Where you live, houses may not normally have the luxury of a basement.
In some areas, they're just not necessary. In the Northwest where I
live, just about every home has a full basement – and often the
basement is incorporated into a multi-level home. Because we have a
required 3-foot-deep frost line here, most people simply say, "Why
not go down a few more feet and have a basement?" Turning all those
basements into "habitable environments" kept me busy for years!
(That's quite a mouthful, but that's the terminology the building department
seemed to prefer.)
It seemed odd to me at the time, but people usually only wanted their basement
finished when they were preparing to sell their house. I guess they
were hoping to increase the selling price. But that's too bad. Had they
finished the basement sooner, they might not have needed to put
the house on the market. A nicely-finished basement adds warm, comfortable
living space to any home.
It's amazing how many homes built in my area at the beginning of the
century have rock foundations. I guess the contractors were working
with the materials at hand, but those rocks sure made finishing a basement
difficult! Today, contractors have many more choices when it comes to
building a foundation.
There are more than just a handful of manufacturers, methods, and systems
out there. You don't have to rely on the conventional method of having
a foundation crew come in to set up forms and then having concrete poured.
But you do need to research the systems to learn which are most suitable
for your area and which you'll be comfortable installing. Some of these
systems can be used as both foundation and walls – referred to
as "insulating concrete forms," or ICF. Others, such as structural
panels, are installed after the footing and foundations are in place.
Structural panels have a foam core sandwiched between oriented strand
board (OSB) sheets. Still others include welded-wire sandwich panels
(foam core sandwiched between steel mesh) or concrete wall systems.
These systems could include, but are not limited to:
Permanent wood foundation Concrete blocks (mortared and mortarless)
Preinsulated
Structural lightweight
Aerated concrete Poured-in-place – conventional
Panel (flat)
Grid (post-and-beam)
Shotcrete Panelized (prefabricated)
In this chapter, and the next, I'll cover the most
common manufacturers and systems currently on the market. Some of these
you may want to research in more detail. I've included a list of recommended
reading material as well as an Appendix with a list
of manufacturers that produce alternative materials. You can never
have too much information – so stock your library!
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