Hoping to buy a house fall of 2019, have a question. (Indianapolis: for sale, insurance)

[marya521]

We are originally from Colorado, but moved here from Florida (lived there for 3 yrs), just moved to Indiana 3 months ago. We want to buy a house in the summer or fall of 2019. We noticed a lot of houses do not have basements, is there a reason why?
Lots of houses do have basements in Colorado, I love it because it gives a little extra room. Just wondering if that is a good idea here. We are going to be looking to buy something maybe on the east side of Lawrence, Fishers, McCordsville, Carmel or Noblesville. Thanks in advance for the info

[MortonR]

Reasons for a lack of a basement most likely:

1.) Cost

2.) Water table

I can't speak for current (new) construction, but many older homes in the area will have basements. Many parts of the area have heavy clay soil, so drainage is critical for times when there are heavy rains or snow melt, so expect to find a sump pump in these. If the water table is relatively high in an area the builder probably chose to avoid digging basements due to the difficulty and liability.

RM

[sheerbliss]

Basements tend to get wet here. It's not inevitable, though, I'm on clay soil and have a dry basement. It looks like it's had a few major repairs.

Most of the house has concrete around the perimeter; where it doesn't, I banked up the soil and planted grass seeds to the house would have positive drainage. I also had the gutters fixed and keep them cleaned out.

I love having a basement. I sleep there in the summer and start seedlings there in the winter.

[ruascott]

Just depends upon the price point and age of the home. Almost ever pre-war home in town is on a basement. And most newer homes above a certain price point are to.

If you are talking suburban track homes under $200k....very few are, most are on slabs because the was much cheaper for the mass builders.

[ColdAilment]

Basements are common in houses in other parts of the state, it's likely just something for the local area.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

I bet Indianapolis is like Muncie. Most of the houses that had basements were built before WW2 and the houses were heated by coal. The coal and the shovels and the furnace was kept in the basement. That is why those most of those old houses have basements. I think alot of those houses also had trouble with water standing in the basement after a rain, causing the house to smell like a sewer. That may be one reason why most houses are built without basements.

Seems like most houses built after WW2 did not have basements unless it was a 2 story house, and it seems like every 2 story house had a basement. That's the way I remember it anyways.

[indy_317]

The older homes had basements as stated above: Coal. My grandparents home had a separate room for coal storage in their basement. Many basements are at risk of flooding in central Indiana. In one of my environmental science courses, my instructor said that Indianapolis is like basin with the downtown area being the low point and the suburbs being higher in elevation. He said he'd never own a home with a basement "in Indianapolis" because of the risk of flooding. Of the five homes I've known with basements in the city (one far east-side, two Irvington area, one Broad Ripple, and one near east-side), only the one near Broad Ripple actually flooded. One in Irvington had a water intrusion issue, but never really flooded, but did get mold due to the dampness/humidity the seeping water caused.

I know of two suburban homes that have had flooded basements. One was in Avon, another near Geist. Both fairly new construction. The one in Geist likely flooded after three years of no issues due to a massive change in the surrounding lots. It was one of the first homes in the addition. When new homes are added, of course this means less bare ground to soak up water. Had the sump pump been working there might not have been an issue. The Avon house had a point just near the soil line where water was pooling and the flow direction was toward the house/window.

Basements are really only good if the soil has a lot of stone and sand. Another else isn't going to drain as well. We looked at two lots that are only about a mile apart. I witnessed the soil sampling with both (one was needed for a septic need). The difference was noticeable. One lot the samples were almost mud/mulch, like a bunch of trees and such had died over the centuries and just piled up. The other sample was sand and rocks. There are gravel pits nearby, but it showed me that soil can differ in just short distances.

I checked this lot after two days of massive rain. Zero water standing. Other lots just .5 miles away that were also for sale were flooded with about 1/5th or so of the total area under standing water. When they had the basement footings poured, we had a huge rain. My builder came up to see how progress was thinking it's be a mess. There wasn't any standing water, none. We came up after a rain and again, it looked like a beach with all the sand. The amount of sand was shocking to me, it was like we had purchased a lot in the desert that was masked by just a foot or so of actual soil.

[ImmerLernen]

So, as a potential buyer, would you say it's a safer bet to purchase a home that's been around for a while (say, 15-20-25 years) in a mature neighborhood? I would imagine if there were a basement flooding issue -- or even damp -- the problem would've revealed itself by now and been remedied...???

And when you're house-hunting, can you usually tell (smell, maybe) if the basement is damp? Would a normal professional inspection uncover any such problems?

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by ImmerLernen

So, as a potential buyer, would you say it's a safer bet to purchase a home that's been around for a while (say, 15-20-25 years) in a mature neighborhood? I would imagine if there were a basement flooding issue -- or even damp -- the problem would've revealed itself by now and been remedied...???

And when you're house-hunting, can you usually tell (smell, maybe) if the basement is damp? Would a normal professional inspection uncover any such problems?

Yes and yes, for the most part.

However, do your due diligence and find out if there have been any insurance claims against the address. Check with your insurance company and see if they can do any searches, as well as checking with the County or city yourself to see if any building permits have been pulled against the address.

I owned a relatively new house with a basement that had flooded prior to our purchase, but it was disclosed and we were aware of it. We had the basement remediated and then inspected by an industrial hygienist to be sure there was no mold or other nasty stuff in it. However, we didn't determine that the basement had flooded due to a poor design of the sump pump system until we had torrential rains. Being that the lot was heavy clay, water would not drain through the surface and into the ground - the area where the basement had been excavated was essentially a big "bucket". When the sump pump system failed to remove the water quickly enough in this situation, it started to back up into the basement. A quick response to the problem prevented any damage, but a subsequent redesign of the sump pump system eliminated the possibility of it happening again.

This would not prevent me form owning a home with a basement again, I'll just be far more diligent about checking things out in great detail would I do so.

RM

[ImmerLernen]

RM, you're awesome! You have been such a wealth of info. Can I take you house-hunting with me?