adding a room onto a ranch on a slab, considering basement

12 years ago

We are in the process of talking to someone about an addition. Our house is a 3 bdrm, 1.5 bath ranch on a concrete slab, about 1200 sq ft. The addition we are discussing, would be about 35x22. I want to put a basement under if for additional storage/storm shelter. I wasn't planning on finishing the basement. We recently had basically a handyman (who we want to do the work) come out and give us his thoughts and suggestions. He didn't think a basement would be a good idea, reasons, would take up too much of main floor space for stairs than worth and cost/sq ft. What are some of your opinions? The basement would end up being smaller than the main floor of the addition because they cant' dig right up next to the existing, so probably be like 18x35 or so.

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Comments (3)

GreenDesigns
12 years ago
In many locations, basements are not at all recommended because of high water tables or site drainage considerations, or expansive clay soils. You may need a soils engineer's report before you even begin planning.

If your location would physically allow a basement, then it is cheap storage compared to an actual 2 story house addition on slab. But, stairs do take up room, and if you want a basement to have enough headroom to finish it out later, you are talking about at least a 9' wall height. That can be a lot of concrete. Plus, you have to allow for egress windows and doors from the space. And space for all of the mechanicals for the addition.

The ultimate cost/benefit analysis is up to you, but the project will not be easy or cheap if done right. Unless done right, it's not worth doing at all. It's throwing away money to build something that's not permitted and inspected. You shouldn't even be talking to a "handyman" unless your home is worth nothing to you in value. You should only be talking with licensed and insured contractors can actually pull legal permits in your location. Adding on is also costly, and you might explore what that 100K (EXTREMELY lowball)-200K could purchase you if you were to sell your current home and buy another existing home.
aschrad78
Original Author
12 years ago
there are basements in our area, I don't think that is a problem, but we would do all necessary to make sure that is the case. I do value my house and I would make sure it was done properly. This guy wouldn't be doing the basement part, it would be a different guy to do that, he could pull the necessary permits and would be done properly, I know he just finished doing one at his own house and another friends house too.

Our house sits on 10 acres in the middle of no where and is already set up for my horses and such. IF one could find a suitable house in our area that is for sale (not many in the area at all), it would be well over the cost of the addition. Land prices in our area are astronomical right now.
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kirkhall
12 years ago
With 10 acres, why not just consider adding a little more room to the back of a garage for a "shop" and/or storage or storage shed. Are you in an area likely to blow away in a tornado? I'd think it'd be much more economical to build a little more square footage for proper storage in some fashion than to dig a cold, dank hole in the ground.