How come California homes have no basement? (Los Angeles, Long Beach: fit in, neighborhood)

[BreaOC]

Originally Posted by Donn2390

I'm a Californian with no basement, but came from south Dakota, where we had a basement. One room in the basement was where the coal was stored. It had one window high up, where the coal truck would back up and dump it's load down a chute. The next room was the boiler and the fruit storage and the laundry room.
The coal furnace was replaced with oil around 1945, the fruit storage was long since emptied because canning is a lost art.
I also remember basement houses. They were just the basement, with the foundation raising maybe 3 feet above ground. The floor joices and flooor were then installed, which was then covered with tarpaper, then tar. The only thing that stuck above foundation level was an entry door. Open the door and there were stairs leading down to the living quarters.
If you were lucky, and saved your money, you would someday be able to finish the house above. That sometimes took many years. I left that area in the mid 50's, so I have no idea if basement houses still exist. Good question. I'll check on it.....

Many of the larger towns and cities in the Dakotas made laws around that time period (the 50's) stating that home owners must either complete the main floor of their home or build a standard roof on top of their basement. I know of only one house in Bismarck ND that chose to only add the roof, which as you could imagine looked quite interesting!!!

[Cahatch]

STORAGE?? in the GARAGE... arghhhhhh 3 car garages are really only TWO car.. :P didn't even know what a basement was til I was grown... no wait.. there was a deep dark basement in the drugstore where my mom worked... OLD AND CREEPY AND DARK... I had nightmares... LOL

our realtor in WA laughs at me when we look at houses up there.. cause the first thing I wanna check out is the basement!! LOL he was shocked that CA homes had no basements... when we move a basement is a must!! can't wait... finished with a walkout preferred.. *big grin*.....

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by rubyskye

Yeah, it's for real. Why be like that? I bet there's alot of stuff you don't know that i do know and take for granted.
And weren't basements originally for the farmers in New England and used as root cellars?
But what do i know? i'm just a girl ... we don't often know stuff like this

Hi Ms. Ruby,
Here in Tennessee most root cellars are seperate from the house/basement. They are used for both food storage [because here in the south canning/preserving isnt a lost art] and as protection from tornados. Its quite convenient to have food stored in a place where you may be stuck for a while!

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by kitty3

Is it because of earthquakes or something?? Where the hell do you store all your 'stuff'??

we dont have cold or tornados.

attic, shed, and garage in that order

[rubyskye]

Oh, o.k. - interesting. Thanks. Tennessee. huh. I just assumed you lived in California. I drove through Tennessee once. It was beautiful but it felt haunted to me .... maybe too many bad stories about the south in my head. I don't mean to be insulting. Just all that heavy history .... course there's "bad" history everywhere. sigh.

[TribalCat]

Keeping cars in a garage? What an odd idea!! I've lived in California for most of my life, and we've never ever kept a car in the garage. Even now, walking around the neighborhood, the cars (and we have to have AT LEAST two per house!) are all parked in the driveways and in the streets. The garage doors that are open show they're all full of stuff. None of the houses I've lived in, in California, have had basements.

[McHopper]

I too came from South Dakota. When we moved to Austin, TX I was astounded that there were no basements. The realtor told me that the origin of basements was for areas that had coal furnaces where coal was shoveled down to the furnace from above.
Another good thing about basements is they offer protection from tornadoes, which are more scary and likely to occur than earthquakes.
Finished basements add a lot of nice living area to a home. Sloping lots with walk out basements increase a homes' value considerably.
I think another reason why it has not been a tradition to dig basements in the south is the type of soils and rock that were to hard to dig as easily as the good dirt of the midwest and northeast.
One reason you need to be wary of basements is that radon sickness in the midwest is a real concern, one that requires a radon inspection for all homes sold there. Radon is a cancer causing agent that comes from the soil and is especially dangerous for anyone who spends alot of time in a basement bedroom or family room.
Now that I live in CA, I HATE the fact that Californians have so much JUNK that they can't park their cars in their garages. The neighborhoods are so ugly with cars all parked outside and on the streets!
Get some storage organizers, install overhead shelving and GET RID of your junk so cars can park where they are meant to be parked! If you have too much stuff you can't fit it all in your home, you don't need it. JMHO

[Sorcerer68]

I hate clutter. I can't understand why ANYONE would want a garage or a basement FULL of junk. I'm a minimalist.

[bhcompy]

just pick a neighborhood with an HOA or city that regulates it then

cerritos doesnt allow anyone to park on the streets overnight in neighborhoods. ive heard people complain of hoas that dont even let you leave a vehicle in your driveway overnight, but ive yet to see one in specific

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by Sorcerer68

I hate clutter. I can't understand why ANYONE would want a garage or a basement FULL of junk. I'm a minimalist.

To store interesting things. (I am a collector.)
Unfortunately, for some reason we can't post scans of copyrighted items, but I have a Sears catalog from 1975 and a Disneyland brochure from 1958. To name just two out of many others. I scanned them on my computer, I would post them if I could.