ᐅ Is building a basement still justified today?

Hello,

are you sure you told your architect that you and your partner want a usable basement?

MrArmageddon schrieb:

... to be used as a storage space for rarely used items, for food storage, and to house all the building services (heating, electrical, network, etc.).

So basically a future junk room with the excuse of technical equipment 😀


Regards, Bauexperte

ypg schrieb:
A well-planned storage area, a utility room on the upper floor where the laundry is done, and a technical room on the ground floor that provides space for supplies, cleaning products, etc., is more than enough.

What I think is often overlooked is the drying of laundry. And since they come from a rural area, they might have higher requirements for storage and stockpiling (which of course can be done differently, I know, it also depends on the plot size). By the way, we don’t have a basement, for cost reasons.

Bieber0815 schrieb:
In my opinion, what always gets overlooked is drying laundry. And as country folk, they might have higher demands for storage and stockpiling (which, of course, can be done differently—I know that depends on the size of the property). By the way, we don’t have a basement, for cost reasons .

I completely agree with you regarding drying laundry.
But instead of a drying room, where laundry used to be spread out over an entire room, the trend now is toward tumble dryers. If you were to build a spacious room in a basement, the ventilation for the moist air would have to be carefully controlled—not to mention the costs involved.
Alternatively, you could use a covered outdoor area—most people have a rotary clothesline and a drying rack for small loads. In our small utility room on the upper floor, we have a wall-mounted drying rack where sportswear and wool can dry; the rest goes in the dryer.
I’d be interested to hear how a family of four manages that! I might even start a separate thread about it. Here it is: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/wie-trocknet-ihr-wo-die-waesche.17625/#post-160391

Additionally, I wonder if the term country folk refers to growing vegetables and fruit on one’s own property.
After working eight hours, most people don’t want to spend their free time cultivating their own patch of land.
Some make it manageable—and I do too: zucchini, arugula, beetroot… next year I’ll be planting in a greenhouse.
Of course, jars are preserved. For these jars, a cupboard is enough.
But that’s not the kind of stockpiling that was common after the war, when there was otherwise nothing to eat; back then, people relied on storage and collected apples from the roadside to make compote.
Nowadays, the produce from a home garden is usually consumed fresh or processed right away.

I definitely wanted a basement. I need space for sports equipment that is not currently in use and want to set up a workshop. That was one of the reasons we decided to build a new house. The washing machine, dryer, and other technical equipment will also be located in the basement. Considering the land prices in Berlin, it was easier to accommodate this space in the basement rather than expand the floor area by the required 60 sqm (645 sq ft).

I believe it is a luxury, even if used only as a basement living space.

Alternatively, it might make sense economically – but only in cases of extremely high land prices.

We also have a lot of gear that needs to be stored: cross-country, alpine, and ski touring equipment, diving gear for two people, climbing equipment, mountaineering items (lightweight mountaineering boots, crampon-compatible boots, crampons, ice axes, and related items). Additionally, we want a workshop. We would definitely prefer to have the workshop on the ground floor, possibly as an extension, but since our building envelope is very limited and we have to manage with a relatively small footprint, and we are not allowed to build upwards, we will have a basement.

Personally, I prefer to do laundry on the upper floor and not carry dirty laundry down to the basement, then hang it out to dry in the sun on the ground floor, bring it back down again to iron, and then carry it back up to the upper floor when it’s clean. No, thank you... I prefer a different kind of workout.