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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. 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. One big reason to include a basement in your new home is more living space. Though Texas has plenty of room to spread out, homeowners in neighborhoods with small lots can add additional living space below ground.
It costs a lot more here than up north because local contractors aren’t used to building them. And the reason why is because basements aren’t common in Oklahoma. With the constant improvement in building technology and engineering, home builders in Texas are now able to construct basements in several areas where it was once considered impossible. Geology refers to the substances in the ground stone, sand, clay, soil.
Why Don't Texas Homes Have Basements?
Rocks require extensive drilling and excavations, with the need of blasting posing its need sometimes as well. Let’s assume you’ve moved to a different part of Texas, where the water table is no longer a problem. Chances are you’ll still have to deal with the high concentration of limestone bedrock. Compared to other rocks, limestone is relatively softer. To support the foundation that’s under the ground, you leave this sort of berm of soil.
A basement is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. No, but I was stranded on the wrong side of one of California's biggest wildfires in 2006. Let's just say that wildfires scare me a lot more than earthquakes. Here in Arkansas, our whole house is a basement because it is an underground house. It was a big mistake because this state is too wet for one like ours, but at least we are safe during storms. As someone who has tried to plant trees in central Texas, I can attest to the fact that there is much more rock than soil.
Are basements illegal in Texas?
Many people choose to live near San Antonio, TX because of its good reputation as well as its proximity to several parks and recreational areas. In fact, the clay soil found beneath the homes built in Texas has the ability to expand by 30% during the rainy season. Meaning that it can potentially exert 14,000 pounds of pressure on the foundation, thereby causing cracks. Historically, the water table in half of Texas has been very close to the surface, because the state is not that high above sea level. In Houston, for example, you can strike water just 10 feet down in many areas.
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.
What is an unfinished Texas basement?
Architects tend to send all the heavy lifting for a basement to a structural engineer which is why you don’t see many drawings by them. In Louisiana we also do not have basements, our water table is very high. You can dig a hole two feet deep and it just might fill with water overnight. Limestone is softer than many kinds of rock, but it's still a rock. So it costs more to excavate a basement in limestone than ordinary soil.
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.
Some of the same issues are in play here; for example, the shallow frost line and shifting clay in the soil make basements almost non-existent here--especially in older homes. If Texas would identify and acknowledge the 3’ drought line and built deeper foundations on footers the foundation failure rate in Texas would dissipate in new home construction immediately. Clay soil exists in lots of places with basements, easily dealt with by constructing a french drain and good thick walls. They may or may not have had an effect on peoples decision to build a basement, just like my "theory" on natural gas; but I have seen the craters in my lifetime. I always wanted a basement for building trains, and decided to change hobbies. This number is usually high due to the costs of excavation, building walls, waterproofing, flooring, and conditioning the space.
Builders must sink the pipes that far down so they won't freeze and break. In the south, the frost line tends to be less than a foot, so digging down is an unnecessary expense. They call it a “Yankee basement” or, well, sometimes a “root cellar,” where basically you take the interior perimeter of the foundation wall, move in about 2½, 3 feet and then dig down there. So you leave this sort of berm of soil to support the foundation that’s under the footing.
Our northern neighbors are familiar with the many uses of a basement such as game rooms, home theaters, or even self-contained living spaces, complete with a kitchen. I often wonder why there are not more basements in certain parts of the US. Homeowners in other parts of the country prefer living in homes that have basements because they provide additional space. They also offer seasonal comfort, as they are usually cooler during hot summers.
I would like to commend you on a great article because finding updated information about basements in Texas is not easy. Once again ground water is a site by site issue if at all. We’ve seen 2.5 gallons per minute of water coming into an excavation. That project has been dry for years due to proper drainage and management.
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