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Roof ventilators defeat the desired soffit-to-ridge air flow. Your attic will be cooler if you eliminate them.
The thermostat for the ventilators is set very high. They're mostly their to keep the shingles from getting fried when the soffit-to-ridge system gets overwhelmed which happens often during our 95 degree and hotter summers.
The thermostat for the ventilators is set very high. They're mostly their to keep the shingles from getting fried when the soffit-to-ridge system gets overwhelmed which happens often during our 95 degree and hotter summers.
When the ventilator fans are not running the hot in-attic air rises and exits through the ridge vent. It is replaced by outdoor air drawn in through the (not running) ventilator openings, rather than through the soffit vents. That's why I wrote, "Roof ventilators defeat the desired soffit-to-ridge air flow." This was explained to me by the Baker Roof man when their company re-roofed my house. If your house has a ridge vent it should have many soffit vents ... and ... any existing gable vents or power ventilators should be blocked off or removed altogether.
I have two ventilators with openings of around 18 to 24 inches each. It's highly unlikely that hot air is going to passively choose to exit through those relatively small holes as opposed to the ridge vent which spans the entire length of the roof. If anything, the ventilator holes probably act as soffits themselves drawing cooler outside air in until the attic temperature gets hot enough to trip the thermostats that turn on their motors.
... the ventilator holes probably act as soffits themselves drawing cooler outside air in until the attic temperature gets hot enough to trip the thermostats that turn on their motors.
That's my point, exactly! The air current is in, through the ventilator holes, and out, through the ridge vent. As a consequence little or no air is drawn in through the soffit vents. Most of your roof area is deprived of cooling air.
I have no desire to argue the point. The information has been passed to you. Consult any roofing expert for confirmation (or otherwise). If I'm wrong it is because the Baker Roofing man misinformed me... but his explanation was convincing.
Setting aside the owner's pros/cons for a basement, whether they are common is a simple economic situation.
Builders do economic comparisons of the added selling-value of a basement, and added value of improving the chances of a sale, vs the additional construction cost.
If the land is hilly, then the house will need a much more complex (read co$tly) foundation to support the downhill portion. It's a small add to enclose and (partially or fully) finish a basement.
If the land is not that hilly, but is comparatively expensive, then the cost ratio of land to house changes the above assessment, where the builder must include more upgrades, bells, whistles, and fuzzy dice, (including basements), to lure buyers to come up with the payment.
If the land is flat, then the cost to add a basement includes not only the complex foundation, but also the cost to dig the hole, (and handle surrounding landscaping/site work).
Since land is mostly cheap, basements are not super common. If you wanted to look at houses with basements, find the hilly areas with the more expensive builders.
I am in a very nice area of downtown Durham close to Duke University so there is a strong demand to be able to live here. Obviously I have no obnoxious HOA to deal with.
That said, Durham's ordinance passed in 2007 or so allows for something called "accessory dwelling units" which is just fancy speak for being able to put in a complete stand alone apartment in your house. Alot of times you see these here downtown in the area above a garage, but also are popping up alot more in basement homes. There are 5 big requirements to having an accessory dwelling unit: It cannot be more than 30% of the total square footage of the house, and it must have its own entrance, own legal bedroom, own full bathroom, and own full kitchen with a full size oven/range. Thus, I permitted everything and it is all on the books. My apartment is ~700 sq feet and I get $1,000/month. I spent about $40,000 taking it from unfinished basement space to a fully functioning apartment, complete with granite counters, maple cabinets, pergo flooring, finished drywalled ceilings and walls, and a stamped concrete patio. Hell, I even poured a concrete driveway just for the apartment.
I had our house reappraised after and it added about $50,000 value. So I spent $40,000 on something that instantly made me $10,000 back, plus you collect $12,000/year in rent. Talk about major cash flow! The appraiser actually said if he did an income approach to value that the apartment would add closer to $80,000-$100,000 in value based on the rent it is bringing in, regardless of being in a basement or not. I don't know if Raleigh and other areas in the triangle have something similar, as Durham is much more progressive with trying to increase urban density without changing the footprint of the land. I know there is another poster on here that has an accessory dwelling unit here in downtown Durham as well that he rents out for a nice amount.
Quote:
Originally Posted by twingles
I am from Long Island, and basement apartments are always illegal. Period. That place is the kind of the illegal basement apartment, but having one doesn't add any value to your house unless the buyer is a complete fool.
I am in a very nice area of downtown Durham close to Duke University so there is a strong demand to be able to live here. Obviously I have no obnoxious HOA to deal with.
That said, Durham's ordinance passed in 2007 or so allows for something called "accessory dwelling units" which is just fancy speak for being able to put in a complete stand alone apartment in your house. Alot of times you see these here downtown in the area above a garage, but also are popping up alot more in basement homes. There are 5 big requirements to having an accessory dwelling unit: It cannot be more than 30% of the total square footage of the house, and it must have its own entrance, own legal bedroom, own full bathroom, and own full kitchen with a full size oven/range. Thus, I permitted everything and it is all on the books. My apartment is ~700 sq feet and I get $1,000/month. I spent about $40,000 taking it from unfinished basement space to a fully functioning apartment, complete with granite counters, maple cabinets, pergo flooring, finished drywalled ceilings and walls, and a stamped concrete patio. Hell, I even poured a concrete driveway just for the apartment.
I had our house reappraised after and it added about $50,000 value. So I spent $40,000 on something that instantly made me $10,000 back, plus you collect $12,000/year in rent. Talk about major cash flow! The appraiser actually said if he did an income approach to value that the apartment would add closer to $80,000-$100,000 in value based on the rent it is bringing in, regardless of being in a basement or not. I don't know if Raleigh and other areas in the triangle have something similar, as Durham is much more progressive with trying to increase urban density without changing the footprint of the land. I know there is another poster on here that has an accessory dwelling unit here in downtown Durham as well that he rents out for a nice amount.
Sounds like a good arrangement for you, but I feel very confident that the ones in freestanding garages appraise higher. Especially if you get really fancy and add in an elevator.
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Sounds like a good arrangement for you, but I feel very confident that the ones in freestanding garages appraise higher. Especially if you get really fancy and add in an elevator.
The other thing to consider is that appraisals of home value mean next to nothing unless your goal is to see how much money you can borrow against the property. The real value of a home is what you can sell it for, and a lot of folks see basements as a liability around here due to potential humidity/water issues, so whether their fears are founded or not the appraised value can mostly be ignored as fantasy. So even if a home "should" be worth $400k or whatever, if it stays on the market too long because people are leery of one of the features, the end result will probably be a sales price much lower than the "should" value.
Now if you're able (and willing) to receive rental income that's returning 25-30% the cost of the renovation per year, that's a different story, particularly if not the original owner of the home (who likely already took a bath on the cost of having a basement built into the home in the first place). If I were in that position I would probably milk that cow as long as I could.
I'm just not sure I could stand being the landlord for someone living directly underneath me, especially for the kind of folks that I imagine would choose a private basement over an apartment at the same rate (maybe I'm wrong but I think 99% of sane/safe people with decent credit could get a pretty decent apartment for $1k/mo and have other amenities along with it, including more than 700sqft, perhaps even their own garage space, so with no offense to freshjiv it makes me wonder what sort of folks would rent there long term). Then again supply and demand for any given location can vary, and I'm really not familiar with downtown Durham or the types that want to rent there. I'm guessing young partiers -- don't think I'd want them living below me but if you could keep good tenants then why not.
I've read that basements are rare in homes in NC (or parts of NC). I am particularly interested in the Triangle area and am wondering if this is the case there.
Basements aren't very common because most houses here in the Raleigh area generally have crawl spaces.
I miss the basement I had in Maryland because it was the perfect place for my electrical box, hot water heater and furnace. I also kept all my Christmas stuff down there neatly and safely out of the way.
Basements aren't very common because most houses here in the Raleigh area generally have crawl spaces.
I miss the basement I had in Maryland because it was the perfect place for my electrical box, hot water heater and furnace. I also kept all my Christmas stuff down there neatly and safely out of the way.
No, they're not common because it's excessively expensive and impractical to dig down that far when our frost line in the Triangle isn't that deep. In the north you have to dig down further for your footings, yielding more displaced earth.
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