Going underground

[MossRoad]

I've lived in 3 homes my entire life. All had basements. None were damp. Ever. My wife's childhood home had a damp basement. Her grandparents' house had damp basement. Her parents' later houses both had nice, dry basements.

So much depends on water table, soil types, drainage, construction, etc...

 

[deserteagle71]

I've lived in 3 homes my entire life. All had basements. None were damp. Ever. My wife's childhood home had a damp basement. Her grandparents' house had damp basement. Her parents' later houses both had nice, dry basements.

So much depends on water table, soil types, drainage, construction, etc...

^ This.

My place here in Nevada sits on a full basement, thick concrete walls and floor...don't remember the exact dimensions but it is something like 30' x 66'. Lived here over 30 years now and not a hint of moisture or dampness down there. Regardless of the outside temperature it never gets over 65 degrees in the summer and never drops below 45 degrees during the winter.

But that's here in the desert where the water table is 120+ feet down. I grew up in Pennsylvania in a house with a full basement and in wet years the basement walls would weep water.

 

[grsthegreat]

I have partial basement. That is to say 4’ underground rest above ground. Poured concrete. Than 2 coats of thoroughseal (concrete waterproofer used in swimming pools) than 1/4” Bituthane and primer. Covered this with 1” styrofoam to protect from rocks. Installed perk drain field. That was 29 years ago. Never any mildew, mold smell or moisture. Also installed radon mitigation system.

 

[MossRoad]

I have partial basement. That is to say 4’ underground rest above ground. Poured concrete. Than 2 coats of thoroughseal (concrete waterproofer used in swimming pools) than 1/4” Bituthane and primer. Covered this with 1” styrofoam to protect from rocks. Installed perk drain field. That was 29 years ago. Never any mildew, mold smell or moisture. Also installed radon mitigation system.

Our first house had a nice, dry basement, but if it rained really hard, the back block wall would weep in a few joints. I found the yard was graded towards the house. So I dug down along the outside block wall a few feet deep, spread waterproofing product on the blocks, stuck heavy plastic to the wall and made a U-shaped pocket with the plastic. I laid in some crushed stone, a perforated pipe in a sock, and angled it down towards the end and then 90'd away from the house out into the yard. Backfilled with crushed stone, and added an 8x8 as edging between the rock and lawn. Then I sank a couple perforated 55 gallon drums at the end of the pipe out in the yard and filled with gravel and put a sock over it. Poor man's dry well. Finally, I graded the lawn away from the 8x8 to form a natural dip that went around the house, so any water that would run towards the back of the house would run around it and out to the front. Anything that hit the side of the house would go down into the crushed rock and out to the dry well. Never had a drop of water in that basement again.

 

[MossRoad]

Drainage is important. I imagine it would be even more so in and underground house.

Completely underground I could not live in. I need to see daylight. A walkout buried on 3 sides I could do but I'd have light wells in the back part of the house.

 

[dstig1]

One of my friends built his home partially buried in a hillside and while it's nice, it always feels damp to me.

And we have a winner!

 

[CalG]

Every room in my house but one, has a window.
And I have a walk out basement.

Living without sun light is living less.

 

[dstig1]

This place is a few miles from me. Often will get a story in the paper when it goes up for sale every generation

Hobbit House for Rent | Wisconsin Rental

wihobbithouse.com

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I live about 40-50 miles North of the OP and you wouldn't even think of building an underground home in this part of Florida due to the water table, and while it is dry right now, the whole very little rainfall statement is unusual and I can assure him that will soon change as it will start raining daily as soon as someone cuts down some hay.

 

[Runner]

This company builds "earth-sheltered houses" in my area:

Terra-Dome Corporation - Earth Sheltered Housing

Build the home of your dreams with America's Leader in Earth Sheltered Construction.

www.terra-dome.com

Not completely underground, but dug into the hillside, with the south-facing side open for solar heat gain. Not sure if they still do it this way, but when I toured one of their sites back in the 80's, they used very large air inflated "balloons" as concrete forms. Pour the concrete walls, blow up the balloons inside, pour the roof, then let the air out of the balloons and remove them.

After the structure was cured, they waterproofed then covered it up with dirt. The trick to the design was put all habitable rooms along the open side and all storage, bathrooms, etc. on the back side. These things were mostly passive solar heated and you could easily supplement with a wood stove.

There is a whole subdivision of these homes built east of where I live.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Our first house had a nice, dry basement, but if it rained really hard, the back block wall would weep in a few joints. I found the yard was graded towards the house. So I dug down along the outside block wall a few feet deep, spread waterproofing product on the blocks, stuck heavy plastic to the wall and made a U-shaped pocket with the plastic. I laid in some crushed stone, a perforated pipe in a sock, and angled it down towards the end and then 90'd away from the house out into the yard. Backfilled with crushed stone, and added an 8x8 as edging between the rock and lawn. Then I sank a couple perforated 55 gallon drums at the end of the pipe out in the yard and filled with gravel and put a sock over it. Poor man's dry well. Finally, I graded the lawn away from the 8x8 to form a natural dip that went around the house, so any water that would run towards the back of the house would run around it and out to the front. Anything that hit the side of the house would go down into the crushed rock and out to the dry well. Never had a drop of water in that basement again.

Well done!! My house has a less than ideal drainage pattern as the front yard slopes towards the house. I made the issue even more dire by adding 25' more house right into the natural drainage path. It was lots of extra work but I think my drainage remediation has been a success. Historically, after lots of heavy rain our small basement used to get water in it. Since the addition and subsequent new drainage not a drop in the basement after an EXTREMELY wet late spring. Need to do a few finishing touches on the system this summer as soon as things dry up, but after watching it all spring I feel it has been a successful endeavor. It is always scary to deal with water because it is hard to keep it from doing it's thing. But with planning one can bend it to his will.

 

[MossRoad]

Well done!! My house has a less than ideal drainage pattern as the front yard slopes towards the house. I made the issue even more dire by adding 25' more house right into the natural drainage path. It was lots of extra work but I think my drainage remediation has been a success. Historically, after lots of heavy rain our small basement used to get water in it. Since the addition and subsequent new drainage not a drop in the basement after an EXTREMELY wet late spring. Need to do a few finishing touches on the system this summer as soon as things dry up, but after watching it all spring I feel it has been a successful endeavor. It is always scary to deal with water because it is hard to keep it from doing it's thing. But with planning one can bend it to his will.

My father bought some acreage with a partner and they developed a small 17 parcel subdivision. My dad's lot was downhill from half the neighborhood. Our yard was large and had lot of ivy beds running across it. As kids, we'd be running through the yard chasing a ball or whatever, and if we ran through an ivy bed, we'd trip in a shallow ditch. After many years of this, I asked dad why all the ivy beds were sunken like that? He said drainage. If you looked closely, the beds were designed to channel any surface water around the house and down hidden drains that emptied into the lake about 90' below our house.

They were about 8' wide and 6-10" deep. You'd never notice them for anything but the ivy and flower beds. Hidden protection.

 

[fidowanttobe]

I never wanted to live underground, but I always thought it would be cool to have a shop that was like the old military-quanset-buried-bunker type.