Talk:Basement

This article seem to be very culturally specific (perhaps from a certain part of the U.S.?). Much of what it presents as generally the case, I hadn't heard of or come across. It needs to be internationalised. --Phronima 20:54, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

It's based on Canada actually (US northeast also) where basements are mandatory because of the frostine. If you can clarify the article, by all means. I'll try as well. Samw 00:13, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Crawlspace

I have never heard of a crawl space being called a basement. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.142.132.230 (talk) 19:17, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

I know it's nit-picky, but I frequently am required to work in crawlspaces and would call them far, far from convenient. They're usually difficult to enter, have very low overhead clearance (generally about a foot to a foot and a half)and frequently have "passageways" built into them to access heat producing devices such as floor furnaces which make the crawlspace resemble a labyrinth more than a basement. I have also never seen anyone store anything in a crawlspace, in the hundreds of them I've been in. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tsuujin (talk • contribs) 16:27, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Crawlspace (1986 Film)

There is a movie from 1986 entitled "Crawlspace", but yet crawlspace, typed in, redirects here, unless there is no article for the movie, I think the redirect page should be made into a disambiguation.

Multistory basements?

How common are multistory basements or cellars in Western countries? I know for sure only very few buildings that have (or had) multistory basements which are the former World Trade Center Twin Towers and in Germany for example the DESY complex or the Institute of Physics of the Cologne University (as far as I know, there are two buildings with a walk out basement and two stories below that. One of the buildings has a small particle accellerator in the lower basement stories, the lowest floor of the other building is unused). Furthermore, there may be multistory underground car parks at some big stores in Germany. But I don't know whether there are residental buildings with multistory basements.--SiriusB 19:42, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Multistory, underground car parks are quite common in Canada, both in office buildings and apartments. In low-rise residential buildings (e.g. a house), there's usual no reason to do that because a basement is more expensive than a house and if land is cheap enough for a house, there's no motivation for a multistory basement. Samw 21:15, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

I know that Imperial College in London has some buildings with basements 3 floors below ground level, linked by subterranean tunnels. Canary Wharf has underground parking going several stories down (not sure how many!). Additionally, multistory basements are believed to be causing significant problems for natural water movements in parts of central London. I know a few houses with recently-constructed cellars going down 3 floors, and have heard of a couple with 4-storey basements but not seen them. It's all down to the extremely high price of property in central London and the stamp duty - it can be cheaper to add square footage by digging down than to buy a larger house and then pay duty on it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.6.35.235 (talk) 01:11, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Geographic considerations

I've noticed that in some states in the US, basements are very common, and in others exteremely rare. For example, Michigan, Utah, and Illinois homes tend to have basements, while California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada homes do not. Does anybody have any information on this?

Yes, see "Design and structural considerations". Basements are effectively mandatory in colder climates to get the foundation below the frostline. Samw 03:22, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Basements are virtually unknown in Florida; I have always assumed this was because the water table is so high for ground water,which is almost everywhere, with a mean elevation around 100 feet.Is this incorrect?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.71.242.42 (talk) 15:29, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Request For Expansion

There is almost no information in here at all for non-residential basements, such as in office buildings or subterranean carparks. I came here looking for information on underground floors in office buildings and found almost nothing, and since I'm no expert on the subect, I put a tag up for expansion; please assist if you can. PolarisSLBM 11:45, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

British Cellar

The article says:

In Britain, people tend to store food and drink in a garage, if at all.

What? No we don't... we store food and drink in the kitchen... that's it. In the garage Brits store cars, junk, tools, spare parts, and that kind of thing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.213.102.101 (talk) 16:42, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree. I have occasionally seen beer fridges in garages, but it's the exception rather than the rule. I've definitely never seen food stored in a garage though - I think the hot/cold cycling would ruin it rather quickly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.6.35.235 (talk) 01:15, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Backflow Prevention Device

In the discussion of drainage considerations, this article incorrectly directs you to "backflow prevention devices." A backflow prevention device is to prevent backflow of potable water from your house into the municipal water supply system (which may occur due to negative pressure).

What the article means to direct you to is "backwater valves," which are used to prevent sanitary sewage from backing up into basements through floor drains and other plumbing fixtures in the basement. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.245.12.98 (talk) 18:20, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Disambiguation

Basement is also a geologic term, referring to rocks and minerals from early crustal formation that are largely unchanged from formation to the present. I'm not an expert on geology, but I thought this was worth mentioning. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.216.225.96 (talk) 04:32, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

British English

According to the article, "In British English the word 'basement' is...rarely used for a space below a house". This is wrong. Basement is pretty much the most common word used to describe the space below a house. Perhaps this is a result of the americanisation of the way we speak, i dont really know. But to say it is rarely used is a complete myth. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.104.179.17 (talk) 13:34, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

It's convoluted because there's different usage in all this as well. In my experience a "cellar" tends to be a storage area whereas a "basement" tends to be a part of the house that is in day to day use.

Few British houses are actually built with accessible spaces underneath these days for all kinds of planning reasons and in most older town houses this space was originally the servants (day) quarters and is often now a separate flat. So few people living in houses actually have basements in any meaningful sense whereas houses that were built with cellars usually still have them as they're harder to convert. Timrollpickering (talk) 10:42, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

British houses are usually built without cellars for two reasons: 1) it's more expensive to dig down with all our heavy clay 2) cellar dwellings were outlawed in the 1840s for health reasons and have never made a return due to reason 1. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.6.35.235 (talk) 01:19, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

I have lived in both the US and UK, and have occasionally heard the term "cellar" used to describe structures which are recessed into the earth, but which are not located beneath other structures. "Wine cellar" and "root cellar" are examples usually, but not always, found underneath other buildings. Perhaps "basement" has become the preferred term, since it always refers to a space underneath a building? Newell Post (talk) 22:29, 27 January 2010 (UTC)