The buried portion is often used for storage, laundry room, hot water tanks, and HVAC.ĭaylight basement homes typically appraise higher than standard-basement homes, since they include more viable living spaces. In most parts of North America, it is legal to set up apartments and bedrooms in daylight basements, whether or not the entire basement is above grade.ĭaylight basements can be used for several purposes-as a garage, as maintenance rooms, or as living space. However, there are instances where the terrain dips enough from one side to another to allow for 3/4 to full-size windows, with the actual floor remaining below grade. Most daylight basements naturally result from raised bungalows and at-grade walk-out basements. A walk-out basement almost always results from this. Some daylight basements are located on slopes, such that one portion of the floor is at-grade with the land. Generally, the floor's ceiling should be enough above ground to provide nearly full-size windows. Initially, it was typically a large, concrete-floored space, accessed by indoor stairs, with exposed columns and beams along the walls and ceilings, or sometimes, walls of poured concrete or concrete cinder block.Īn English basement, also known as a daylight basement or lower ground floor, is contained in a house where at least part of the floor goes above ground to provide reasonably-sized windows. However, beginning with the development of large, mid-priced suburban homes in the 1950s, the basement, as a space in its own right, gradually took hold. It could be little more than a cellar, or it could be a section of a building containing rooms and spaces similar to those of the rest of the structure, as in the case of basement flats and basement offices. Large powered excavation machines such as backhoes and front-end loaders have dramatically reduced the time and manpower needed to dig a basement as compared to digging by hand with a spade, although this method may still be used in the developing world.įor most of its early history, the basement took one of two forms. ![]() Historically, basements have become much easier to build (in developed countries) since the industrialization of home building. The housing density of an area may also influence whether or not a basement is considered necessary. Adding a basement can also reduce heating and cooling costs as it is a form of earth sheltering, and a way to reduce a building's surface area-to-volume ratio. Their use may be restricted in earthquake zones, because of the possibility of the upper floors collapsing into the basement on the other hand, they may be required in tornado-prone areas as a shelter against violent winds. Basements are much easier to construct in areas with relatively soft soils and may be avoided in places where the soil is too compact for easy excavation. However, basements are considered standard on all but the smallest new buildings in many places with temperate continental climates such as the American Midwest and the Canadian Prairies where a concrete foundation below the frost line is needed in any case, to prevent a building from shifting during the freeze-thaw cycle. However, the use of basements depends largely on factors specific to a particular geographical area such as climate, soil, seismic activity, building technology, and real estate economics.īasements in small buildings such as single-family detached houses are rare in wet climates such as Great Britain and Ireland where flooding can be a problem, though they may be used in larger structures. Purpose, geography, and history Ī basement can be used in almost exactly the same manner as an additional above-ground floor of a house or other building. A subcellar or subbasement is a cellar that lies further underneath. ![]() The word cellar applies to the whole underground level or to any large underground room. The word is usually used with houses when the space below the ground floor is habitable, with windows and (usually) its own access. In British English, the word basement is usually used for underground floors of, for example, department stores. In cities with high property prices, such as London, basements are often fitted out to a high standard and used as living space. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system are located so also are amenities such as the electrical system and cable television distribution point. Cellars are often used in pubs to keep beer barrels connected to the bar at ground level.Ī basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |