Why No Basements in Texas?

[pawngal]

Every house I've lived in had a basement. Old farm houses the basement was used to store potatoes, carrots, apples, and canned goods. Then later, the furnace, (and coal room) water heater, water softener, well pump, laundry, were all in the basement and always considered to be a storm shelter. My current home was built in the 1970's, it has a walk-out basement. Mostly finished, family room, bedroom and bathroom. And a wine/liquor cellar area.

I lived in a 2 story townhouse for a couple of years, sure missed having a basement.

 

[Old TexMex]

.... As Jimmy said, we'd rather go up or out. .

And....there’s also a philosophical viewpoint about us, right?

 

[Golddollar]

In the Alamo city we have 2 kinds of substrate: clay and limestone. Clay expands when it gets wet and would exert an incredible amount of pressure on the walls of a basement. Limestone is expensive to grind, cut or blasy your way through. As Jimmy said, we'd rather go up or out. All that is Realtor talk for "it jes ain't practical".

My cousin used to be a contractor in DuBois, PA. He told me how when putting in a foundation he backfilled around it with dry shale. His description of what happened to clay soils when they get wet was exactly the same as yours, which is why he did the backfilling to avoid that from happening.

 

[gman51]

Due to high water tables is supposedly why basically no basements in Texas. I think it also has to do with basements add a lot of cost to a home when it is built. I seriously doubt the hill country has such high water tables that basements would get flooded. When I drilled my well I first hit ground water at around 12'. That was in the summer though. In the winter the ground often stays saturated so I am sure the water table then is up there.
A foreman asked me what basements were used for. I said you know all that stuff in your garage......well that goes in the basements so we can park our cars in the garage.
Having lived in Ohio there are many basements with water problems and have to have sump pumps to keep them dry. Most homes there have basements. I have to say I do miss having a basement. They make great family rooms or game rooms or men's caves for hobbies.

Many older homes up north had coal furnaces which were in the basement. Coal was usually shoveled in through a basement window onto a pile in the basement. My grandfather had a coal furnace which got replaced with a gas furnace because he couldn't hardly get down and up the basement stairs to shovel coal into the furnace. I remember in the old days it was easy to tell which houses used coal heaters. The snow in the yard would have black soot all over it.

Basements are like pick up trucks. You don't realize how much you miss them till you don't have one.

 

[1morethan8]

We have a full basement... and when I say full, I'm talking stuff!
By the house being on a slight slope, we don't have a water problem. The basement is 2,000sq.ft... the walls are 12" block and has a ceiling height of 9'-4" to floor joist
Seems to be about 1/3 of the houses in this area of East tennessee have basements.

 

[johngalt]

Basements are nice in the summer - much cooler than upstairs. It gets so hot in Texas, I would think they would be much desired if the ground is compatible.

 

[bigwheelzip]

We always had basements in NY, and found a builder in SC that built basements on lots that would allow a walkout. He used a prefab basement system called "Superior Walls". It is the only basement I've ever been in that didn't have a dank feel to it. They attribute that to a high-psi concrete. Has a lifetime waterproof guarantee.

There is nothing but red clay earth around here, and that doesn't stop basements being built.

Superior Walls: America's Leader in Precast Concrete Foundation Systems

 

[Pootie]

The only basement in the small town I grew up in southeast TX was at the hotel (that has since been converted into a single residence). It was unoccupied for a while, and for entertainment we'd go over after school with our BB guns and shoot the water moccasins swimming in the basement.

 

[Bakebfr480]

I've been without a basement for almost 16 years now since I moved to the Shiner, Texas area from Pennsylvania! My handloading/gun room is in what was a spare bedroom. My bullet casting is done in a 16×32 Morgan building that also houses my shop!

 

[Texas40]

Born in VT and every house had a basement. Moved to TX in 1976 no basements but either attached or detached garage (big ones).
We have garages and out buildings aka sheds or shops. We dont need no stinking basement.

Oh and pretty much all the reasons listed also water table unstable soil etc.

Dont believe many basements in FL for alot af same reasons.




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[Wishbone]

The combination of high water table and clay soil is why there are not basements in OKC. My neighbor had an in ground storm shelter installed in his garage last year and it floated up and out of the ground in a week.

 

[tops]

Our house is built on a slope and we have a drive in basement. It may cost a little more when the house is built but it is cheap way to double the size of the house. Plus water lines, furnace ducts, etc. are easily accessible.
I like a drive in basement (day light basement) but I wouldn't want one with all 4 walls in the ground. Larry

 

[jejb]

Very rocky soil is the reason there are not a lot of basements here in the Ozark Mts, I believe. You can't even dig a 1 ft deep hole in our yard w/o using a pickax. But our house is one of the rare ones here that does have a basement, with walkouts on 2 sides and lots of full size windows. So not at all a dark, dank place.

 

[Targets Guy]

Let the rattlesnakes make their own home.

Our home was built in 1910. We have a basement and an attic. They are a necessity when you are married to an antique dealer.

Sump pump and a full house dehumidifier in the basement controls the water and foam in the attic makes it habitable given the 100+ summer temps and the -30 winter temps. We build for a frost line of 4' here in the heartland. It is at 2' currently.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

A basement is a good place to keep your clown.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

No many round here.
One of the few I was ever in around here is down S of town on Nashville Street.
The water table down there is pretty high, but it looked bone dry.
I was a little nervous as I was making my biggest gun buy, up to that time.
Bought a HE 2nd Model, 3th Model, and 4TH Model.
All 44 Special Blue Target Models 6 1/2.
So if somebody says come over and look at my basement,
I think wonder how much money I should take?

 

[Izzydog]

Our house here in South Carolina has severe moisture issues, and we don't even have a basement. We basically live in a swamp, so a basement is out of the question. Other that the high water table, I understand that Radon in an issue, especially near the mountains. I really don't know how true that is, but I've heard it several times before.

 

[Walkingwolf]

Much of the ground up north is solid hard packed soil, and clay which is better for building underground. Many old houses used coal for heat in the winter, and the basements were well suited coal burning furnaces, and storing coal. Some of these old houses still have coal doors where chutes were once located. The heat also tends to rise through the house more with a basement, cold air returned, and as a below dirt level is usually above freezing it helped with poorly insulated old homes. The building trend for basements just seemed to stay after coal was no longer appropriate for heat, and houses better insulated.

 

[TX-Dennis]

There are houses with basements here, but they are rare. Caliche and rock make excavation difficult and expensive. It's just not worth the cost for most folks building a basement in our soils. When I had my house built the trencher (think gigantic chainsaw) got stuck in the caliche when they were putting in the trench for the power line. Took a pretty fair effort to pull it out. I talked to the tree guy. He told me he had to use a jackhammer to plant trees in my neighborhood.

 

[pawngal]

Right now around here basements are receptacles for flood water. Massive snow melt and rain.