Basement Thread

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I've had basements in both houses I grew up in; it was good to have down in Cincinnati due to the risk of tornadoes.

I always thought tornadoes were an issue up til MO. Living in here has taught me how wrong thinking that was.

We use storm shelters in this neck of the woods. I guess they’re easier to install than it is to get a basement set.

[Vetalia]

I've had basements in both houses I grew up in; it was good to have down in Cincinnati due to the risk of tornadoes.

I always thought tornadoes were an issue up til MO. Living in here has taught me how wrong thinking that was.

We use storm shelters in this neck of the woods. I guess they’re easier to install than it is to get a basement set.

Storm shelters are much better than basements...a particularly severe tornado can easily breach the floor over the basement area via debris impact or even stripping of the floor overlying the basement whereas a dedicated storm shelter will be able to withstand virtually any tornado regardless of intensity if properly built. What is insanity to me is building homes with no basements on slab foundations in tornado-prone areas; the nightmare Jarrell, TX tornado hit these types of houses back in 1997 and it was literally unsurvivable above ground.

Fortunately I now live in NE Ohio where the worst we get is EF1 tornadoes. I was living no more than a few miles away from the F4 that hit Blue Ash and Montgomery in suburban Cincinnati back in April 1999.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I always thought tornadoes were an issue up til MO. Living in here has taught me how wrong thinking that was.

We use storm shelters in this neck of the woods. I guess they’re easier to install than it is to get a basement set.

Storm shelters are much better than basements...a particularly severe tornado can easily breach the floor over the basement area via debris impact or even stripping of the floor overlying the basement whereas a dedicated storm shelter will be able to withstand virtually any tornado regardless of intensity. What is insanity to me is building homes with no basements on slab foundations in tornado-prone areas.

Fortunately I now live in NE Ohio where the worst we get is EF1 tornadoes. I was living no more than a few miles away from the F4 that hit Blue Ash and Montgomery in suburban Cincinnati back in April 1999.

That’s what I’ve been told. But I guess that having a basement in such an emergency is better then nothing.

I’ve never seen nor heard one of those and I hope I never do. My father-in-law says they sound like freight trains barreling down towards you. The siren alone makes me freak out.

[Katganistan]

They are awesome in places that don't flood. The extra room in my parents' house was my internet den in years past, as well as a second tv room for when we wanted to watch something other than the parents.

It ended up being storage once my brother and I moved out but it had a small kitchen and half bath, and could be a MIL apartment since it also has its own entrance from the back.

[Nobel Hobos 2]

If I ever build my own house, it will be mostly underground for the coolness. I'm thinking one or two half-length shipping containers, buried in a slope with one end just peeking out (for a small window). Shipping containers are really cheap, but might not be strong enough to resist hydrostatic force and keep water out. I might have to cover them in concrete first.

Who am I kidding though, I can't afford land. If the house was stealthy enough, maybe I could squat on public land ..?

[Vetalia]

Storm shelters are much better than basements...a particularly severe tornado can easily breach the floor over the basement area via debris impact or even stripping of the floor overlying the basement whereas a dedicated storm shelter will be able to withstand virtually any tornado regardless of intensity. What is insanity to me is building homes with no basements on slab foundations in tornado-prone areas.

Fortunately I now live in NE Ohio where the worst we get is EF1 tornadoes. I was living no more than a few miles away from the F4 that hit Blue Ash and Montgomery in suburban Cincinnati back in April 1999.

That’s what I’ve been told. But I guess that having a basement in such an emergency is better then nothing.

I’ve never seen nor heard one of those and I hope I never do. My father-in-law says they sound like freight trains barreling down towards you. The siren alone makes me freak out.

A mass of freight trains sounds about right for the sound of a tornado based on the videos I've seen. Tornadoes also bring a raft of weird weather phenomena with them; I still remember one tornado warning in 1998 or so where my brother and I were sent down to the basement to take cover and I, being a disobedient 10 year old, went upstairs again where my mom was watching the storm pass and saw the winds bending the trees nearly in half and rain pouring down. The afternoon light during this storm had a greenish-yellow color rather than the darkening that you commonly associate with thunderstorms as the storm passed through. I haven't seen that kind of sky again since moving to an area where supercells are virtually nonexistent.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

That’s what I’ve been told. But I guess that having a basement in such an emergency is better then nothing.

I’ve never seen nor heard one of those and I hope I never do. My father-in-law says they sound like freight trains barreling down towards you. The siren alone makes me freak out.

A mass of freight trains sounds about right for the sound of a tornado based on the videos I've seen. Tornadoes also bring a raft of weird weather phenomena with them; I still remember one tornado warning in 1998 or so where my brother and I were sent down to the basement to take cover and I, being a disobedient 10 year old, went upstairs again where my mom was watching the storm pass and saw the winds bending the trees nearly in half and rain pouring down. The afternoon light during this storm had a greenish-yellow color rather than the darkening that you commonly associate with thunderstorms as the storm passed through. I haven't seen that kind of sky again since moving to an area where supercells are virtually nonexistent.

Oh, absolutely. The weather patterns produced by supercells are bizarre and ominous. That yellow green sky, the wind blows strangely. In some cases you can even hear a strange whistling.

But basements. Those aren’t a feature of many of the houses I lived in or visited back where I come from. Of course, that doesn’t mean basements aren’t a thing.

[The Sherpa Empire]

The house where I grew up had a basement that wasn't finished when we moved in, but my parents had it finished and turned into a TV room with a big screen TV. This was around 1990 when HD wasn't a thing yet and large TVs were much less common. When friends came over to visit, a lot of them would comment on the TV.

Where I have now, there is a basement that we can use for storage, but it has a separate entrance from the rest of the house, and it isn't finished.

[Forsher]

In the house I spent most of my life we called the garage "the basement"... and had semi converted it into a lounge (so instead of a bungalow on top of a double garage it was more like a proper two storey house). This is the closest I have got to being in a house with a basement... I don't think I've even visited one. (But, hey, it's NZ. We don't even insulate buildings so why would we build basements? In some cases we don't even bother with water proofing. Note... the water proofing thing is a scandal, but in a lot of the country it's a rare day that's not between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius so the absence of insulation really is a laziness thing.)

In terms of basements in other types of building? Well, it gets very confusing here. There are lots and lots of buildings which have multiple floors accessible from road level in Auckland. However, several floors in various uni buildings are referred to as basement levels... the library basement is probably the most basementy since you've always got to walk down some stairs to get into it.

[Red Roja]

We don't have basements in Florida.

Yeah, you do Read my OP.

[Mushet]

We're one of the few households in LA that have a basement, you have to access it from the outside.

[Nobel Hobos 2]

We're one of the few households in LA that have a basement, you have to access it from the outside.

A basement with its own front door is the best basement!

[Red Roja]

We're one of the few households in LA that have a basement, you have to access it from the outside.

LA as in Los Angeles or Louisiana?

[Noel]

Slept in one in Michigan for a couple years. The house was built on a slope so it had yard access. Really cool room, but nothing to write home about.

I'm curious now if it blocked much more noise than usual, because that woulda been useful and good.

This is my 100th post site-wide. Now I will self destruct. Thank you for hosting my postings!

[Red Roja]

Slept in one in Michigan for a couple years. The house was built on a slope so it had yard access. Really cool room, but nothing to write home about.

I'm curious now if it blocked much more noise than usual, because that woulda been useful and good.

This is my 100th post site-wide. Now I will self destruct. Thank you for hosting my postings!

Your post count is only 79.

[Mushet]

We're one of the few households in LA that have a basement, you have to access it from the outside.

LA as in Los Angeles or Louisiana?

Los Angeles.

[Mushet]

Slept in one in Michigan for a couple years. The house was built on a slope so it had yard access. Really cool room, but nothing to write home about.

I'm curious now if it blocked much more noise than usual, because that woulda been useful and good.

This is my 100th post site-wide. Now I will self destruct. Thank you for hosting my postings!

Your post count is only 79.

F7?

[Nobel Hobos 2]

Your post count is only 79.

F7?

Or their post count is in base-13 ... but for some reason they claim 100 in base-10 ... basement dwellers you can never be sure

[Grimmsland]

the Kitchen was in the basement of the house I grew up in. So plenty of time spent there.
Wasn't gloomy.. plenty of windows and eye shot to trees, flowers and a pasture. Always a nice breeze coming in too.

Guess it was a partial basement. Not a dungeon completely underground. Split-level.

[Gracot Sheland]

I live in Texas and I have never seen a residential basement in my life. The water table is high, the soil has too much clay, and the intense summer heat makes it expand and contract too much. Even basic slab foundations often don't hold up that well here. Basements are not impossible, they are just too expensive because they have to be reinforced the withstand the nature of Texas soil. That's why basements in Texas are mostly only found in large commercial buildings. Of course, residential basements being rare here doesn't mean that they don't exist here. Some new houses being built in the Dallas/Fort Worth area include basements and a few old houses in Houston have basements. A long time ago I read an article about a basketball player selling his mansion in Houston and it had a finished basement. It looked pretty nice judging by the pictures.

I guess basements can be nice for additional storage and judging by the what the OP said, they can be used like a small house within a house which sounds pretty cool. They just aren't that common here in Texas.

[HC Eredivisie]

My basement where I keep my bike and some stuff:

The sidewalk is just below the windows, the walls are just out of frame. I wouldn't use it for living though.