Old TexMex
Member
Carry on, yankees. We’ll see who has the last laugh. 
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Why No Basements in Texas?
- Thread starter bluetopper
- Start date
Carry on, yankees. We’ll see who has the last laugh.
Two words - Fallout Shelter
Walkingwolf
Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2017
- Messages
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Deep wells...
As I just posted in another thread; the sirens are going off here and my trees are doing the limbo.
The kids are scared and I'm thinking that having a basement is pretty comforting right about now.
The kids are scared and I'm thinking that having a basement is pretty comforting right about now.
PawDawg
Member
There are some of the older homes in the Fort Worth area with basements. The Federal Medical Center (prison) in Fort Worth has extensive basements and tunnels that connect each building and inmate housing units together. They're used for tornado shelters now, but the staff use them also during heavy rains to move around the prison grounds. The place was built in the 1930's, and I never saw a flooding problem in the basements there, even with heavy rains.
gman51
Member
In the summer dry drought and heat the ground gets cracks half inch wide that can run a long ways not to mention how deep they go. You can not fill the cracks up with a garden hose. To dig holes for fencing posts I had to use a pick to dig down an inch and then fill that up with water. Go in the house and hour later dig with the pick down another inch and again fill with water. Even digging post holes with an auger on back of a tractor the auger has to be weighted to dig into the hard clay.
In the winter or even the spring the ground is so saturated that I can't walk on the grass without sinking down a bit. I have gotten my lawn mower Cub Cadet tractor and even my New Holland tractor stuck I don't know how many times. The wheels sink in and then the mower digs into the ground then the wheels just spin into the ground. I almost buried a 450 dozer once trying to push dirt. I got it out but I was scared what it was going to cost if I couldn't get it out. I still have the low spot where I almost buried it. I was so lucky I got it out.
My house is built on a slab that has rebar making 5' squares, plus it has 6"x6" footer beams dug making 5' squares, plus the reinforcement wire on top of the rebar. It might have been an over kill but I doubt my slab will break apart. Because of the added beams the amount of concrete was way more than estimated. The added beams were my idea and I did the digging not the contractor. Yes slab leveling is big business around here.
There is no way I would have a basement under my house. It would be a swimming pool most of the year.
In the winter or even the spring the ground is so saturated that I can't walk on the grass without sinking down a bit. I have gotten my lawn mower Cub Cadet tractor and even my New Holland tractor stuck I don't know how many times. The wheels sink in and then the mower digs into the ground then the wheels just spin into the ground. I almost buried a 450 dozer once trying to push dirt. I got it out but I was scared what it was going to cost if I couldn't get it out. I still have the low spot where I almost buried it. I was so lucky I got it out.
My house is built on a slab that has rebar making 5' squares, plus it has 6"x6" footer beams dug making 5' squares, plus the reinforcement wire on top of the rebar. It might have been an over kill but I doubt my slab will break apart. Because of the added beams the amount of concrete was way more than estimated. The added beams were my idea and I did the digging not the contractor. Yes slab leveling is big business around here.
There is no way I would have a basement under my house. It would be a swimming pool most of the year.
[URhttpL=https://s562.photobucket.com/user/Larry09_2009/media/20190314_151916%204.jpeg.html]
Au contraire. Those trees are about 100 yds. from my basement and I see a lot of deer along the edge of the woods. Larry
Ranger17
Member
Where I am in WI the avg frost depth is 3-4’ so going below that for footings one tends to just extend a little further for a full wall depth and create a basement. Whether for living space, mechanicals, etc I cant recall a home here I have been in that didnt have some form of basement even if a partial.
When we lived a few years in SC all the homes we looked at were slab or crawlspace and the one we built was on a crawlspace as well. Though it was in a lake neighborhood so with the water table high a basement would have been costly and wet. We accepted the no-basement thing down there but I tell ya, when tornado warnings hit we did not feel anywhere near as safe sitting in a room at ground level compared to being in a basement here.
When we lived a few years in SC all the homes we looked at were slab or crawlspace and the one we built was on a crawlspace as well. Though it was in a lake neighborhood so with the water table high a basement would have been costly and wet. We accepted the no-basement thing down there but I tell ya, when tornado warnings hit we did not feel anywhere near as safe sitting in a room at ground level compared to being in a basement here.
Down in the Bootheel sand flats, you can dig an irrigation well with a garden hose and a straight stream nozzle inside 20 feet of PVC pipe. The New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812 turned things upside down, with a massive layer of sand instead of topsoil, with big patches of gumbo mud where there ain't said. The whole Bootheel is reclaimed swamp land, and everything is below the flood plain, even though most places are miles and miles from the Mississippi River. My flood insurance is twice as expensive as my regular homeowners, and there's not a basement in sight until you hit the remnants of Crowley's Ridge, left over from the retreat of the glaciers . . .
bushmaster1313
Member
In Houston a basement could double as an indoor swimming pool
bushmaster1313
Member
Not in Kansas
The house might end up in the next state
keith44spl
Member
No basement here.......
But, I do have a handloading area, in the 1800 sq ft shop building.
.
gman51
Member
Downtown Houston has an underground shopping mall under the city. I never could understand how they could keep it from totally flooding and destroying everything. For cripe sakes first floors of many buildings above ground have been flooded numerous times.
Downtown Houston Tunnel System | 365 Houston
Downtown Houston Tunnel System | 365 Houston
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
If that happened, I should think that would certainly be preferable to being in the upper floors of that house, wouldn’t it?
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
There is a difference between actual flooding, where a river rises above its banks and water pours in from the outside, and keeping groundwater out of underground structures, which is very easy technically, just expensive.
El Biblioitecario
Member
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- 471
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The emotional reactions to basements, pro and con, is a good illustration of how values are a kneejerk reaction. Until I read this thread it never occurred to me that anyone's feelings about basements would be different than mine. In fact, I never realized that one had 'feelings' about basements. It was an epiphany to realize I had spent my life closeting (or cellering) my emotions on this subject.
It might be a good idea for the moderators to add 'basement' to their list of taboo social and political issues. Before that happens, I offer for consideration a pro-basement tune.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGS_fryiSlc[/ame]
It might be a good idea for the moderators to add 'basement' to their list of taboo social and political issues. Before that happens, I offer for consideration a pro-basement tune.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGS_fryiSlc[/ame]
I did consider that. We do not get many Tornadoes here but we do get them on occasion and we also get what is called a Straight Line Thunderstorm. They can be quite interesting!
I kind of made a safe place for those weather events in my basement. There is a little corner consisting of 2 poured concrete walls, my large well secured gun safe and the purposely made heavy structure for the stairs. A couple pieces of heavy plywood securely attached to the bottom of the floor joists completes my haven.
It hopefully will stop the house from coming down on us and the reinforcements should keep at least that part from flying away. Hopefully will not have to prove this out, but a few years ago us and our 3 cats spent a little time there. It missed us.
