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What is a 'michigan basement'? - Yahoo! AnswersQuote:
Originally Posted by x-wingcamewest
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In Michigan a partially "dug-out" basement is a Michigan basement. Not finished off, usually with dirt walls & floor sometimes partially "finished" with cement or cinder blocks and a cement floor. Usually very damp, & has a very unique odor of damp & dirt and sometimes a musty mildewey smell depending upon how damp it gets.....
the house I had lived in in Studio City had a similar basement like X had described, although it was smaller. it wasn't much as one should with walls from floor to ceiling. it would give you access to the crawlspace throughout the bottom of the house like many homes today do.
my sister's old bungalow in the north part of Pasadena had the same feature. it's been a long while since I had been there but I vaguely remember that she had a washer and dryer beneath it and not much else.
now, as I'm sure other neighborhoods have them, almost all the huge homes in mine in Monrovia have basements, including the one on the property that I live on. many of them encompass the entire floor dimension. I guess they are easier to have them in the foothills area where the land slopes down gradually.
I am seeing quite a lot of basements being constructed these days, particularly in SFR custom lots. Because they are not required as protection from tornadoes, I think the primary reason they were not common was cost. As for the seismic issue, that doesn't really play into it too much. Generally speaking, a basement restrained retaining wall is going to be less than 10 feet (without the footing) and most Cities do not require crazy seismic design for that type of wall. If the location is very close to the ocean and sea level (like a beach house), a basement would be problematic due to the groundwater issue, but most other areas of SoCal do not have groundwater that close to the surface. I have seen a house in Laguna Beach with a basement that required a crazy wall drainage and pumping system for high tide water infiltration. No doubt that wasn't cheap to build. In the mountainous areas where the bedrock is hard, excavating a basement can be costly if you need a breaker bar or a D12 to get the footings in.
I think they are becoming more popular now because people want the increase space but don't have the lot square footage to go outward, so they must go either up or down, and many Cities restrict SFR to two stories.
That's my 2 cents...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chateau Bow Wow
Thanks. But living there for the first 30 or so years of my life, I never saw one until I moved to So. Californina.
Untill WWII in the northeast and midwest, most homes were heated with coal. The coal was stored in the basement in homes in towns and cities (still is in my house). In a lot of older homes, the kitchen was also in the basement since the stove was heated with coal. The idea of pouring a concrete slab in a home is a relatively recent innovation, so basements in older homes had dirt floors.
yeah, the house I grew up in had a "coal room" in the basement. Had a chute from some trap doors that the truck would dump it into. The place had been converted to oil heat, and then propane, while I lived there, but the "coal room" was still there. Mom used it as a pantry.
Was that like in the 1800's? :P
