ᐅ House with a basement or without?

We also have to build with a basement because the plot slopes 3 meters (10 feet) over 22 meters (72 feet).

This makes you think twice about spending €30,000 on filling the land or investing €60,000 to use the excavation.

Initially, planning without a basement was a struggle, as the layout with the utility/technical room at 147 m² (1,583 sq ft) caused us a lot of frustration. Now we are planning with 132 m² (1,421 sq ft) of living space, excluding usable space in the living area, and we are not reducing the size of the living area.

I also think it makes a huge difference how the basement is finished. Installing a nice vinyl floor there immediately creates a completely different impression compared to plain white ceramic tiles.

I compared two options beforehand (based on a very simple estimate from catalog prices, roughly):
- House with 5 rooms and a basement
- House with 5 rooms and an additional utility room on the ground floor, without a basement

The second option was significantly cheaper, so we decided not to have a basement. I find that unfortunate and would have liked to have a basement (for building services, a cool storage area, workshop).

Dindin schrieb:
We built with a basement and wouldn’t want to give it up.
The heating room, server room, storage room (which also keeps the drinks stored there pleasantly cool in summer), and hobby room are easily accommodated there.
In our region, building without a basement is almost unthinkable and would also reduce the resale value.
However, this varies from region to region, and whether to build with or without a basement is definitely a matter of belief.

I can only agree with that. We are currently building with a basement and two full stories. Our plot is 1400 m² (15,070 ft²) – still, we wouldn’t want to do without the basement. However, we also have a slope of two meters (6.6 feet) on the left side of the property... We now have our office in the basement with regular windows and a light well.

I can still remember my childhood. We lived in a two-story townhouse from the 1930s. We lived on the ground floor, and my grandparents lived above us. There was always a damp, musty basement, which was painted with this lime-based pigsty whitewash. Coal, potatoes, apples, and preserved jars were stored down there, and there was a laundry room with a huge, coal-fired tub used for boiling clothes. We children were also bathed there since the house had no hot water otherwise—only tiled stoves and a cooking stove.

All of that is obsolete now. Where did my mother store her things? Certainly not in the damp basement. Instead, the stairs continued past the second floor up to the attic. The attic was fully boarded and had those zinc windows so the chimney sweep could climb out. There were also old cupboards and shelves with all sorts of items. Sausages and ham hung there, too. And the clothesline was there as well. Remembering that, we're building an attic like that again—complete with a window and stairs. Who knows if it will have sausages? In any case, that will be the basement. Karsten

Nordlys schrieb:
Just like that, we’re going to build a floor like this again. With a window. With stairs. Who knows, maybe with sausage? Anyway, that will be the basement.

The traditional dry attic is cold in winter and hot in summer. Perfect for drying laundry (or sausage; apples only in winter), but hardly suitable as a wine cellar. So, they are not comparable at all.