Who Has a Basement?

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The houses (new construction) we've been looking at in the Townsend/Middletown area are being built with basements. Which is odd, I thought, considering the obvious groundwater issues...But, houses around here in Richmond (new construction) are mostly going up without basements. I get all kinds of excuses as to why, but mostly it has to do with builders cost and experience level (so I'm told).

I grew up with a basement in Michigan and I swear my next house wil have one--even if its in Delaware.

Basements aren't uncommon in Kent County and even common in New Castle County. You should be able to get a basement no problem in the Middletown area. It's just down here in Sussex Co. that the water table is so high. This whole county is practically one giant coastal wetland.
 
Half of my house is underground (the 2 bedrooms, master bathroom, utility room) and it's supposed to help with the heating and cooling. Problem is, the genius who designed my house put the heating ducts inbetween the two floors, so all that hot air just rises up to the living room and kitchen, and we freeze at night in the bedroom. It's not really a basement per se, but it's underground, so I think it counts.

When I was a kid growing up in Texas, I always thought basements were fake. I never had one, and no one I knew had one. I was told it was because our soil is too hard, or because we have a layer of clay underneath.
 
I have a basement, a gameroom w/bar, a kitchen area which I use to brew beer and make wine and my garage. Oh, I also have a cold storage cellar.

I use all the space I have and spend the majority of my free time in these areas.

Salute! :mug:
 
My basement is a "Michigan Basement" or Stone Wall basement, and my water table is bit high. Combination means I have to have a working sump pump and it's still damp 98% of the year. It's pretty useless for anything but keeping a furnace and hater heater. I store some stuff on a table.

Most people around here have basements, except people with mobile homes who mostly build on slabs to save money. I've seen many places in KY without basements because the limestone is so close to the surface, or it's all clay.
 
I grew up in NW Ohio with a basement, moved to GA and had a "walk-in" basement (house built into the side of a hill), and now I'm back in Ohio and back to having a basement. Most houses we looked at when we moved back had basements, seems to be common around here. My mom's originally from Pensacola, FL and basements down there are non-existent.
 
I finished off 2/3 of my basement about 6 years ago. It was a great investment. It added 800 sq ft. and another bathroom. I didn't put in another bedroom because I would have had to add an egress window to provide a 2nd exit incase of a fire. I didn't feel like going through that hassle.

BTW, The bar now has a kegerator with tapper tower.







 
I'm in Utah, and so far almost every house I've lived in, as far as I can recall had a basement, often very BIG basement. We are in a desert here in this state, though and maybe that's why the ground's dry and the water table low, usually.
 
No basements on BonAir Mt.:( 24to 36 inches down and your on solid rock.

So I built my man cave above the garage. So heaven is 12 steps up, not down.:D
 
I grew up in Michigan and didn't know anyone who didn't have a basement.

Then I moved to Texas. No basements in my part of TX because of all the clay in the soil.

I miss my basement :(
 
There are houses in our area that have basements, very few, very old, very expensive houses. My husband's grandmothers house, downtown had a basement. Anything built after 1890 probably does not have a basement. We have no frost line, no high water table, few weather realted emergencies, lots of land, big yards & room to build as many square feet as you can afford on a single floor or two story if you so desire.
 
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