Why don't houses have basements on the west coast?

[eflat]

How much does a basement cost? I thought it was a cheap way to essentially double the square footage of your house..

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: BigSmooth

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
The closest thing to a basement in my house is a little panel on the floor which you can open to get to pipes and junk. That's a crawl space, right?

Yes.
One little off-topic note: a home must either have a basement or a crawl space or it cannot qualify for any government-back mortgage financing, like FHA or VA.

Why is that?

The appraiser has to be able to inspect the foundation for any possible water or pest damage. If he can't make that inspection, the home won't fly. Thems the rules.

There has to be exceptions to that rule, because barely any homes in the Houston area have basements or crawlspaces.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Shiva112
houses in CO almost always have them.
houses in TX don't either due to flood prevention or it being too hard to drill down.

Floods are the reason, the clay is actually pretty easy to drill through.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Well, I'd say nearly 95-100% of the houses here in Utah have basements. If the cost is so much higher, I wonder why they continue to build them.

amish

Vic may be right on the resale, I really don't know much about that. But people build basements where it is feasable since it is so cheap to make. For example suppose you were building a house and you had a choice to add a second floor or to add a basement. Either way you get the same amount of space, and same number of rooms, but adding the basement costs about 75% less than adding the second floor. So people who need lots of space build basements since they are dirt cheap. But when you look at the house from the street they look tiny (no one can see the basement) compared to the same sized house if it had a second story. So I can easilly see why reselling the house is not as good with a basement.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: CitizenDoug
How much does a basement cost? I thought it was a cheap way to essentially double the square footage of your house..

No way. In the 2 houses my parents built the foundation was the most expensive part of the entire building.

amish

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

Originally posted by: CitizenDoug
How much does a basement cost? I thought it was a cheap way to essentially double the square footage of your house..

No way. In the 2 houses my parents built the foundation was the most expensive part of the entire building.

amish

All houses have foundations. Adding a basement doesn't mean your foundation costs change much.


Link: National average: $94.80 per square foot. Basement average: $2 to $3 per square foot. Basements are nearly free.

"For example, let?s say you are building a two-story home and the main floor has 1,200 square feet and the upper floor has 1,030 square feet (total of 2,230 square feet) and you plan to build the home in the Midwest using average (medium) priced materials with a basement foundation. Here is how you would calculate a ballpark price for the cost of building the home:
2,230 x $96.90 + 1,200 x $3 = $219,687"

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

Originally posted by: CitizenDoug
How much does a basement cost? I thought it was a cheap way to essentially double the square footage of your house..

No way. In the 2 houses my parents built the foundation was the most expensive part of the entire building.

amish

All houses have foundations. Adding a basement doesn't mean your foundation costs change much.

Sure it does. You have to add all the forming + an extra ~7 feet of concrete x ~2 feet thick + rebar around the entire circumference as well as any extra supports on the interior.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

All houses have foundations. Adding a basement doesn't mean your foundation costs change much.

Sure it does. You have to add all the forming + an extra ~7 feet of concrete x ~2 feet thick + rebar around the entire circumference as well as any extra supports on the interior.[/quote]
Read my edit please.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

All houses have foundations. Adding a basement doesn't mean your foundation costs change much.

Sure it does. You have to add all the forming + an extra ~7 feet of concrete x ~2 feet thick + rebar around the entire circumference as well as any extra supports on the interior.

Read my edit please.[/quote]

Well, then we're back to why don't they have basements on the West coast then, if they aren't expenive?

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Well, then we're back to why don't they have basements on the West coast then, if they aren't expenive?

I always assumed it was a combination of things: flooding, high water tables, social customs (ie they just aren't used to them, so they don't build them), earthquake regulations, etc.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
hehe

Well, I'd say nearly 95-100% of the houses here in Utah have basements. If the cost is so much higher, I wonder why they continue to build them.

amish

It's because of the frost-line issue that I mentioned before. Usually, the builder is required to build a deep foundation because of county or local codes regarding frost-line depth. Get a deep enough foundation and you have a basement.

 

[Ornery]

I'll just hazard a guess. I've noticed new homes around here are slapped together with the cheapest materials you can imagine. Junky windows, sinks, fixtures flooring, all junk. Doesn't seem to hurt sales though. Most houses are sold before they're even completed. Basically, there's no incentive for the builder to bother putting quality stuff in there. Consumers buy the houses either way. Might be the same situation out west. Why bother putting the effort into adding a basement, when the house is easily sold with or without it?

I agree that it doesn't cost much more to have a basement VS a crawl space, but there are after sale problems with basements that you don't have with the crawl space. Dampness is one. Cracked walls from settling is another. Might not be worth the potential hassle, since those problems are not cheap to fix.

 

[StageLeft]

People on west coast too dumb use stairs without break neck.

 

[Yax]

The real reason the Homes in CAL don't have basements is because we don't need to hide from the hurricanes or Tornados every year. Earthquakes only occur once a decade and most aren't that serious anyway.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01
The real reason the Homes in CAL don't have basements is because we don't need to hide from the hurricanes or Tornados every year. Earthquakes only occur once a decade and most aren't that serious anyway.

Nova scotia, Canada gets about zero earthquakes a millennium and dito for tornados and most houses have a basement! We get tornados in Alabama and few people have basements.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: pyonir
Most homes don't have them in Arizona because the "rock table (?)" is so shallow beneath the ground that it takes much heavier equipment to get through it. It isn't worth it. (at least that is what i have been told).

From what my geology prof explained, the Phx valley is filled with (God help my spelling on this) Caliche. This is some type of cement-like substance that makes the ground extremely hard. This is especially prevalent in the north valley.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
People on west coast too dumb use stairs without break neck.

People on the east coast are too stupid to read and write properly.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: cheapbidder01
The real reason the Homes in CAL don't have basements is because we don't need to hide from the hurricanes or Tornados every year. Earthquakes only occur once a decade and most aren't that serious anyway.

Nova scotia, Canada gets about zero earthquakes a millennium and dito for tornados and most houses have a basement! We get tornados in Alabama and few people have basements.

But I bet they have cold winters in Nova Scotia and warm ones in Alabama, right?

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: DeathByAnts

Originally posted by: Skoorb
People on west coast too dumb use stairs without break neck.

People on the east coast are too stupid to read and write properly.

Why you say that?

 

[amnesiac]

We have a big enough basement to remodel and rent out as a guest home :Q
<-- Lives in LA

Most people I know here have basements as well. SOme homes have bunkers (built during Cold War era)

 

[slycat]

exactly...i wanna be able to pile the occasional body below..

 

[Mrburns2007]

Most homes were I live have basements but california is bloody expensive so I can imagine that they would skip the basement. I would hate a home without a basement.

 

[eviltoon]

My house has a basement. I'm in Vancouver. That's pretty west coast.

 

[RossGr]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
The closest thing to a basement in my house is a little panel on the floor which you can open to get to pipes and junk. That's a crawl space, right?

Yes.
One little off-topic note: a home must either have a basement or a crawl space or it cannot qualify for any government-back mortgage financing, like FHA or VA.

Really? Check your facts, I am sitting on a slab and have a FHA loan.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: RossGr

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
The closest thing to a basement in my house is a little panel on the floor which you can open to get to pipes and junk. That's a crawl space, right?

Yes.
One little off-topic note: a home must either have a basement or a crawl space or it cannot qualify for any government-back mortgage financing, like FHA or VA.

Really? Check your facts, I am sitting on a slab and have a FHA loan.

Sigh... my mistake (did not have to check facts, just an oversight on my part). Obviously slabs are a different story. FHA does require that the appraiser note the presence of any cracking.