Three obvious reasons you need a basement Plus one you may not know about

By:  Barry Herbert

Whenever I drive through a subdivision and see houses being constructed on concrete slabs, I am amazed that people would not recognize the many benefits of building their home on a basement. 

In this article I’ll attempt to briefly illustrate three fairly well known advantages of basements, plus discuss one that most people hadn’t considered.  While we generally think of homes when we discuss basements, the same advantages can be applied to office buildings, apartments or most other types of buildings.

1.  Safety from storms.  Some of our newsletter readers either live in a concrete home, would like to live in a concrete home or have at least considered living in one.  A concrete home, of course, is the ideal protection against storms. 

Unfortunately, most Americans still live in wood frame dwellings.  For those families, the thought of having a basement to get into during severe weather, such as a tornado, is a real comfort.

Any corner of a concrete basement is much safer than anything upstairs in a wood frame house.  A safe room within a basement multiplies that protection many times over.  These rooms are often built under the front porch area, which in many cases already has four walls.  Too often these areas are merely filled with dirt and capped off with a concrete slab creating an unusable space.

A more efficient means of utilizing this area is to place a door opening in the wall separating the porch from the basement and constructing a suspended concrete slab over the porch area.  This creates an almost impenetrable safe room for people, documents, and pictures.  It also doubles as a great place to store food that needs to be in a cool place.

2. Economical living space.  Although a basement foundation does cost more than a house built on a slab or crawlspace, the additional space gained is difficult to match with any other type of cost / square footage ratio.  The same roof that covers the lower level, also covers the first and second story of the house.  The footprint of the house remains the same, whether a basement is included or not, so there is no additional lot cost.

This basement contains a family room

and a game room

The extra space can be finished off and used as a family room, a recreation room, an apartment for aging parents or almost grown children, an exercise room or just extra bedrooms.  If the entire lower level—or terrace level—is finished off, several or all of the above rooms can be incorporated into the floor plan.  It is not necessary to finish the entire lower level immediately.  It can instead wait until the need arises or until money is available.

3. Extra Storage.  Sometimes you need extra storage in addition to extra livable space.   Utilizing the basement or lower level for that storage space is very economical.  An added benefit to creating this extra space for storage is that you may actually be able to use your garage for its original purpose.

4. Energy Efficiency.   The least recognized reason for a basement is possibly the best one.  Mike Hancock of Basement Contractors Inc. based in Edmond, Oklahoma, is a registered mechanical engineer.  He has given several seminars at the Concrete Foundations Association’s annual summer meetings regarding concrete homes and the peculiarities of heating and cooling them.

Efficiency is attained by circulating air between the 

basement and the main floor.

In addition to being a registered engineer, Hancock is a poured wall contractor specializing in concrete homes and basements.  He not only is considered an expert by his peers, but he practices what he preaches.  He has constructed several concrete homes and commercial buildings, and hundreds of basements. “A basement which is sunk down into the ground acts like a big heat sink,” he states. “In order to fully utilize this phenomenon, HVAC systems should be designed to circulate cool air from the basement into the upper floors during the summer months. Another benefit is the circulation of conditioned air helps stabilize the humidity in the basement.  During the winter months, the lower level costs little or nothing to heat.”

Basements are naturally cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter because of the constant ground temperature.  Hancock believes this occurrence should be taken advantage of by circulating cool basement air into the upper floors during warm periods.  Then, during winter months, the lower level is heated for practically nothing.  In fact many homeowners in the north—where winters are extreme—don’t heat their basements at all when they use them for storage only.  A relatively comfortable temperature is maintained during some of the coldest months because of the warmth emanating from the ground.

Indoor Air Quality.  As in any home or office building, indoor air quality is of upmost importance.  Our ancestors didn’t need to worry as much about indoor air quality because air was constantly leaking in and around windows and doors.  Most homes and offices built today—especially those utilizing concrete construction—are extremely airtight.  While this makes the structure much more energy efficient, it also makes it difficult for the structure to “breath”.  Whole house ventilation systems are available, and are considered by some to be a good idea in new construction.

In certain parts of the country basements are typical. In northern states where foundations are required to extend below a predetermined frost line, much of the wall required for a basement is already mandated.  The farther south you live, the shallower the frost line is, and so it becomes less economical to build below ground— unless you look at the big picture.  This article by no means details all of the many advantages of lower level living, but it hopefully will start you thinking.

The unabridged version of this article was originally published in the September, 2013 edition of Concrete Homes + Low Rise Construction Magazine.

The Common Problems of Leaky Basements

By:  Doug Herbert

Few things in a home are more frustrating than a leaky basement.  Nail pops in the drywall…no problem.  HVAC unit stop working?  It’ll cost you, but you can get a new unit.  Roof leaks?  It may take a few thunderstorms to isolate the leak, but you can get it stopped.

However, water coming into the basement can be a completely different animal.  Finding and fixing the problem can sometimes mean digging up the flowerbeds and bushes, or tearing out a decorative patio

Our foundation has been waterproofed and is ready for backfill.

to get down to the problem.  That can be very expensive and time-consuming.  Nobody wins in these difficult situations.

Those complicated scenarios, though, do not represent 90% of the water problems that are associated with basement foundations.  Waterproofing products used today are very effective at stopping water from entering the basement.  Often, water issues have little to do with the actual waterproofing that was applied to the concrete wall. The majority of waterproofing problems occur above the waterproofing that was applied to the wall.

For waterproofing to be effective, it needs to work as a complete system.  That system is comprised of three areas:

1.         Water drainage at footing and slab elevation (French drain).  A drain tile, strip drain or integrated footing form with drain is needed next to the footing.  This collects the surrounding water and directs it to an interior sump pit or to open drainage at a daylighted area.

2.         Membrane applied to concrete wall.  The most common product is spray-applied elastomeric waterproofing.  An additional drainage board or material can be installed over the waterproofing to improve drainage down to the drain tile and protect the waterproofing material during backfilling of the basement. 

3.         Water management at finish grade and above.  This is where most problems occur, and the area that we will focus on.

The four areas that follow should serve as your primary troubleshooting guide to basement water issues, and will likely cover 90% of the water issues you have with your basement foundation.  If you have water coming into your basement foundation, evaluate your situation against each of the following items. 

Slope Finished Grade

The Concrete Foundations Association of North America publishes the CFA Standard for foundation construction.  They specify that the grade has to slope away from the foundation; specifically it has to have a slope of 6” within the first 10’-0” out from the foundation.  Without proper slope, rain water can pool on the surface.  It will then work its way down through the backfill and accumulate next to the concrete wall and footing.  If it isn’t efficiently removed by the drain tile, it will find its way into the basement.  To prevent this, ensure that the grade slopes away from the basement foundation on all sides of the home.

Finished Grade Below Waterproofing

It is important to keep the finished grade below the waterproofing that is applied to the wall.  If the grading contractor backfills the soil above the line of waterproofing, then water can enter the basement through a shrinkage crack that

Waterproofing is sprayed onto the face of the concrete wall.

isn’t covered by the waterproofing.  Water entering through the outside will often reveal itself on the inside a few feet below the entry point.  You may think that it is coming through the outside of the wall at the same point you see it inside the basement, but this is often untrue due to gravity.  The finish grading isn’t the only area to watch out for.  At times, another couple of inches of topsoil are added over the grading.  Also, during landscaping, mulch will often be added.  This all adds up to a foot or more of soil above the line of waterproofing, which increases the risk of water problems in the untreated area of the concrete wall.  Be sure that you can see a small amount of waterproofing on the basement wall after the final landscaping is finished.

Address Backfill Settlement

When the basement foundation is backfilled without compaction of the soil, the soil adjacent to the basement wall will settle over time.  This will leave a depression in the soil, causing water to collect next to the wall.  When water is allowed to accumulate next to the wall, it will find a way into the basement.  Evaluate the soil for settlement during the construction of the home.  Before the landscaping is finished, be sure to fill in any depressions in the soil.  Homeowners should watch for further settling of the soil and to fill in the depression before it creates a problem. 

Weep Holes In Brick

Drainage board has been installed on this Texas 

foundation that we constructed.

Most people assume that a brick or stone façade is water-tight.  The fact is that in a heavy thunderstorm rainwater penetrates through the façade and gets into the airspace between the brick and framing.  The water travels down to the basement wall’s brick ledge and is intended to escape through weep holes in the brick.  Oftentimes those weep holes have not been installed.  Or, they have been installed too low and the backfilled soil covers them up.  This will cause water to build up within the airspace between brick and framing.  Proper flashing in this area is critical.  The water doesn’t always reveal itself at the same location that it is coming in.  It may travel along the top of the concrete wall until it finds a shrinkage crack and then come into the basement a few feet down from the top of the wall.  If your house has brick on it, be sure that weeps have been installed and they are above the finished grade.  This will prevent many water problems.

These four items are some of most common problem areas that allow water to come into the basement.  Basement waterproofing needs to be viewed as a whole-house system that includes weep holes in the brick, proper flashing, downspout orientation and other issues that are above the line of waterproofing.  When you address each of these areas, you will be well on your way towards preventing a lot of headaches, frustration, and angry homeowners.

The unabridged version of this article was originally published in the July 2013 edition of Concrete Homes + Low Rise Construction Magazine.