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

The nice thing is that a basement is no longer mandatory, as was the case in the days of oil heating systems and the like. Every builder can plan according to their own experience.

So far, I have never used my basement rooms meaningfully and will therefore build without a basement. The costs are not reasonably proportional to the benefits for my purpose.

Hello

I only know a house with a basement!
That's how I grew up.
My basement (approx. 100m²) is divided into: laundry room, drying room, electrical room (approx. 3m²), sauna room, passage room (to the garage with a vault door [Stufe B]) a room with a window, a hobby room and a vault room ([VDS1] with ventilation) approx. 16m², which is also intended as a panic room.
May sound unusual to some. But both vault doors cost me about 4,000 euros. I installed them myself.
Of course, my entire house is built to [WK2]. Including the roof.

Steven

I like it, especially with Merkel’s policies it’s definitely good to secure the house like this. Unfortunately, I didn’t do that back then.

Where do people without a basement dry their laundry in winter? Where do you put the room with additional supplies?

Hello

for the passage from the basement to the garage something that is typically German: At the building inspection, "only" the safe door was installed. Weighing 275 kg, with an electronic combination lock on both sides. It was criticized that a fireproof door was not installed. So I had to install a fireproof door directly in front of the safe door. So: safe door, about 30 cm of space and then the fireproof door. Well, to comply with the law.

Steven

I like it, especially with Merkel's politics, it's definitely good to secure the house like this. Unfortunately, I didn't do that back then.

Where do people without a basement dry their laundry in winter? Where do you put the room with additional supplies?

In the dryer, on the drying rack next to the washing machine, stained clothes also hang in the sun in winter.
What supplies? The few crates of drinks and supplies? Where they are needed. In the kitchen or in the storage room between the garage and living areas.

Now don't tell me you've never seen spiders in a basement before.........?

Yes, of course! Even 10,000m above Pakistan, on the way to Singapore. They are simply everywhere!

Thanks to the ventilation system, no windows are open in our house anymore. If anything, maybe one scurries in through an open door. But they prefer our utility room on the ground floor. If a house is airtight, it's also spider-proof.