Why No Basements in Texas?

[bluetopper]

On the only other gun forum I like to frequent besides this one, the topic came up of where you reload. Most people there it seems reload in their basement. Well I told them we don't have basements in Texas and they started asking me why. Heck I don't know why. Maybe it's not cold enough here? I just know I have never lived in a house with a basement and I really don't know anybody else who has either. I have always thought it would be neat to have one but I really don't know why they don't build houses with basements here, do you?

 

[GaryS]

It seems to be most of the south, and I have no idea why.

My son lived in southern Alabama for five years and his house had no basement. In fact, none of the houses in his area, old or new, had basements.

He lives in South Carolina now, and his house has no basement.

There is a new development a few miles from him that advertise that their houses have basements. My guess is that they are marketing to the ever increasing number of people from the northeast who are moving down south and want basements.

I look at a lot of real estate listings in central Texas. I don't know if I'll ever be fortunate enough to move there, but I like to look. I've yet to see one house with a basement.

Hopefully someone can tell us what the reason is.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

It is too expensive to build and maintain a basement below the water table.

 

[El Biblioitecario]

I thought basements were a northern thing because it is necessary to anchor the foundation below the frost line, and if one has to install relatively deep footings, the cost of a concrete floor provides a major increase in space. Perhaps someone versed in construction can confirm or deny this.

 

[bluetopper]

It is too expensive to build and maintain a basement below the water table.

In Houston, yes, I can understand that.

 

[deadin]

No basements here. You hit water at two feet......
A number of years ago one of our parks had a restroom with a vault instead of a drain field.
During one of the storms that caused exceptionally high water it popped out of the ground and floated off to sea....

 

[CalmerThanYou]

The water table and bedrock can be significant factors. But the primary consideration is the soil in many portions of the US are too sandy or unstable to support a full basement and disburse moisture.

 

[Texas Star]

If you don't have a basement, it can't flood. And the house is probably more solidly mounted.

My aunt and uncle in Tulsa had a basement. It was a quite nice house in an affluent part of town. I don't recall seeing any other basements where I've visited.

A HS chum and his dad reloaded in the servants quarters atop their garage. They didn't have servants any more and converted that area into a reloading room and stored much of their fishing tackle there.

I've always thought of basements as sinister places, probably due to reading about and seeing on TV how they were used. I wrote a, Criminal Minds short story on FanFiction.net in which two kidnapped girls were being held in a basement. The bad guys even rigged it to blow up and ignite a can of gasoline to destroy the house if the girls were discovered. Of course, the FBI and the local sheriff's office saved them, but it was a near thing.

And I think of basements as being mainly in northern cities or in moldy old houses. Neither appeals to me.

 

[arjay]

Here in Denver the frostline is around three ft (I’ve forgotten exact numbers) so going deep enough for usable space doesn’t increase the cost of a house too much.The further north or higher in elevation you go the deeper that frostline is.A high water table complicates things,of course

 

[bluetopper]

I've always thought of basements as sinister places, probably due to reading about and seeing on TV how they were used. I wrote a, Criminal Minds short story on FanFiction.net in which two kidnapped girls were being held in a basement. The bad guys even rigged it to blow up and ignite a can of gasoline to destroy the house if the girls were discovered. Of course, the FBI and the local sheriff's office saved them, but it was a near thing.

I always liked the saying; "I keep my lawyer on retainer. I keep him locked up in chains in the basement. It keeps him mean".

 

[LVSteve]

We generally don't have basements here because of the caliche, nature's version of concrete.

 

[Rustyt1953]

The first house I bought here had a coal room in the basement with the chute door still attached.

It was there that I learned what "dank" meant.

 

[Geno44]

Basement advantages- cheap space, great for reloading, best place to be in stormy weather, cheap to heat and cool, low taxes on unfinished space.
Disadvantages- extra cost of construction, possible dampness problems, stairs to go up and down, possible sump pump requirement.
If the water table is too high or rock is too close the ground level of course it can't be done.

 

[DWalt]

In my neighborhood, you hit limestone about two to three feet down.

 

[Ματθιας]

My relatives in Amarillo have a cellar on their property. Tornados. I'm guessing there's probably some other houses with basements.

 

[g-dad]

OP, I can't help you with your question but I can tell you I strongly dislike stairs.

I'm not a clumsy person but did fall down the basement stairs as a youth. As an adult we had a home with a basement for about 10 yrs. My bride loved the house, hated the basement - stairs. The home we now does not have one step / stair in it. We like that!

 

[Glashaus]

The houses that I grew up in and owned in Virginia all had basements, they were great! In Houston we have garages and extra bedrooms that we can turn into reloading/hobby/offices. I would love to have a basement again, maybe when I retire up into the hill country, but by then maybe it will be called a bunker

 

[rwsmith]

In the SC lowcountry...

....groundwater is found around 6' deep and basements are uncommon and problematic unless you have a really good job of sealing, which isn't something called for much around these parts.

Houses are slab on grade or have a 'crawl space' like mine. I'd LOVE to have a basement, because my single car garage is the only storage I have besides the little in the attic. If your house has trusses, the attic is practically useless.

I worked in an old government building that had a basement and it was really built to be a strong bomb shelter. A third of the basement floor had water in it.

The old 'Sears' building in downtown Charleston had a 'bomb shelter' basement. I've seen a few houses around with basements, usually they are in 'higher priced' neighborhoods.

 

[Old TexMex]

In Texas, we’d rather go up or out than down.

 

[quinn]

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".