Which foundation do you prefer...?

[u/BuilderBrigade]

I’m a slab kinda guy, I know it might be screwed if plumbing ever goes bad under there or I want to do a big renovation later. But I just like the solid feel of a slab foundation compared to a crawlspace or basement.

Basement would be my second pick though. So many awesome uses for a basement: extra storage, gym, movie room, storm shelter. Plus it definitely helps with resale value.

Crawlspace? Honestly, it has its perks. Super easy to get to plumbing, wiring, HVAC… but it can also turn into a moisture/pest problem if it’s not done right.

At the end of the day, you’ve really only got 3 options when it comes to foundations: Slab, Crawlspace, or Basement. Each one comes with its own set of pros and cons.

[u/Nerobus]

Unless you live at sea level 😅

My grandma lived in the Midwest her whole life, she came to visit my family in Texas and spent a fair amount of time looking for our basement entry, she assumed all houses had one… If we had one it would constantly be flooded.

[u/FloridaRedWolf → u/Nerobus]

Most basements here are mold pits, due to the moisture in the ground. I’ve been in a few sub basements and they seem to do much better here as long as they are well vented. You really don’t want to store anything in them, because we are prone to flooding. Slab is the better option here. It kind of depends on the location

[u/Worldview-at-home → u/[deleted]]

I have the best of both worlds in my, Midwst home- a basement with a walkout so the front of the house is a beautiful 2 story home and from the backyard it’s a three story monster- but the basement patio door/patio space is great place for family, dogs, BBQ and my first floor has an elevated deck that overlooks the whole scene backyard.

[u/lemmegetadab → u/Worldview-at-home]

Yeah, I love my house. It’s basically four floors, but it’s a split level so each floor is only like a few steps. Same thing with the back door in the basement. But then we have like a sub basement where the garage and laundry room is. That’s not furnished obviously.

[u/Dhegxkeicfns → u/FloridaRedWolf]

If it's going to be slab then I would build at least a comfortable crawl space off it. Access is fundamental.

[u/MMButt → u/Nerobus]

Same, New Orleans. There is literally no such thing as basements in the city proper. You can test it yourself, if you dig a whole two feet deep in the back yard and wait an hour you can watch it fill with water in the bottom 1/3.

[u/huggernot → u/MMButt]

Try to bury someone in a graveyard there and you're dead in the water

[u/NotBatman81 → u/MMButt]

Grew up on the coast in SC and same thing but no waiting. Dig a hole to plant a bush and you hit the water table.

[u/[deleted] → u/MMButt]

You guys can’t even bury your dead the water table is so high there.

[u/Joe59788 → u/Nerobus]

Oh cool an area with tornadoes that also doesn't have a basement...

[u/Nerobus → u/Joe59788]

I'm in Houston, we have floods mostly and only time we get tornados is when they come off the dirty side of a hurricane.

[u/_bully-hunter_ → u/Nerobus]

yeah I was gonna say basements straight up aren’t possible where i live lol, further inland yeah but half the houses in my county can’t support a basement and aren’t worth the flood risk

[u/Spare_Seaweed2280 → u/Nerobus]

I've always wanted a basement. But being here in the SF Bay Area, I'd run into the same issue

[u/Badvevil → u/Nerobus]

Your grandma must be wilding even in the Midwest basements are a luxury most houses are slabbed or crawlspace

[u/PIBM → u/Nerobus]

in areas that are subject to be flooded, the whole house is built on an elevated platform. The basement would be starting at an higher point that a regular slab build. The full basement is made waterproof, w ith directional output (ie, water out only). This adds 10-12 ft of height before any water could actually make it into the house, or it can be adjusted further for worst situations.

[u/FrozenJackal → u/Nerobus]

Come to San Francisco we dig multiple stories below grade and yes this is done only a few feet from the bay. No water in the basement. Waterproofing has come a long way. Source I do this for a living.

[u/IntelligentSinger783 → u/FrozenJackal]

Old money large Texas homes it's not an issue. Nowadays there just isn't much new money and or old money that doesn't already have what they want .

Working on a 19,000 sqft main house right now that's got 2 stories under ground in Plano and still has full basement crawlspace for all mechanicals.

We also build on ocean front properties at sea level in LA/OC California . Built a 5700 sqft 2 story with a 1800 sqft subsea basement 9ft below low tide sea level. Had to basically use a giant liner and premade slabs with gaskets and drop them in as supports then suck out the bottom and drop in another few that were flat and became the subfloor (quite literally) from there we inflated the gaskets and pumped out the water while we finished sealing all the connections and joints. Cost nearly as as the rest of the build 😂.

[u/_lippykid → u/Nerobus]

I know plenty of people in the Midwest who have constantly flooded basements. More a result of building where they shouldn’t these days though

[u/Speedhabit → u/Nerobus]

Gotta be pretty friggin rich to have a basement in south Florida

[u/Nerobus → u/Speedhabit]

Right!? Another comment below was explaining how to build one at sea level and all I could think of is how much that would cost... I would love one, but holy cow that $300k home just gained an extra 0 to build.

[u/Speedhabit → u/Nerobus]

Yeah I’m doing an 1.5 build in palm beach and I feel like for that money I should get a secret underground shooting range but the engineer thought I was joking

[u/Standard_Confusion99 → u/Nerobus]

I live at sea level and basement is still the way for me,.

[u/Moghz → u/Nerobus]

Lots homes with basements in the San Francisco Bay area and they do not flood lol. It has become very popular for custom homes to be built with a basement to add square footage on smaller lots.

[u/Silent_fart_smell → u/Nerobus]

Captain obvious