No Dark, Dank Basements Here

Perhaps nothing has changed more in home design in the past 20 years than the basement.  Growing up in the midwest, my own experience of "basement" was a dark and often dank place under the house that was used for storage.  Heavy spring rains always caused a "leak" in the basement.

The basement of my Grandmother's house was much sturdier.  The large old farmhouse had a rock foundation and the basement walls were composed of large blocks of stone.  On the two longest walls there were built-in niches about 12 inches deep and 20 inches high.  Each niche was about 30" long and glancing at the walls you would just see rectangular open spaces lining the walls about four feet above the floor.

The purpose of the built-in shelf areas was a practical one -- storage of canned goods.  For most of the year those stone shelves held an assortment of home grown and home canned vegetables, fruits, pickles, relishes, jams and jellies.  As a child I loved being told to go to the "cellar" and choose a homemade jam or relish.

Basements have changed a lot over the past few decades.  No longer with 6-7' ceilings, basements of many new homes have 8' or even higher ceilings.  Many of them are built with windows allowing daylight in.  Years ago the exterior entrance to a basement consisted of two doors which were laid flat on the top of the basement stairs.  Lifting the doors to use that entrance was not an easy thing.

In my son's new home in Southern Ohio, the basement is as large as the house.  The steps leading to the main part of the house are the same type of steps you would see leading to the second floor of a home.  A second set of stairs leads directly into the garage providing easy access to the outside of the home while still maintaining security.

My Son's 2400 sq ft basement has become the family room/game room/skateroom/watch sports room - it's a busy place.  Perhaps the most practical benefit of having a basement that is dry and very usable is the easy maintenance of the temperature. Just as with a bermed home or an underground home, the temperature remains cool in summer and warmer in winter.  Very little in the way of heating is needed even in that cold Ohio climate.  In an area where most new homes are heated with now-expensive propane gas, that's a big plus.