Why are there more crawl spaces than basements in the area? (Indiana: houses, buyers)

[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.

[charmed hour]

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.

In my area we have a high water table. Many of the houses are on slab or have above ground basements. When we were house hunting nearly every house we saw with a basement had clear water issues. The staining on the walls and damaged concrete were dead giveaways along with running sump pumps.

[jtab4994]

Yeah, the high water table in the Poconos is the main reason.

[hellob]

I was on the website for a popular home inspector in the area and he has a lot of pictures of bad crawl spaces and like 1-2 bad basements. I'm personally terrified of them.

[thecoalman]

The house we live in near Harding has a basement, really high water table. When they built in 1950 they apparently used a lot of drain tiles. There is also drains in the slabs and during wet weather it literally sounds like a creek running under the basement.

That pipe extends about 300 feet out to the road on lower part of the property. Water will pour out of it for days after heavy rain. It works well enough considering it's age but we did have it back up into the basement twice, this was back during Irene and Lee. Fortunately it's very clean water so mold was not a huge issue. We now have a sump pump and extra pump on hand in case it happens again.

The houses in town in the Wyoming Valley will almost all have basements.

[hellob]

The homes have sump pumps and I had a back up mad dog system and dehumidifier in my Indiana home. I would get it for any basement home because it makes me comfortable. The sump pump went out in my other house before we had the back up and I got about a 1/2 inch of water and while it wasn't a tragedy, I had to dump a lot of stuff and do about 20 loads of laundry. I got the back up the next day.
Is there a way I can compare the Pennsylvania water table to the Indiana one to see if they are similar? That would give me a better idea if I'm dealing with a comparable situation.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by hellob

I was on the website for a popular home inspector in the area and he has a lot of pictures of bad crawl spaces and like 1-2 bad basements. I'm personally terrified of them.

Where I live we have always had a dry basement. However, six miles to our south, my parents had problems with water in their basement. Much of this has to do with the French drainage system or the planning for the placement of the house on the lot and final back fill.

What you should be looking for are homes that have hills that run straight down against the house - where the water has no place to runoff. Of course some houses are on totally flat land and that can be a problem. If there is a hill, on one side of the house, you want to see where the contractor had contoured the land to allow water to drain away from the house.

Of course there is no way for potential buyers to see old, installed, French drains. However you could ask where the French drains exit and observe if water is running out.

But, of course, the home inspection should point out many of these problems. But don't do a home inspection during a draught - pick very wet times of the year. Even the visual drive-by could spot potential problems during heavy rain. You might see lakes or a swamp in the yard - not a good sign.

I hate crawl spaces because I don't like crawling to fix problems. Our first home had a crawl space and we ended up with a broken sewage line. I had an industrial spray disinfectant and was crawling through with a flashlight in one hand and the disinfectant in the other had when I spotted a skunk with it's tail up only three feet from my face! I shot it first with the spray disinfectant and it put down it's tail and ran away! By the time I finished fixing the problem, getting sprayed by the skunk, could have improved my smell! I hate crawl spaces and I am glad we do not have one today!

[mr.magoo]

:^ you tell a great story Fisheye

Off topic I know, but what is it with you and your encounter with polecats?

I remember the one about you gathering nightcrawlers one evening and a skunk rubbed up against your leg and you almost pet it thinking it was a cat...

That was you right?...

[okaydorothy]

We have a crawl space and a french drain. No water issues.

[bldginpa]

Also, crawl space with french drain. Always dry, no issues. It's actually tall enough that you can walk hunched over. You're not on your belly, crawling through.