Do you have a basement?

[lstokes]

TORNADO ALLEY!!!!

We are in our basement on a routine basis this time of year with all the tornado watches and warnings in our "neck of the woods"

I love our basement!

 

[FloraFauna]

I live in New Orleans and you all are right about being below sea level. We do not bury our dead in the ground because of this.

We visited Philadelphia a few years ago and saw some houses with basements. I thought that was the coolest thing! It would be impossible to have that down here.

 

[ValerieK]

We have a fully finished walkout basement. I love it. It was one of the must haves when we bought a new house. Most of the houses here have a basement, so areas, especially older homes don't have one. I love my basement, wouldn't want a house without one.

 

[pjlla]

Yes, here in NH and most of New England I believe basements are the norm. I was under the impression it was because the footings had to be poured so far down below the frost level, it was kind of a "might as well" attitude about the basements. When we had our attached garage done, they excavated for the footings down to the level that a basement would have been, but left the center dirt, poured the footings,filled in around the footings and then poured a slab over the whole thing. I suppose that must be what they do for slab houses in NE. But it seems almost just as easy to dig the entire hole and just make it a basement!..........P

 

[Shutterbug]

Originally posted by lstokes
TORNADO ALLEY!!!!

We are in our basement on a routine basis this time of year with all the tornado watches and warnings in our "neck of the woods"

I love our basement!

Basement here too but much of the time it looks like a tornado already hit it

 

[Diane]

Originally posted by Roemama1
I have a finished basement and am actually in it right now because that is where my computer is.

Me too!

 

[newholiday]

We finished off the basement at the same time we raised the roof and added DSs bedroom, game room and 3rd bathroom upstairs.
DH practically lives in the basement. If there was a bathroom down there we'd never see him!

 

[WDWLVR]

We have a basement that is divided into 3 parts. A finished family room (the largest part). A separate laundry room that we also use to hold a freezer and our gardening supplies, and the furnace room that also holds DH's tools and lots of junk

I use the family room for my workouts and we have family gatherings there, but most nights DH and I share the computer room with his and her computers! This is especially true since we got DSL and can both be online at the same time!

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by FloraFauna
I live in New Orleans and you all are right about being below sea level. We do not bury our dead in the ground because of this.

OK, I am probably going to regret asking this but...what do you do with people when they die then? Is everyone cremated??

 

[Kitty 34]

Nope, no basement here! The one thing I really dsilike about this old house.

 

[TeresaNJ]

The home I grew up in in Philadelphia, the home I grew up in in NJ, and all three homes I have owned as an adult in NJ all have basements. All four NJ houses had either partially or full finished basements. We're contemplating a move to FL within the next three years, and not having a basement is something we're definitely going to have to be prepared for. Alot of non necessary stuff will have to go prior to the move.

 

[Alice28]

We have a basement; but where I grew up (Bay Area) hardly any homes had a basement. I don't think newer homes here in Portland have them either.

Ours in unfinished and houses the furnace, water heater, Christmas decor, tools, paint stuff and other odds and ends.

 

[wilderness01]

Love having it finished.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Yes, we have a basement! It is filled with junk!

 

[FloraFauna]

Aprilgail2,

We build tombs above the ground. I have seen tourists on group tours of our cemeteries.

I have also seen artists sitting on the ground sketching pictures of the tombs. There was an Ashley Judd movie a few years ago with a long scene in one of the New Orleans cemeteries that would give you an idea of what they are like. I think the name of the movie was "Double Jeopardy".

 

[elgerber]

Originally posted by hercamore
Yep, in MN, very odd not to have a basement unless yo uare near a river or lake.

herc.

Isn't it required to have at least a crawl space here, due to the low frost line in the ground? I don't know what I'd do without one, where would I stash all my junk??

Erika