Building with or without a basement - experiences

Hello,

How did you build? With or without a basement?

Mh.....

Please share your experiences.

I am not building for myself, but for others, and can therefore "only" contribute my experience based on the contracts from recent years.

Basements are always built when the location of the plot puts the additional foundation costs into a favorable ratio to the basement costs (e.g. sloping site) or when the basement is intended to be used for something more valuable than just storage (office in the basement). Building a basement is the most expensive way to sink money; literally. There is no basement for EUR 30k – as is often read here; that might get you the bare walls and, if you’re lucky, the basement window shafts, but that’s about it. Meaning, that number has a very good potential to rise to 40k and more.

Everyone has to decide for themselves whether a basement is necessary or not. They should definitely free themselves from what previous generations considered a "proper house" and what not. What this generation always forgets to mention is that basements used to be necessary for storing garden produce over the winter. It started with early potatoes and ended with leeks in November; these foods served as sustenance and had to be stored somewhere. When you look at older basements without bias, they are nothing more than pure storage spaces; often built directly into the clay. For example, this is the basis of the saying that "it is cold on the feet without a basement." In fact, it was cold on the feet "with" a basement, because the floor slab was much thinner in earlier years and the usable basement underneath was not heated; it was often damp.

We maintain a very good relationship with our clients; even years after handover. Therefore, I know very well how many of the "so urgently needed basements" are actually used. In most cases, it just becomes a pure storage place for things the homeowners cannot part with. The hearts of hunters & gatherers, of course, beat faster In the first year, the "party basement" is still used; in the second year already not anymore, since the part of the relationship responsible for cleaning has lost the nerve to clean up after guests. Then suddenly they remember that they have a garden.

It looks different if offices are required and regularly used in the basement or in cases where a sloping site makes the sensible integration of a lower floor into the space planning economically viable. In most cases, however, the house "grows" less vertically on a slope and the basement actually serves as the ground floor.

Whatever you decide, remember: it will be your house and you have to decide on the economic use of your budget. Not your father or mother, nor friends or acquaintances with "good" objections!

I’ve also heard that it’s stupid to build without a basement because of moisture?
And cold from below?

Then the floor slab was done incorrectly; in earlier times it was often simply laid on dirt, nowadays, with soil surveys AND if it is taken seriously: no longer an issue.

Rhenish regards

We have a purely utility basement. So according to the unanimous opinion here, "a waste of money." I would never want to do without our basement. Every square meter costs 650€ here and even if you were a millionaire, you can’t buy any more because the plots of land are only 250sqm. The development plan only allows building a footprint of about 70sqm – but with an upper floor and an expanded attic. In total, you get about 140sqm of living space. Now, to explain where I can wash clothes, set up heating, store food, keep winter/summer clothes, etc. That would only come with immense deterioration of the living quality. For me, the additional 30,000€ are definitely worth it. Moreover, garden houses are only allowed to be max. 4sqm and only one single garage (where our car is parked). The questions about basement/without basement are so individual that a general answer is not possible – even if in NW maybe everyone builds without and in BY everyone builds with...

We had it calculated several times and a correspondingly larger house with a utility room, laundry room, and additional storage space above the garage would have cost us the same. What we would still have missed then, however, would have been an optional room in case of a third child and cool rooms for wine and our vegetables/fruits from our own cultivation. Thus, we have a cellar that is half heated living space and half utility cellar. But that is also the good thing about it, that everyone has different requirements for their four walls; otherwise, we would probably all have identical boxes.

I can only agree with Wastl. There is no one right answer for everyone. For example, with us, a "Weiße Wanne" would have had to be built, meaning with waterproof(er) special concrete. That is even more expensive. I also know new houses in the area where the "Weiße Wanne" basement was damp inside from the start. Such a "Weiße Wanne" is more difficult to build. The construction company that built it no longer offers white tanks at all. In the 1970s apartment building where we now live, the basement had to be excavated once and sealed again from the outside afterwards. From these experiences, the basement is somewhat like the Achilles' heel of a house for me. Even if it is well executed, will it still be watertight after several decades..? On the other hand, a basement is ideal for storing even small quantities of potatoes or apples, you can keep your terrace plants or pond fish frost-free in winter, and you don't have to accommodate the utility room in the ground floor layout.

So according to the unanimous opinion here "waste of money"

Why unanimous? There are reasonable arguments for and against a basement.

So now please explain where I can do laundry, install the heating, store food, keep winter/summer clothes, etc.

Gladly... in the utility room, garage, under the stairs, in the attic, etc...
less living space != too little living space!!!
If the plot and the development plan do not allow enough living space when building with a basement, then it is out of the question whether to build with or without a basement!
Our house without a basement is large enough to have enough living space in addition to the basement replacement. If that were not possible, i.e., no additional floors either, we would of course also build with a basement. If I have the option to do without a basement, I would do so.

The question of basement / no basement is so individual that a general answer is not possible

I think we all agree on that now.

All houses from the 70s are not watertight. Whoever builds a new basement today, as long as the construction is flawless, gets a watertight basement. Due to groundwater, we also build a [weisse Wanne]... Additional costs 7000€. Everyone here builds with [WW] and none of my neighbors have damp basements.