Basement Floors/Foundations (Fort Collins, Castle Rock: house, construction, area)

[Lewsterr]

I noticed when house-hunting in Fort Collins periodically over the past year, that some of the basements have plywood floors. I've been told that they use wood due to the soil conditions. What percentage of homes have wood flooring in the basement, and what are the drawbacks, if any, of owning such a home?

[bproven]

I have personally never seen this in FC, but I was/am looking at homes built from the 50s-70s. I've looked at probably 40 homes in the past 6-12 months and if a basement was present it was concrete wall/floor. Are these possibly homes that were built at the turn of the century or early in this century? Not knowing much about construction in this era maybe that was common(?)

Another possibility is that this is not actually a basement, but a "modified" crawlspace where the owner dug out under the house and made a pseudo storage area. I saw one house like this built in the 50s. It was originally a crawl space with garage access and one of the previous owners dug it out and turned it into an expanded storage area - you could actually standup in it. Interesting. Either way I would think unless its a very old home it was probably an owner mod and is not code (or possibly safe/good idea to use for anything but a crawl space(?). Interesting if others have seen this...

[Lewsterr]

These homes that have wood flooring are, at most, 10 years old. I understand that some areas have very soft soil (there's a special name for it, but I don't recall what it is). Anyway, I am told that this soil may cause the foundation to shift, so they use small stilts in the ground, and build the house on the stilts. There's a fan under the subflooring that needs to run all the time to prevent moisture from accumulating and causing mold. Otherwise, I am told that these homes are no more of a problem than those with a concrete foundation. I have also seen this in Castle Rock.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by Lewsterr

I noticed when house-hunting in Fort Collins periodically over the past year, that some of the basements have plywood floors. I've been told that they use wood due to the soil conditions. What percentage of homes have wood flooring in the basement, and what are the drawbacks, if any, of owning such a home?

do a search in the colorado general forums. I have gone into a great deal of detail concerning this condition, as well as other conditions regarding foundation stuffs