Why aren't basements built in the south?

Thomas · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

Not sure why basement aren't built in the south,but on a day like today up here in the northeast..-16F and a windchill around -32..sure nice to putter in the basement,and set by the old woodstove. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Bird · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

Land is a little cheaper so building out is easier than up or down

Besides the basement vs. slab discussion, I've noticed another interesting trend, at least in the Dallas area. Two story homes were common long ago, but in the '60's and '70s, it seemed to be very rare to see new two story homes being built; everything was single story. Now there is new home construction going on everywhere in the area and it seems that most of them are two story houses.

And as in most metropolitan areas, we've always had lots of apartments, and until 20 years ago, most were either single or two story apartment complexes with 50 to 100 units. But of those under construction and the ones built in the last 15 years, it seems they're nearly all three story buildings with 300 to 1,000 units per complex.

Cost of land would be my uninformed assumption./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

JTD · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

Kyle, like most of the responses, it's quite expensive to add a basement. Our house is being built on a hillside so a walkout basement makes good sense. It's the full size of the the house and will be about 1400 sq ft finished and 800 sq ft unfinished or so. The walls are 10 1/2 ft high and very thick. Lots of poured concrete with a slab floor. Both the architect and the contractor asked if we wanted to make the unfinished portion a shelter from tornados but stated that to do it properly it would require a steel ceiling tied to the foundation. I declined since tornados of any significance are quite rare locally (one every 30 years or so). We have a few load bearing walls and a fairly big open space with a central fireplace. This is accomplished by 16 inch high trusses for the first floor. I've attached a photo of the current state of construction.

JTD · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

Here's a second photo of the trusses.

Dozernut · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

It sure must be nice to not have to worry about twisters. We have them go through quite often, sometimes in the middle of winter if a warm front comes in. Storm cellars and basements are really nice to duck into when momma nature gets angry. We have had small towns almost wiped off the map by some category four and five tornados. Nothing is more humbling than the power of nature unleashed.

TresCrows · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

In my next house I will return to the surface, it will have a master closet that will be "hardened" for use as a storm shelter. Nothing beats the solidity of a house on a concrete slab--no bounce, no creaking. Yes, I got the expensive no bounce joists, --they bounce when you walk on them, the trusses are even worse. My house is a walk out so the basement is very bright and airy compared to most of the "hole in the ground" type. A rambling ranch is so much nicer with bright rooms and no stairs. J

oldgrizzlybear · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

I live in NW Mississippi but grew up in NW Indiana. I like basements but down here almost all new construction is on a slab. Its cheaper. However, my house has a crawl space and if I was to build new I would have atleast a crawl space for these reasons: 1. I can get at the plumbing. 2. If a pipe breaks above the slab, the water will drain, My girl friend had a pipe break and ended up with almost 6 inches of water in her house (slab). The slab had settle in the middle and the water couldn't drain. She has had 2 floods for different reasons and now she pays high insurance premium. A slab would be more prone to flooding from natural causes also. I seen way too many barns, etc where they didn't raise the grade and the barns always have water when it rains. 3. The bugs, etc, are terrible down here, the added height with concrete walls help keep them out of the house.

I'm sold on either a craw space or basement

Larry

MossRoad · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

Cost of land would be my uninformed assumption

Could be one of the factors. My father was an architect. He showed me many times that a perfectly square two story house of balloon construction is the most efficient use of the building materials and labor. In his opinion, it was also the least attractive(my apoligies to anyone who lives in a square, two story in advance /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif ) I don't see why that theory couldn't be pushed to 3 stories.

Have you noticed many of the apartment complexes are using pre-fabbed sections now? They go up really fast. Lots of new hotels are like that too.

Egon · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

Put some balconies and verandas on that two or three story box and youve got one of the nicest looking houses going.

Egon

MossRoad · Jan 18, 2003

Re: Why aren\'t basements built in the south?

Put some balconies and verandas on that two or three story box and youve got one of the nicest looking houses going

Yep. There are so many little things that you can do to really dress up the place. But when faced with the bottom line, square cube is very cost effective.

The house I grew up in was pretty cool. My dad built it all himself, except for the huge masonry fireplace. Large ranch in the shape of a large Y. Most of it was slab, but there was a 20 X 20 reinforced concrete basement with 8 inches of pre stressed concrete for a ceiling. Came complete with counterbalanced trap door and ventilation pipes(can you say late 50's bomb shelter?). Bad part was after 35 years, the pipes broke. There was some sort of chemical reaction in the pipe metal with something in the concrete and they all sort of disolved. Had to jack hammer out the floors in several places. Ended up running the water pipes from the basement to the outside of the house underground, then underground around the house to the other side. Put them in insulated trenches. It was easier than jackhammering the entire slab. That's another reason dad told me to always build over a crawl space or basement.

Have you looked into the heated floors that use a two inch layer of thin set with heating tubes embedded. That would give you the firmness that you desire and keep your basement.

I like your idea of the re-inforced closet. I've seen some shows on those. Saw a guy build one under a mobile home. Tornado came. He grabbed his family and jumped in the trap door just as the tornado made his mobile home mobile again. His family was un harmed.