Why are there more crawl spaces than basements in the area?

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by hellob

I'm looking for a house in hemlock and the CS to basement ratio is like 80/20. Then I looked at listings outside of HF, still mostly CS. I asked about CS on the house thread but I thought I should ask people who live there... why are basements not the norm? I'm so surprised by this and the thought of living with a CS is not appealing.

Basements are not practical, b/c if we have a rainy season, you could be out a fortune....they flood, easily.
And I'm almost certain if you find a home with a basement, your insurance payments might be more, due to that reason.

I know someone who had to put 2 sump pumps in their basement....it flooded twice, and my parents home used to flood?

[jimazee]

...another common factor in parts of NEPA is that there is a lot of rock under ground, driving up building costs and effort, and often increasing the radon in the building. (I have such a basement and don't regret it...but it was well engineered, built, and we have been fortunate. A few houses ago, in NY state, we were not as fortunate and had some problems.)

Beware and be careful. Do your homework...

[Jo48]

We just bought in the area and have what might be called a high ranch. Stairs outside leading up to entrance, and more stairs inside leading up to main level. However, you can access the basement from the garage. There are windows in the basement which are about 3 or 4 ft. above ground level, so the basement is only partially underground. The house was built in 1993 and there are no sump pumps down there. It is completely finished (rugs, paneling).

We had a similar house on LI and it never flooded.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by Jo48

We just bought in the area and have what might be called a high ranch. Stairs outside leading up to entrance, and more stairs inside leading up to main level. However, you can access the basement from the garage. There are windows in the basement which are about 3 or 4 ft. above ground level, so the basement is only partially underground. The house was built in 1993 and there are no sump pumps down there. It is completely finished (rugs, paneling).

We had a similar house on LI and it never flooded.

I worked for a general contractor many, many years ago. There are so many ways that things can go wrong and leave homeowners with wet basements. Even when you pay to have a new home constructed; it does not mean that your basement will be dry. Of course regulations have changed since I worked construction in the late 1960's and early 70's.

Here is what I saw when I was in construction:

The contractor would have good intentions of putting in the proper French drain. But, during the digging of the trench, they would run into an enormous rock. Of course today we have better tools for dealing with large rocks - then we did not. So, then, the contractor would be faced with the moral dilemma of dealing with the (expensive) rock or maybe elevating the drain a few inches. If the drain is elevated for the rock you might not have proper drainage and you could end up with an area that fills in with sediment over the years.

Then you would also have the problem of tarring the outside of the below grade basement walls. The low man on the totem pole would usually get assigned that job. Possibly they spray the walls today? Back then it was applied with a brush. If every square inch was not covered in tar or if the concrete or cinder block was cold, wet or dirty; there could be gaps in that water protection. It is far easier to keep water out than to try to hold it back after it makes it to the other side of the wall.

Of course the best thing for people, having their homes built, is to be there while it is being constructed so you can keep a close eye on the construction. But some new home owners would not know what to look for.