Is a basement in a single-family house useful or rather too expensive?

Hello everyone,

I’m taking the opportunity to briefly introduce myself: my name is Michael, I’m 32 years old, married, (still) no children, employee of an insurance agency in northern Bavaria, and my wife and I are planning to build a new single-family house in 2019. I will post more about this in a separate thread once the concept is worked out in detail.

At the moment, we are being inspired by the catalogs of some general contractors and are considering which "type" of house is right for us. This raised the question: do we need a basement? And if so, what for? I will further explain this by example (plot each at ground level):

Single-family house 1: basement, ground floor, usable attic, footprint 100 m², living area (Living Space Ordinance) 140 m².

Single-family house 2: ground floor, usable attic, footprint 130 m², living area (Living Space Ordinance) 185 m².

Both properties would cost about the same (~ 375,000 EUR turnkey). Single-family house 1 has a basement, single-family house 2 does not, but offers significantly more living space. Both properties are heated by heat pump.

In my understanding, there are 3 legitimate reasons for a basement: 1. as storage space, 2. for the heating system, and 3. for the utility room. Step by step:

1.) I don’t really know what I would store down there on a total area of about 50+ m²....

2.) since the heating is done by heat pump, the heating system itself will anyway be located outside. So in the basement would only be the control (and the hot water tank?). I assume I could also put these things on the ground floor, right?

3.) if the utility room is in the basement and the bedroom is on the upper floor, my wife has to go up/down two floors. Also, ventilation is more difficult when I hang laundry there. For that reason, it would even make more sense to move that topic to the ground floor in my view.

I’m curious to hear what you say about the topic "basement" – I might be forgetting essential points or have a wrong idea about the "heating room." Thanks in advance for your help!

Even if the thread sounds more like trollish provocation than genuine interest in information...

- Drinks pre-chilled
- everything else you would normally put in the garage
- Heating on the ground floor needs space, which can be used more sensibly on the ground floor with real benefit. The ground floor is the most valuable living area.
- Hobby room
- You need "some" storage room anyway, so either finish the attic or have another room somewhere in the house.
- Direct access to the basement, and you save yourself the garden shed
- When all compensation costs are accounted for, a basement is really cheap house space

That’s what came to mind after 10 seconds of thinking. If you can’t think of anything or don’t need any of the above: then don’t build a basement, no finished attic, no garden house, and no storage room in the house.

PS: Drying laundry in the basement is a really bad idea. You probably have never had a basement?

Basement as storage space in my opinion unnecessary. Basement as fully functional living space is especially justified with hillside properties.

Music rehearsal room, soundproofed in the basement is OK. Workshop room too. Otherwise, the basement turns out to be a one-way dead end for stuff you actually don’t need.

Household-standard tool equipment, winter clothing, scooters and push/tricycles for the children, Christmas decorations, original packaging of a few particularly high-quality items, winter tires, outgrown children’s clothing of the older ones for later,.... Where do you store all that? Certainly, a basement is not a must, but even without a hoarding tendency, there are always a few things to put away.

So if not in the basement, then the wardrobes get bigger, as does the utility room, bikes are stored at the dealer, the last corner in the garage is stuffed, or later the attic is subsequently converted.

I disagree and consider the waste of (expensive!) living space, especially the most valuable on the ground floor, to be "unnecessary." In comparison, the square meter of basement space is really affordable and creates freedom in the areas where you live.

Thank you for your response. But what do you mean by "troll-like provocation"....? Do you also call people outside the internet who have less expertise than you on certain topics “trolls” or “provocateurs”?

Regarding your points:

- Drinks pre-cooled: ok, certainly a few degrees °C....
- I put things I need for the car in the garage. For what reason should I put them in the basement and carry them up and down all the time?
- There is more than enough space both on the ground floor and upstairs – 7 rooms + WC + 2 bathrooms + hallways. I could easily spare one room for the heating control and at the same time as a utility room.
- Storage room: see previous point. Of course it would be convenient to store things in the basement – but not on 50 or 70 m²....
- What do you mean by “direct basement access”? As I said, there is no hillside location here.
- Of course, basement space is cheaper than space on the ground or top floor – but the basement is usually not developed, not heated, and dark. I could definitely imagine a fitness room down there, but even then I have the disadvantages I mentioned before.

On the topic of drying laundry: We currently live in a single-family house as subtenants and use the basement. The house has existed since 1992 and since then laundry has been dried in the basement (in less good weather). Where do you see the problem (except the disadvantages I mentioned regarding the distance and suboptimal ventilation)?