to load the dirt out and up into their little dump truck. Eventually, he's start putting in cribbing and bracing, jack up the house, dig more, put in forms, pour footings and foundations, and eventually let the house down on the new basement. It was brutal work. Towards the end of his career in his late 60's, she said she had to literally oil him up (liniment oil) to get his joints moving, then pull him up to sitting and then out of bed. Poor little dude retired and years later he was sitting next to her in church one Sunday, leaned over on her and died. However, he worked hard, provided a good home and work for his boys, was a good husband and father and anytime I'd see them together, at church, in a store, etc... they were holding hands and smiling.

 

[EddieWalker]

About 30 years ago I worked with a woman who's husband had a small business with his sons putting in full basements under houses that had only crawl spaces or Michigan basements. He'd knock a hole in the side of the foundation just big enough for him to crawl in, then start filling metal pails with dirt and handing them out to the sons.

About 20 years ago my brother had a small house in Salt Lake City with only one bedroom. He hired a contractor to dig out a basement under it with two more bedrooms and a bathroom. They dug down under the foundation with a skid steer, then they worked there way under it with the skid steer. I don't know all the details, just that they had a long ramp heading down, under the house. It seemed to go quickly, and my brother was very happy with the results.

 

[goeduck]

Need to get newer photos!! these are a couple years old...
View attachment 539625 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View attachment 539626

Oh man, I thought I had a lot of porch. Very nice.

 

[goeduck]

. Poor little dude retired and years later he was sitting next to her in church one Sunday, leaned over on her and died

Not a bad way go when your time is up.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Cant imagine not having a basement. Wife and i was discussing a retirement home the other day, she said no basement because of steps. I said it will have a basement, with walkout. My last house had a crawl space under half. What a waste, 4 more rows of block it would have been useable space. The while time i lived there i dreamed of digging it out. I would absolutely hate a house on a slab.
Make the basement 9' minimum.

 

[MossRoad]

Not a bad way go when your time is up.

Not at all, I suppose. She went to live with her daughter after that. She was in mid 60s when I met her. Her job was to record in a book items coming in and going out of an advertising department, back before things were electronic. She'd be sitting there writing and just nod off. We'd let her go and about 10 minutes later, she'd slowly open her eyes, look slowly to both sides to see if anybody saw her, then keep on writing. She kept a brick on her desk. I asked her what it was for. She said hopefully you'll never have to find out! :laughing: