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Here in Texas a deep foundation isn't necessary according to a report in the Dallas Morning News. In northern climates the frost line – basically the depth at which soil does not freeze – is well below ground requiring deeper foundations, which lead to basements. Here in Texas a deep foundation isn’t necessary according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.
I always said that I would hide under our Danish modern sofa in the sunken living room if I knew a tornado was coming, but they usually came and went before I had the chance. We woke up one stormy night with six inches of water in the bottom floor, and it was a good thing that our furniture was mid-century modern on legs. The storm drain on the patio had stopped up and flooded the apartment. Interesting article, I too always wondered why there were no basements in Texas. Like you said in the North many people have basements, which is not always the greatest thing.
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That’s a lot of money to spend on a space that doesn’t really need it. Its difficult to build a basement thats water-tight because the water table is so close to the ground in some parts of the state. Thats a lot of money to spend on a space that doesnt really need it. In northern climates the frost line - basically the depth at which soil does not freeze - is well below ground requiring deeper foundations, which lead to basements.
It is not all collected in the oil and gas fields across the state. In its natural state it is colorless, odorless and still quite volatile. The result is a crater where the house use to be and, from experience only, the household will be distributed over a half-area around the former home. After the April 2012 spate of tornadoes that hit Dallas suburbs—and the Dallas airport while my uncle was in it—I once again started wondering. Basements are the best way to shelter from tornadoes, yet many Tornado Alley parts don't have them.
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The surge of technological advancements of this age has left little to the imagination, and the construction of basements is possible at sites where it was once considered impossible. A great deal of these problems have solutions and arent unsolvable, but these solutions are expensive ones. Damp soil is the major culprit in most cases of missing basements in the southern states. If you want to build a basement, you’ll need to find a contractor who can do the work for you.
Only a non-resident or an individual from up North would notice the sheer absence of them in residential houses. Because the natives do not have an experience of the advantages of a basement, they do not feel the desire to have one either. Although the construction is not impossible, the maintenance of such basements is a hefty endeavor to undertake in Texas.
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We lived in El Paso, Texas when I was a teen and had one of the only houses with a basement at the time. It did flood one time but Dad got it fixed and there was never another problem with it. I've either been in or very near too many tornadoes during my lifetime not to be afraid of them. I'm not an architect or a home builder, but I'm a compulsive researcher. So I've been scouring for trustworthy answers from actual builders and architects. I hope the answers I've found here are right, but since I'm not an expert, I'd welcome any real homebuilders from Texas double-checking me and leaving a note in the guestbook below.
Topography refers to the shape of the ground its shape and elevation, locations of water and other features. He was of the opinion that Its a little bit of a cultural thing simply because most people are not accustomed to being around basements unless theyre from up north, he told the Dallas Morning News. Since most people dont have basements, they dont know what they are missing and thus dont have the compelling desire to attain them.
Similarly, the frost linethe point in the dirt where the soil does not freeze in the winteris much shallower in Texas than up north. In other parts of the country, home builders must dig deep to make it below the frost line, and since they are already down in the dirt, they may as well put in a basement. In other areas of Texas, there's damp clay soil that can push into basement walls, causing them to crack if not built correctly with the help of an engineer. There's also bedrock that looms near the surface in much of Texas that requires digging through it for a basement, which makes the whole process just too darn expensive. Similarly, the frost line—the point in the dirt where the soil does not freeze in the winter—is much shallower in Texas than up north.
If the local authorities catch you renovating the house or making improvements without a permit, you’ll be charged for violating the law. When you buy via links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. If you were doing assembly-line construction, it would be easier to build without a basement.
After making his way to Texas, Peewee finds out the hard way that there's no basement in the Alamo. If Peewee had known just a little bit about Texas real estate, he would have known that most homes in Texas don't have basements. It's a good question why houses in bushfire-prone areas don't have basements, as that would be a sensible place to shelter. I suspect cost is a factor - excavating and making an underground room dampproof is expensive and would add substantially to the cost of a house.
One less expensive type is called a floating foundation. Some areas are hard limestone thats very difficult and expensive to cut through to dig out a basement. The remaining areas have an unstable type of clay that swells significantly when it rains and shrinks during the dry season. To withstand the forces of the clay expanding and contracting, basements need additional reinforcement, and the extra costs make adding a basement less worth it. There are so many reasons why houses in Texas don’t have basements but the main one is the land’s topography.
Researches have shown that in certain areas such as Houston and Austin, the water table is extremely close to the surface, and one can find water within 7 to 10 feet down the surface. There are currently 9567 homes with basements for sale in Houston at a median listing price of $355K. Some of these homes are “Hot Homes,” meaning they’re likely to sell quickly. Most homes for sale in Houston stay on the market for 65 days and receive 1 offers.
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