crawlspace - why? (Kenilworth, Sheridan: 2015, how much, new home)

[flamadiddle]

Why do most homes here have a portion of the basement set as crawlspace? How much was saved by not making that area a part of the full basement? I don't get it, if I were building a home, I'm not doing any part of the basement as crawlspace, they may as well name it the wastespace.

[noid_1985]

Read about this here once....https://www.advantaclean.com/blog/20...-crawl-space-/

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Why do most homes here have a portion of the basement set as crawlspace? How much was saved by not making that area a part of the full basement? I don't get it, if I were building a home, I'm not doing any part of the basement as crawlspace, they may as well name it the wastespace.

Most homes that I see with part basement and part crawlspace foundations are homes that have been added to over time. I've only seen one attached garage here that was excavated underneath, and a good 90% of additions have crawlspaces under them instead of full basements. Excavating for an addition is generally not cost effective.

This is the only home I've ever been to where they did a new basement with the addition: 212 Sheridan Road, Kenilworth

[UMN2BE]

My parents built their home in 1991 and still live there. They had the option for a full basement or 65% basement/35% crawlspace (roughly). They saved a couple thousand by choosing the basement+crawlspace option, over the full basement option. They have regretted their choice for almost 30 years...

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

There is one other reason why a home might have a crawlspace vs. a full basement - the water table. I looked at a new home in a southwest suburb a couple of decades ago. It was the day after a heavy rainstorm, and the basement sump-pump continuously cycled on and off for the whole time I was down there, dewatering the building footings. The place must have been built on top of an underground river or something, LOL. Imagine what would happen should the pump fail or electric go out - flood city. I didn't spend much time there, that was all I needed to see.

Now, this could be ameliorated by simply raising the house out of the ground to construct an "English basement", but then you're facing a half-flight of stairs whenever you enter, and have less storm protection, etc.. To me, the best solution is s full basement, almost completely underground, but in a home built on high ground, such that your basement floor is still higher than your lowest neighbors' front yards. Historically, my guess is those lots were the most desired when an area was built up.

[ToriaT]

Many homes had a both a basement and a crawlspace. It was mostly useless and always had to be dealt with in terms of radon gas. My new home built in 2015 does not have a crawlspace. The builder quit doing them and it has a full basement.

[fusillirob1983]

I live in a split level, so my basement is below my second floor and my crawl space is below my first floor. It includes the furnace and a lot of storage space. It's well sealed and hasn't had any water issue since I've been here, though if we had the chance to move again we would likely move to a house that has a full finished basement, mainly to have a bit more space and to avoid having to bend over to pull things out of storage.

[UMN2BE]

Originally Posted by UMN2BE

My parents built their home in 1991 and still live there. They had the option for a full basement or 65% basement/35% crawlspace (roughly). They saved a couple thousand by choosing the basement+crawlspace option, over the full basement option. They have regretted their choice for almost 30 years...

I actually asked my parents about this again - apparently it was $7,000 more in 1991 (about $13k in 2020 adjusted for inflation) for a full basement vs a 70/30 full/crawlspace split. This is a standard 2-story, 2000 square foot home. I believe they paid around $180,000 to build the house, so another $7,000 wasn't trivial. At the time budget was kind of tight with two young kids, obviously in hindsight they would pay the $7,000 without thinking twice.

The crawlspace is under the family room so there's very little plumbing/mechanicals under there but it's a major PITA to get anything heavy up there and then move it around. It's really "dead" space for stuff that they don't want to throw away but never use. When my brother and I were kids we had blast playing there...

[flamadiddle]

Sounds about right UMN2BE. Thanks for checking. Yeah, I was thinking what a great storage area or additional living space our crawl space could be, but oh well. Funny how kids can make any place special. I remember creating a secret space under the stairs as a kid.