House with a basement

[WVH1977]

We are currently looking/drawing house plans for a new house. The land has a good roll to it. There are several nice spots for a walkout basement. We also have a few flat places to put a house without a basement. Does anyone on here have a house with a walkout basement and do you like it? Is it quite a bit cheaper than doing a regular two story? My thinking is heating and cooling a ranch with a basement will be substantially less than a two story house. Am I right in this thinking?

I have been told by both a mortgage lender and my builder that a basement even when finished is not counted as square footage living space when appraising the property. This is not too much of a concern since we have a good amount of cash to put down on the house. However, I don't want to go into a new house with a low appraisal.

We really want a ranch with a basement but could live with a two story also or just a big ranch. We will also need an in-law suite (which has to be on the first floor) and rooms for the kids so two masters are needed with two additional bedrooms. Just curious if anyone has gone through a similar process and which way you decided to go. So many details to think about especially when doing two master suites. We plan on living in this new house for a very long time so I want to get it as right as we can. Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[4570Man]

I’d guess you’re right about the heating cost. My basement stays pretty cool year round. Aside from that I must’ve missed the point of your post.

 

[2ndhalf]

I just moved from a house with a full-walkout basement to a smaller home with only a crawl space. Love my new, to me, house except for one thing that I absolutely hate; No basement.

I loved my basement for getting under things and fixing leaks plumbing issues etc. Trust me you will still have those with a new house if you plan to stay in it.

I loved my walk out basement because if you think about it; you store a lot of things in a basement and it was so nice just to back the trailer up to the walkout and just take it through the basement door. The only think I would have done differently, in hindsite, put in a double entry basement door so that I could pull a car or tractor etc. into the basement to work on it.

The walkout will add a few thousand to your cost because of extra footer, labor and door but worth it IMO.

 

[marchanna]

I致e always had houses with basements. The last two had walk-outs. Your appraisal should take into account all the features. Just make sure your insurance covers full replacement cost.

A nice thing about basements is, you don稚 have to worry about animals taking up residence underneath them. Bad thing is water. If you have a high water table or poor drainage you will want a good sump pump or a monolithic foundation.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

If the basement is finished, then it counts towards "living space" on the appraisal. If the basement is unfinished, then you are not allowed to count it's sq ft towards your house's appraised living space.

As far as I've known, it's always been that way.

I like basements. I like walk out basements even more.

 

[MossRoad]

You can't put bedrooms in a basement without egress windows or doors to the outside to provide fire entrance/exit. So lets say you put two bedrooms in the basement and they don't have egress entries, you can't count them as bedrooms. They can't be counted as living space. Walkouts are great. Just be sure to consider which direction they face. Facing north, no sun ever comes in except in early morning and late afternoon/evening in summer only. No winter sun. Facing east, sun comes in morning till noon. West, just the opposite. Facing south, you can get good sun inside during winter to warm things up, and if you plan decking, overhangs, etc... correctly, it'll be shaded in summer.

Personally, I'd never own a house without a basement. Don't know if that comes from being raised in a house with a bomb shelter or not, but I sure felt safe down there when the tornadoes were coming! :shocked:

We use ours mostly for storage and laundry. We have no ground water issues or dampness issues in our area due to sandy, well-drained soils. Ground water issues will be your biggest concern. A damp basement is a nasty basement.

 

[WVH1977]

If we do go with the basement, we were thinking about finishing it and having the kids rooms and our master suite down there with a big rec room in the middle and make it a daylight basement with sliding doors and windows. This would give my mother her own privacy upstairs. We are also considering putting all the rooms on the first floor and having an unfinished basement with a shop on one side.

As far as I have been told so far concerning the appraisal, when you finish a basement it will only appraise at about half the square foot cost as the living space above ground.

 

[WVH1977]

The daylight side of the basement will be facing south. We are also lucky to have good draining soil. Water issues should not be a problem.

 

[MossRoad]

Sounds nice! :thumbsup:

 

[goeduck]

I have owned and lived in each style. A house with a crawl space, a daylight basement and a full underground basement. My preference would be the daylight if it had accessable ceilings in the daylight. The daylight that I had was hard-lid in which case my preference would be a tall crawl space. I didn’t care for the full underground basement, seemed to always have a smell.

 

[4570Man]

Another plus to the somewhat heated basement is my hot water last a lot longer with the same size water heater than it did in the previous house with the lines running in the cold crawl space.

 

[Sigarms]

I have been told by both a mortgage lender and my builder that a basement even when finished is not counted as square footage living space when appraising the property.

I find that VERY hard to believe.

Edit - looked, seems like it's a mixed bag in Virginia.

That said, if you have a great conditioned basement and don't have it added on for taxes, guess you can't complain.

However, if you were ever to sell the house, I can't see a furnished walk out basement as nothing more than an additional feature that will help sell the home.

When my wife and I looked for a home together, we only had a couple of requirements, one being a basement. You don't know how hard they are to find in North Carolina LOL

If planning a home with a basement, always suggest you build a mechancial room.

 

[RalphVa]

Almost every house around here in rolling central Va has a walkout basement. Cool in summer: no AC needed in basement but cold in winter. We have ductless units down here and run them when we're in the basement in the winter.

Heating and cooling should be less for a basement house because of less roof area and part of the house down under.

Ralph

 

[Turbys_1700]

My grandfather built my current house in 1954 with a walk out basement unfinished with a garage door. My father built a house with a walk out basement and garage door in 1957.

I've owned one house with a crawl space. Personally, if I was building today, it would have a basement. To me the positives outweigh the negatives.

 

[Erik M]

If space is not a concern I would build on a slab with radiant heat in floor and avoid the whole basement issue. A heat pump or two can provide plenty of AC in the summer months.

Basements are a necessity for suburbanites who cannot afford the land for a ranch style home, but when one gets older, not needing to worry about stairs is an obvious plus.

As another has mentioned, finished basements don’t count in many real estate calculations of living space, and if you have any issues with ground water or even a broken pipe, all that stuff in your basement is a potential liability or loss.

Concrete costs plenty of money to purchase and place, so I would recommend building outbuildings instead of a basement if you have the space. I live in a 2400 sq ft two story country home built in 1912 on 10 acres that now has a basement added by a previous owner. But I also have recent 24’ x 24’ detached and a 28’ x 44’ detached two story garages, both heated and with water. Plus a 24’ x 24’ pole barn for storage. Nice to avoid hauling anything large or heavy down basement stairs.

Because of the age of the home, and the fact the shops are detached, my property taxes are only $1200 a year. It makes a large difference tax wise to have out buildings instead of an attached two car garage. Even a 4’ gap is enough, although my garages are 50 and 100’ from the house.

Suggest that you take a look at how property is assessed in your area as you consider what you will build. If you go with a basement, I would consider a walkout entrance on grade as a necessity.

 

[Jcoon]

I just put this modular in last fall, augaust of 17, I did all the work myself besides the concrete. Itç—´ not really any cheaper to build, cuz here we have to go down 4 for a frost protection anyways.

My last house was walk in basement also, I love this new house!

Plan is for a wrap around deck also as u can see from the board in place already.

Itç—´ fully insulated with r-10 insulation board, and the front stick wall is 2x8.

One thing I did, I recessed the foundation in 2 all the way around, so that my siding on the house is flush with the insulation board on the concrete walls, so that the 2 board does stick out, gives a better finish look and is easier to finish the insulation board with something later.

I heat with a coal boiler and I have 3 cast iron radiators in the basement, is a nice 73 down there.

 

[2ndhalf]

I just put this modular in last fall, augaust of 17, I did all the work myself besides the concrete. Itç—´ not really any cheaper to build, cuz here we have to go down 4 for a frost protection anyways.

My last house was walk in basement also, I love this new house!

Plan is for a wrap around deck also as u can see from the board in place already.

Itç—´ fully insulated with r-10 insulation board, and the front stick wall is 2x8.

One thing I did, I recessed the foundation in 2 all the way around, so that my siding on the house is flush with the insulation board on the concrete walls, so that the 2 board does stick out, gives a better finish look and is easier to finish the insulation board with something later.

I heat with a coil boiler and I have 3 cast iron radiators in the basement, is a nice 73 down there.

What modular company did you go with? We had an All American Modular and loved it. Not cheap but very well built. Yours doesn't look cheap either.

Also, interesting that your insulation board is on the outside of your foundation. Here in our county they require, I think the top four feet of the inside of the foundation to have insulated Wall board. Is that wall insulation required on the outside in NY?

Your doing yourself right on that walkout. That is going to be very nice!

 

[Jcoon]

We have a colony manufactured modular, I purchased it through Plattsburgh wholesale. It痴 code here for exterior insulation. And I prefer it anyways. I壇 rather have all the thermal mass of the concrete at room temp.

I致e got around 135,000 in the whole place, but that痴 all my work, if I would have paid contractors, it would of been north of 200,000

 

[WVH1977]

Thanks for all the responses so far. Me and the wife are really leaning towards a basement regardless of appraisal. It will give the kids a big place to romp around in.

A mechanical room will definitely be part of it. A friend of mine has a wood stove in his basement and I like the idea of doing that also.

We are still debating whether to put all the bedrooms and living area upstairs (probably around 2400 sqft) and leaving the basement unfinished with a mechanical room and shop area. This would increase the square footage quite a bit. We are still rather young but don't want to end up with too much house when we get to retirement. My wife's grandparents just went into a new living/retirement facility and have a huge 4000 sqft house that needs updating before they sell it. We have been thinking about a 1800 sqft ranch with daylight basement should be plenty of room for everybody.

 

[KennyG]

I had one house without a basement - didn't like it. Since then I've had three houses with conventional in ground basements and now have a walk-out. The current one is by far the best. My thoughts:

Plan for a full 8 foot ceiling in the basement with some type of suspended ceiling so you have easy access to the space under the floor. I have a finished drywall ceiling in part of my basement and wish it was all suspended. Design in an air exchange (heat recovery) ventilation system that will pull air out of the basement and put outside air into the upstairs. It will help with humidity issues when you aren't running the air conditioning. Put in a quality foundation drain system which, with a walkout, should be a gravity system. Mine could have been gravity but, for unknown reasons, they put in sump pumps. Also, try to put in the sewer system such that you can gravity drain everything. Because I'm on municipal sewer, I have to have an ejector pump pit in the basement for the bathroom.