w/out basements, where do you store all your cra... uh... stuff? (San Antonio: insurance, new house)

[HappyTexan]

HOA's and their rules are a personal choice and not forced on people. They make their choice when they buy their home. To each his own.

[another_hot-day]

Originally Posted by three_fish

"you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have..."

I can't say I disagree with your post entirely, but we've put everything on "the scale" and the down-side doesn't out-weigh the other ups we've been considering. HOAs can be a HUGE pain in the *****, but at least you know what you're in for. (assuming you've done a bit of research beforehand).

I understand. i just personally don't get it. Meaning it's not for me.

[10scoachrick]

By the way, we found some chrome shelving units at Costco that have come in very handy at our current house. The are 4' wide X 18" deep, six shelves to each 6 foot unit and they come with wheels for easy moving. They are NSF(restaurant approved) so it's a bit of over-engineering with chrome 'backsplashes' to keep things in place. Used to be ~$65 for a five-shelf unit, now ~$75 for six shelves. Can be used as two 3ft tall units for workbenches, etc. A little pricey but pretty versatile if you need to move things about in order to get to other things you forgot you have.

Still gotta have that third car bay. Some of the skinniest garage spaces I've ever seen are in Avery Ranch!

[three_fish]

10scoach: Thanks... that sounds like a great option.

another_hot-day: I hear ya. I wasn't trying to be critical, just letting you know we'd taken it all into consideration. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that this particular HOA is as "decent" as others have told me. I'm going to want to put a small shed up in the back of the house, and according to the River Place HOA this is fine as long as you get permission and it doesn't exceed certain sq. ft etc... Let's hope they are "decent" with this request.

Later--

[HMS Pinafore]

Ah, the Texas basement quandry again. You may want to try searching the Austin Form regarding this subject. In the meantime here is some news: A Toll Brothers community off of 620 called "The Ridge at Alta Vista" is building many homes (lot grade pending) with full daylight basements! It's in Lakeway or at least on the edge of the Lakeway city limits in Travis county about 6 minutes from Lake Travis. My family and I are relocating to Austin from Atlanta and chose this neighborhood since they seem to be the only ones to offer a basement like we have in our Atlanta home. Yea, yea a 3rd garage or an large attic can be used for storage but if you have anything that is senstive to heat, the Texas summers will do them in. With a basement being about 2/3 undergrond, the temperature is somewhat constant. You can store away in confidence! For the entertainment factor, many new floorplans offer a game room upstairs, usually open to a 2 story family room. Nice design as long as no one else wants sleep and play (party) at the same time. A game room or a finished make-it-what-you-will room in the basement solves this by design with the default sound barrier. Sorry three_fish, these last few sentences are for those reading this post who are unfamilar the basement option.

The Lakeway area is very nice, with the new Galleria and such, excellent top-rated schools, so our transition to Texas should be a pleasant one.

There is an aggregate called Keystone Concrete in Georgetown, TX that claims to be the only ones in Texas to have knowledge and the skilled labor to correctly build in a basement for a home. Of course this only applies to new construction.

Good luck and hit my email if you have any other questions. Can't wait to move to Austin {:-)

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by HMS Pinafore

Ah, the Texas basement quandry again. You may want to try searching the Austin Form regarding this subject. In the meantime here is some news: A Toll Brothers community off of 620 called "The Ridge at Alta Vista" is building many homes (lot grade pending) with full daylight basements! It's in Lakeway or at least on the edge of the Lakeway city limits in Travis county about 6 minutes from Lake Travis. My family and I are relocating to Austin from Atlanta and chose this neighborhood since they seem to be the only ones to offer a basement like we have in our Atlanta home. Yea, yea a 3rd garage or an large attic can be used for storage but if you have anything that is senstive to heat, the Texas summers will do them in. With a basement being about 2/3 undergrond, the temperature is somewhat constant. You can store away in confidence! For the entertainment factor, many new floorplans offer a game room upstairs, usually open to a 2 story family room. Nice design as long as no one else wants sleep and play (party) at the same time. A game room or a finished make-it-what-you-will room in the basement solves this by design with the default sound barrier. Sorry three_fish, these last few sentences are for those reading this post who are unfamilar the basement option.

The Lakeway area is very nice, with the new Galleria and such, excellent top-rated schools, so our transition to Texas should be a pleasant one.

There is an aggregate called Keystone Concrete in Georgetown, TX that claims to be the only ones in Texas to have knowledge and the skilled labor to correctly build in a basement for a home. Of course this only applies to new construction.

Good luck and hit my email if you have any other questions. Can't wait to move to Austin {:-)

Hey fellow-soon-to-be-ex-Atlantan! Indeedy, our 1500 sq ft basement here in Sandy Springs will be sorely missed. Yeah, the thermal protection sure is handy during the hot summers. Our basement varies about 5 degrees year-round. I guess out in Avery Ranch, we'll have to settle for the garage(fortunately opposite the sunny side) as our catch-all area. Would be tough carrying the lawn mower all the way up to the game room! As we have prepared our house for sale, I realize that it is possible to keep a well-stocked workshop orderly...now, if I can just remember my own lesson!

Good luck with your move...we hope to be out there by the end of May.

[HMS Pinafore]

Hey 10scoach:

We're just a few miles up in Alpharetta. We've been house shopping this week (spring break) and found a beautiful home in Falcon Head. It had a nice pool, veranda style back porch, and backs to the Golf course for a great view! It had a 3rd car garage so I quickly rationalized that for all this, we could live without a basement! Besides we have too much junk anyway {:-). After much discussion the best value for us at this time in our lives was to make an offer on a basement home in the Ridge. Yes the additional unfinished 2K sqft of open space just begging to become a workshop, studio, etc. won out! We should be moved to Austin in July.

[three_fish]

What about tornados? Where do you go during a tornado warning?

Totally random comment, but man do I have some VIVID memories of being a little kid in Wisconsin and being so scared/freaked out when the whole family had to race down to our "scary" unfinished basement in the middle of the night during a tornado warning. That seemed to happen almost once a year. I was actually on a bus coming home from school in 8th grade and SAW the tornado that ultimately ended up killing the mother of one of my best friends.

Also, (even though I don't think I REALLY remember it, I've been told the story some many times I think I do) when I was three in Omaha, NE a tornado hit our neighborhood and when we got out of the basement we went outside to look around. We were about 3 houses from the top of a hill and although all the houses looked fine, as soon as we got to the top of the hill, ALL the other houses from the top down the other side were demolished. Crazy stuff.

Tornados are facinating but pretty damn scary.

Can't imagine where we're supposed to go without a basement.... 8-O

[atxcio]

What about tornados? Where do you go during a tornado warning?

We were always told that you should go to the smallest interior room on the lowest floor... no windows, presumably a strong part of the structure because it is small. Like an interior half bath or closet or something.

[Driftwood1]

Also bear in mind we've heard that if you're garage is so full of junk that you cant get your car into it, and the car happens to get hit with hail or storm damage parked in the drive, some ( not all) insurance companies will deny your claim, saying, in effect, if the car was at your residence it should have been garaged, so you're S.O.L

I say bring the mancave to TX! Heck they blast solid granite often times in the Northeast to get a basement, which is a heck of alot harder than limestone. Makes me wonder if slab on grade isnt just the cheapest way to throw up a house.... well , of course it is!
Cheers