Why aren't basements built in the south?

[Bird]

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

<font color=blue>I like your idea of the re-inforced closet</font color=blue>

Brings bad some unpleasant memories. I've only seen one of those closets. While I was still on the volunteer fire department, we had a real freak tornado; only touched down briefly in one very small spot. A family of four, husband, wife, and two boys 8 to 12 years old, living in a nice double wide mobile (properly anchored). The tornado picked that home up, without touching a small shed/barn less than 50' from the house, and scattered the debris over about a 400 yard area. The husband was found in a creek bed about 150 yards behind where the house had been, the wife was in the woods about 50 yards farther across the creek, one of the boys was found sitting in the front yard not 50' from where the house had been and one was found in the pasture. The husband was dead when found, the other 3 were hospitalized with serious injuries, but recovered. And there was not a single piece of lumber found as big as a 3' long 1 x 2.

A new brick veneer home was built on the same site, but the most noticeable thing about it during construction was that big concrete closet.

 

[cisco]

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

Along the coast of South Carolina, there are no cellars. Well, I did see one in a pre-1850 house in downtown Charleston when I was going through my "live in a historic house" phase (which, it turns out, means always having something to repair) - 'cept this rock-walled (sailing ship ballast) cellar had about 1' of water over the floor - heck of a mold problem in the house. Anyhow, we don't have cellars, unless we want an in-door swimming pool. Sure would be neat to have a decent cellar though - could have used one during the Hugo hurricane (150 mph winds).

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

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

One factor might be building codes which require an emergency egress other than stairs. This is hard to do in a below grade basement. Country with a lot of hills is more suited to the daylight basement. Water table and run off is a strong factor also.

 

[Knight9]

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

Mossroad,

<font color=blue>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</font color=blue>

Whew...I don't fit that category! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif We managed a small bump out on the back of the house to keep it from being the least attractive!

Seriously though, I refer to our place as a "glorified box" and I wouldn't have it any other way. Easy to heat in the winter, simple to construct, and as Egon said, throw on a porch, deck and a few other items and it doesn't look too bad. Take a peek at the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/35-149063-NewLawnTwo.jpg>glorified box</A>.

Kevin

 

[MossRoad]

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

Very nice. Little touches make the difference, indeed. The peak over the center, the porch with the little wrap around roof by the garage, the attached garage and the bump out you described all take away the box look. Nice choice of colors, too. Beautiful home. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Alan L.]

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

I've thought of putting in a storm cellar or one of those reinforced closets. The storm cellar is enough trouble going to, that you pretty much decide not to. The reinforced closet I would go to most of the time, but when I go to bed I'm not in that closet so it wouldn't do any good. So I wonder whether a reinforced master bedroom would be the way to go. When bad weather is expected, bring out the cots and bed down the whole family in there. Of course its just me and the wife, but sometimes the grandkids are here.

A typical slab around here runs about $4 to $5 per square foot, depending on the price of concrete. The slab I poured 2 years ago for our metal building was $9600, for a 40' by 60'. This includes forms, labor, and everything. This was a post tension slab, one where they adjust some cables in it after various degrees of curing.

 

[BigDave]

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

<font color=blue> Whew...I don't fit that category! We managed a small bump out on the back of the house to keep it from being the least attractive! </font color=blue>

I'm in the same boat, dress the box up a little bit, and maybe it won't look like a box anymore. I've might have it worse since I got one of those cold dark damp holes underneath my box. Actually, it's heated, dry and well lit. We are in the process of finishing our basement. Whenever we get it finished, we will have added 900 sq ft of living space and an extra bathroom. I'll still have my work area in the unfinished portion of the basement: exposed beams, concrete, insulation, wires - just the way a workshop should look.

When I lived in Tennessee, where the land was inexpensive, we had crawl spaces under both old & new houses. In Texas we had concrete slabs for both one and even two story boxes. In Maryland full basements are the rule.

It kind of interesting, in Tennessee & Texas - brick houses are plentiful and not that expensive, but in Maryland a full brick house is considered cost prohibitive. In contrast, a full basement is too expensive in TN & TX, but standard issue in MD. Go figure. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

BTW - nice job on that glorified box.

 

[TresCrows]

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

There is a high end development not to far from me where the houses are ranch style and they have the large concrete walkin closets for the master bedroom.
They do the stupidist thing here in Kansaw. When I moved here and was looking at houses I was perplexed as to why you would bring the drain tile into the basement and then pump the water back out of the house with a big bilge pump. The house "salesman" told me these modern basements never flood. I said--yeah--sure--they don't. I headed down the stairs behind the salesman when he did an about face and headed back up saying not to go down there. Yep, it was full of water!!!, bilge pump broke. Yep, my walkout, flooded too, same reason. I now have a backup pump that has a back up battery. Trust me, I will never again live in a house no matter how nice not on a slab. In Houston they put the plumbing in the ceiling--hmmmm--we had a hard freeze, power went out--guess what--yep, pipes broke and ceiing fell in. I like that copper plumbing and I like it in the slab. Properly installed it will outlast the house without major repairs. J

 

[Knight9]

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

Big Dave,

<font color=blue> I've might have it worse since I got one of those cold dark damp holes underneath my box. Actually, it's heated, dry and well lit.</font color=blue>

I have one of those "basement things" too...and I wouldn't have it any other way. Great place to store rarely used items without taking up floor space or precious garage space. Our basement is well lit and dry also. Have fun finishing yours, it's on the scope for us too....but the $$ just aren't there right now. Hopefully next year.

Your house is very nice! We almost went with that deep country red/cranberry color that you have. It is a classic color and looks really sharp!

Kevin

 

[MossRoad]

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

Nice looking home /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif