Regrets about your Foundation type?

[dave1949]

A walk-out basement is different from a regular basement in terms of how you might incorporate the floor space into your living area. Done well, there is no cheaper to build living space than a walk-out basement. This assumes you don't need to blast rock or some other site issue that would drive up costs.

Building costs for the basic shell are tied to the roof area and exterior perimeter wall length. That's true no matter how many or how few pricey "features" you put inside the house. A well-designed, usable basement cuts the required roof area and all its insulation, and perimeter wall lengths, in half compared to the same square footage over a crawlspace or slab on grade. The buried portions of a basement wall need no exterior siding, so that is less expensive than a framed exterior wall--which still needs a foundation no matter what.

Something to check your local codes and feelings on, bedrooms normally are required to have a window that can be used as an emergency exit in case of fire. A bedroom in the back section of a walk-out basement may not meet that requirement--assuming the window would be too small or non-existent. The rear basement section is an excellent area for utility and mechanical systems.

Our house is a walk-out basement with only the south side exposed and no second story. We chose that for energy efficiency reasons, retirement downsizing and single floor living. The energy strategy works in Maine, but may not translate well to S. Carolina. It's dry for eight years now. My only major regret is that I have no back porch to pee off of. :laughing: Seriously, it's funny how we normally think of front and back yards, and everything happens in our front yard.

 

[kidr]

check out Superior Walls, I wouldn't go any other way.

 

[EddieWalker]

I hate stairs and would do everything I could not to have them. If you have the space and you are building the basement for the extra living area/square footage.

The biggest reason for a basement is in the Northern parts of the country because of the depth required of the footings to support the house. You have to dig down below the frost line to solid soil that does not freeze. When the ground freezes, it expands. It's just like an ice cube in a tray that pops out of the tray. Since you have to dig down so far anyway, you have already spent the money for the walls. Adding a floor is a no brainer after that.

If you do not need to dig down that far, then it is a huge expense that most people do not want to spend the extra money on for rooms that do not have windows and can be kind of stuffy. Having to deal with exposed utilities and wall height also adds to the negative aspect of paying for a basement when it's not needed.

Since your site is on the side of a slope, it might make sense financially. I would really be sure of it because it is so much more money. Money that could be used to build a bigger or fancier house.

I like a slab foundation with nothing or very minimal utilities going under it. Most lines go through the attic and the walls. Cost to build is going the be the most affordable with the least long term issues. This is assuming that when comparing all foundation types, they are all built properly and to the highest standard.

The only lines I ran under the slab on my parents house where a hot and cold PEX water lines to their kitchen island, and the schedule 40 drain lines. I'm comfortable with them lasting forever.

Eddie

 

[HillStreet]

I built my house 5 years ago with full basement of 10 inch poured concrete walls on 24 inch footings with perimeter drains to daylight. Site prep included excavation and 12 inches of crushed stone for drainage. Very dry basement, no issues with seasonal melt and heavy rains. My house is about 1350 square feet with 2 car garage and my concrete costs (complete walls, footings, and floors) were $22,000. I enjoy my basement a lot and set up a nice workshop, wood stove, and TV.

Also had radon which required a vent system to exhaust the gas.

 

[USAFpj]

Since your site is on the side of a slope, it might make sense financially. I would really be sure of it because it is so much more money.

Eddie, there lies the issue- the acreage that I have will allow me to put a home either on a slope or on relatively flat ground. Makes my brain hurt just contemplating all of the possibilities:laughing:
The basement makes the most sense, but adding that $$ onto the mortgage makes me cringe...

 

[radioman]

IMHO, having a basement is very useful. Either as storage space or living or both along with utilities. Around here, basements are common and its expected to have utilities in the basement in a limited space. If you are putting a basement on a slope, water around here is the least of my concerns as long there is drainage pipes and stones around perimeter. I dont think you really need a sump pump on a slope - but its a good idea to install one anyways to monitor the water seepage. When digging in the slope, depending on the timing of the year, you might find the water table seepage or not and that would tell you how much prepping of the basement you need to do, but its always a good idea to seal/install drains, and add dimpled plastic sheets in dirt covered area.

I think you might be overthinking it , but its good think think of everything.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

When building our house we had a nice slope for a walkout basement. I love my basement and it is unfinished. At some point I my add a room but right now I love the open space.

The pictures are from a thread I had while building the house.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/106641-land-clearing-house-building.html?highlight=

 

[scouter16]

Depends, in NH they arent a requirement by code. You might have local code ie. city that requires or would like there install but not across the board. I believe Maine is the same way.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

A single story house without a basement, is a trailer... :laughing:

I would hate to live in a house without a basement. My last house was a split level, and one side of the split had a crawl space with 8 blocks high for the walls. What a waste of space, just a couple more rows of block would have created a nice basement. That was one of the reasons I moved and built my own house.

I have 8" poured basement walls, 9' high. The only thing I didn't do, that I should have, was put a drain pipe inside the foundation in addition to the outside drain. I have not had any moisture problems.

 

[Country Geek]

Not strictly basement related but I do have serious regrets about my foundation that I am working on fixing right now (the contractors are under those house as I type this).

When I built this house 15 years ago I did what is pretty typical in the southeast... an unconditioned crawlspace with foundation vents that are open the summer and closed in the winter, with fiberglass insulation between the floor joists. My HVAC equipment and ductwork is also in the crawlspace. It was a disaster. In the summer the warm humid air gets sucked into the crawlspace vents and condenses on the ductwork, plenums, and HVAC equipment. Mold and rust set in and it was a mess under there. Oh and critters would get into the crawlspace, especially in cold weather and tear up the insulation and ductwork, defecate, and even die down there. Raccoons and possums can figure out how to remove foundation vents!

For decades this type of foundation was conventional wisdom in the southeast. Now what's catching on is what I am doing... an encapusulated crawlspace. No foundation vents. Fiberglass insulation removed from the floor joists and replaced with foamboard insulation along the exterior walls of the crawlspace. Thick plastic laid down to cover the ground, and the plastic goes up the walls under the insulation board, and up the piers, to ensure a continuous seal. Then 1-2 HVAC vents into the crawlspace are added. So the crawlspace basically becomes a sealed part of the conditioned space of the house.

More on this here: http://crawlspaces.org/. I'm having this work done as part of my HVAC replacement.

I couldn't have done a basement if I had wanted to. Well I could have but it would have been very expensive because my property is pretty flat. Plus 10 feet down it's bedrock and that keeps the water from perking any further (just learned this during my geothermal install that is also ongoing).

 

[EddieWalker]

The point of having a basement for a workshop makes sense if you already have that space as part of your house, but if you where building brand new, couldn't you build a bigger, taller workshop for less money then the cost of adding a basement to a house that could be built on a slab foundation? My shop has 12 foot walls and having gone from doing all my woodworking in a garage with 8 foot walls all my life to this, it's like night and day how much nicer it is to have the height. Plus my shelves on the walls go up that high and after ten years, I still have open shelves where I haven't put anything.

Eddie

 

[HEC]

Our house in Conn was built in 1820, had a full basement and just rocks for the foundation. Dirt basement for the first 10 years I lived there. Put in a concrete slab floor, no plastic under it, never had any issues with water in the basement for the 30 years I was there. House was about 30 ft higher than the river that ran thru the back yard. Not sure why we never had any water issues, one of our neighbors, 2 houses down, had a "modern house" with a poured concrete foundation and he was always fighting water in the basement issues.

The reason for the plastic under the concrete is not so much to keep water out, as it is to cut down on the dampness coming through the concrete into your living space etc. .

 

[MoKelly]

I am a big believer in having a basement if the soil/water tables allow. The cost is not prohibitive and having a basement is quite convenient for all the mechanicals and storage even if you never intend to finish into living areas.

Proper preparation and leaking can be 100% avoided.

I'd always go with a basement.

MoKelly

 

[farmer2009]

The NRCS Web Soil Survey is a great place to find information on your ground. After playing with it you will figure out where a basement or footer is actually suitable.

 

[jk96]

As mentioned, it's great space for storage, mechanicals, and extra living space. An unfinished basement is also a great place to send the kids without worrying about what they're going to tear up. We can send them downstairs to play, bounce stuff off walls, etc. without the worry, and even better, without the noise.

 

[Bengineer]

I havent "gone" with a foundation type yet, but I've had various crawl/basement combinations in NC, mostly not so good. My take on the pros & cons of slab-on-grade vs basements is that a slab that is proud of the ground around it isn't ever going to have moisture problems from the groundwater. Basements can be dry, but require good design & construction detailing to remain so for decades. Interestingly, there is a blogpost today on basements at Green Building Advisor. GBA is a bit wonky and north-biased, but with vast amounts of good info on building energy efficient housing. I have no affiliation, it's just been some good reading for current thinking on energy-efficient housing

I'm with Eddie - If you have the land, slabs are cheaper to build and easier to keep dry, particularly in the south, as you won't need much to freeze-protect the foundation and there's plenty of moisture & clay. A slab on grade house will require space for the mechanicals & the HVAC ductwork inside the conditioned envelope, easily done at the planning stage. The worst option is an unconditioned, low crawl, which basically has no good qualities and is a PITA all around.