ᐅ Is a Basement Practical for a Single-Family Home or Usually Too Expensive?
Created on: 30 Jun 2018 21:56
A
Abzug86
Hello everyone,
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself briefly: my name is Michael, I’m 32 years old, married, (currently) no children, employed at an insurance agency in northern Bavaria, and my wife and I are planning to build a new single-family house in 2019. I will share more details in a separate thread once the concept is worked out in detail.
At the moment, we are getting inspiration from the catalogs of several 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, for what purpose? I’ll explain this further with an example (both plots are level):
Single-family house 1: basement, ground floor, usable attic, footprint 100 m² (1,076 sq ft), living area (according to the Wohnflächenverordnung) 140 m² (1,507 sq ft).
Single-family house 2: ground floor, usable attic, footprint 130 m² (1,399 sq ft), living area (according to the Wohnflächenverordnung) 185 m² (1,992 sq ft).
Both options would cost roughly 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 are heated by a heat pump.
In my understanding, there are three main reasons for having a basement: 1. as storage space, 2. for the heating system, and 3. for the utility/laundry room. Step by step:
1.) I can’t really think of much that I would need to store down there—at least not on a total area of about 50+ m² (540+ sq ft)...
2.) Since heating is provided by a heat pump, the "heater" itself would be located outside anyway. The basement would only house the controls (and the hot water tank?). I assume these could also be installed on the ground floor, right?
3.) If the utility room is in the basement and the bedroom is on the upper floor, my wife would have to go up and down two levels. Also, ventilation would be difficult when air-drying laundry. For these reasons, it might even make more sense to move this area to the ground floor.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on basements—perhaps I am missing important points or have a wrong understanding regarding the "heating room." Thanks in advance for your help!
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself briefly: my name is Michael, I’m 32 years old, married, (currently) no children, employed at an insurance agency in northern Bavaria, and my wife and I are planning to build a new single-family house in 2019. I will share more details in a separate thread once the concept is worked out in detail.
At the moment, we are getting inspiration from the catalogs of several 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, for what purpose? I’ll explain this further with an example (both plots are level):
Single-family house 1: basement, ground floor, usable attic, footprint 100 m² (1,076 sq ft), living area (according to the Wohnflächenverordnung) 140 m² (1,507 sq ft).
Single-family house 2: ground floor, usable attic, footprint 130 m² (1,399 sq ft), living area (according to the Wohnflächenverordnung) 185 m² (1,992 sq ft).
Both options would cost roughly 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 are heated by a heat pump.
In my understanding, there are three main reasons for having a basement: 1. as storage space, 2. for the heating system, and 3. for the utility/laundry room. Step by step:
1.) I can’t really think of much that I would need to store down there—at least not on a total area of about 50+ m² (540+ sq ft)...
2.) Since heating is provided by a heat pump, the "heater" itself would be located outside anyway. The basement would only house the controls (and the hot water tank?). I assume these could also be installed on the ground floor, right?
3.) If the utility room is in the basement and the bedroom is on the upper floor, my wife would have to go up and down two levels. Also, ventilation would be difficult when air-drying laundry. For these reasons, it might even make more sense to move this area to the ground floor.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on basements—perhaps I am missing important points or have a wrong understanding regarding the "heating room." Thanks in advance for your help!
... or even a very small plot of land, where a basement can also make sense. However, I would prefer storage close to the place of use. For this, for example, garages need to be allowed to be a bit wider than 300 cm (10 feet) exterior dimensions, so you don’t have to constantly maneuver bikes around the car, and so on. The width of a plot should also still allow access along one side of the house to the backyard, and so forth.
I have set up a 15m2 (160 sq ft) workshop space in my basement, but I’m currently finding that I’m moving everything to the garage since that’s where most of the screwing and repairs take place.
The basement is mainly used for storage, and since we might want to have a second child, we need to keep small furniture like a baby swing and a crib. On top of that, there are 20 boxes of clothes in various sizes—just thinking about storing all that in one room is overwhelming.
Because our property is on a slope, it made sense to create a 50m2 (540 sq ft) granny flat to rent out.
The basement is mainly used for storage, and since we might want to have a second child, we need to keep small furniture like a baby swing and a crib. On top of that, there are 20 boxes of clothes in various sizes—just thinking about storing all that in one room is overwhelming.
Because our property is on a slope, it made sense to create a 50m2 (540 sq ft) granny flat to rent out.
D
daniels871 Jul 2018 10:35I love my basement!
My large workshop! Our basement is unheated but still warm enough. Plenty of space without increasing heating costs. Plus, more garden area. We have 744 square meters (about 8,000 square feet), which is actually a bit small for me. I wouldn’t want to give up more area.
And extending the floor plan by at least three rooms is not that simple. I didn’t like any of the layouts from our plans without a basement.
My large workshop! Our basement is unheated but still warm enough. Plenty of space without increasing heating costs. Plus, more garden area. We have 744 square meters (about 8,000 square feet), which is actually a bit small for me. I wouldn’t want to give up more area.
And extending the floor plan by at least three rooms is not that simple. I didn’t like any of the layouts from our plans without a basement.
H
hampshire1 Jul 2018 11:52daniels87 schrieb:
Also, more garden space. We have 744 sqm (8,007 sq ft), which is actually a bit small for me. I would be reluctant to give up any more area.The issue of space is a good point – but especially garden enthusiasts won’t want to do without a garden shed or ground-level access to gardening tools. If it’s a bit larger, moisture-protected, and frost-free, it can serve as a small workshop as well...
daniels87 schrieb:
I love my basement!
My large workshop! Our basement is unheated, yet still warm enough. Lots of space without increasing heating costs. Plus more garden area. We have 744 square meters (approximately 8000 square feet), which is actually a bit small for me. I’d rather not give up any more space.
And expanding a floor plan to add at least three rooms is not that easy. I didn’t like any of the layouts we planned without a basement. I completely agree. And garden tools still go into a garden shed, so that problem is solved.
Trying to squeeze all of that into the ground floor is usually a struggle. Unless you build larger than 250 square meters (approximately 2700 square feet)... but who can do that!
Overall, it really depends on what the plot allows. We have 700 square meters (approximately 7500 square feet) and I wouldn’t want to miss my basement. I also couldn’t have built a bigger ground floor due to setback requirements. Choosing to build with a basement was actually an easy decision.
In our area, building land costs between 500 and 1200 euros per square meter. It definitely makes sense to build up or down instead of spreading out.
Because paying over a million euros just for the land without the house is only possible if you can really afford it.
H
HilfeHilfe1 Jul 2018 14:32A basement is unnecessary and costs 50-60k. It usually ends up storing junk that gets thrown out after 20 years, although people think they might use it at some point. Two children, an electric bike, a garden shed (10 m² (108 sq ft)), and an external storage room (8 m² (86 sq ft)). Anything that needs to go is sold on online classifieds. Parents have an XXL garage/basement. Every few weeks, they have to post 10 ads because they find some unique item again.
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