Friday, November 30, 2007

To Basement, or Not To Basement

Minnesota is well known for its brutally cold winters. Temperatures can easily fall to twenty degrees below zero, or more. Add in the wind chill and it could feel like fifty below. And for some reason, Minnesotans like to brag about it.

Cold temperatures will mean deep ground frost. That is the reason that codes in Minnesota state that footing depths must be 42" to 48" below finished grade throughout most of the state. You would not want frost to get below your footings and heave your building to a new elevation. Even a movement of a fraction of an inch can cause cracks in foundations and drywall. More movement could cause structural damage.

When you consider the frost footing depth, you begin to understand why so many homes and buildings in Minnesota have a basement. Just add another six or seven course of block and a floor system and you can gain another level of relative inexpensive living quarters or storage are. The basement offers room to expand with another bedroom, bathroom, or family room. A basement allows the furnace and other utilities to be off the ground floor, possibly allowing more area to add to bedrooms or living rooms. Of course, the drawback of a basement is that room must be found for a stairway.

During the last several years there has been a growing trend to build patio homes in the area. The patio home allows the ground floor to be nearly level with the finish grade and sidewalks, creating only one step or a small ramp to get into the house. This has been very popular with the growing senior population. Many of these homes also have in-floor heating which feels great on bare feet during those cold winter morning.

So, to basement or not to basement. That is one of the many questions you will need to answer before building your new house.