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Slab VS Partial VS Crawl


wagner

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Clever, and I am pretty sure I follow it :)

 

With a slab your furnace is usually within earshot of your bedroom or living area and you lack major storage. Those are the 2 biggest drawbacks

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With a slab your furnace is usually within earshot of your bedroom or living area and you lack major storage. Those are the 2 biggest drawbacks

 

Outstanding and useful answer thank you. We are trying to rule stuff out and this should help out.

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My house is a 3 level split, main floor on slab. Slab floor got a bit colder in winter, but when i remodeled, i put down subfloor panels to insulate it. Better now

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that a slab will create a constant cold ambiant feel

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Fucking noob

 

LOL. Crawl = lotsa space for a home theater. ;)

 

Srsly, unless it's a professional job, Fully finished basements aren't worth the extra dollar. If there is any sort of functional issue with the basement, you'll need to pay to REMOVE the finished fixtures, do repair, and then pay to "refinish" whatever damage/demolition is now there.

 

I live in a split-level ranch...not the sexiest looking thing from the outside but I have 3 floors of great living space and a partially finished basement (tile floor, drywall interior walls, painted cinderblock outside walls) to store all my crap; I don't need 5 different TV rooms in my house to stay entertained.

 

Bottom line: If you want to save money in the long run, find a house with an unfinished basement where the main floors still serve your life well enough. You can always finish out the basement yourself at some point.

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LOL. Crawl = lotsa space for a home theater. ;)

 

Srsly, unless it's a professional job, Fully finished basements aren't worth the extra dollar. If there is any sort of functional issue with the basement, you'll need to pay to REMOVE the finished fixtures, do repair, and then pay to "refinish" whatever damage/demolition is now there.

 

I live in a split-level ranch...not the sexiest looking thing from the outside but I have 3 floors of great living space and a partially finished basement (tile floor, drywall interior walls, painted cinderblock outside walls) to store all my crap; I don't need 5 different TV rooms in my house to stay entertained.

 

Bottom line: If you want to save money in the long run, find a house with an unfinished basement where the main floors still serve your life well enough. You can always finish out the basement yourself at some point.

 

We have seen a few split-levels that are nice. I agree with saving and doing the basement myself over time.

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Another bonus of a full basement is easier access to everything on the first floor...I.E. plumbing, electrical, ductwork, etc as its all in the (generally) open ceiling of the basement.
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We have seen a few split-levels that are nice. I agree with saving and doing the basement myself over time.

 

+1, I finished my basement personally, and it wasn't all that bad price wise and is a great space. I was lucky that my basement never had water issues previously, but I still waited a year after buying to make sure it stayed dry everywhere before finishing it.

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I HATE my crawl space. It is just big enough that you should have no problem getting to stuff. However, it is just small enough the only thing that can easily get in there are the neighborhood cats and raccoons. I actually had one get in through a loose vent, find a space to crawl up the wall and get stuck in between my first and second floors resulting in me having to tear out a piece of cieling to get it out. Anytime I have to work in the crawl space it is an all day job and usually requires one in the crawl space and one up above. Once you are in sucks to get out so you'd rather belly crawl to the hole and ask for tools, parts, etc. then fight your way in and out. I constantly debate about digging it out and making a full basement. In my mind it is such a waste of space. It also provides a super cooling area for all the duct work and piping. It is the first house I have had with a crawl (have had slab and full before) and it is the first house that I have had frozen pipes.
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I have lived in a slab, full and a partial basement home. In the slab we wished we had a basement as the years went on, we gained more stuff and had kids which came with more stuff. Now with a crawl space we see how pointless it is and wish we had a full basement(although it wouldnt have changed our mind on buying this house). And the full basement was great and it doesnt give you something to wish you could change.
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I would be slightly hesitant of a finished basement because it covers up the foundation. Just recently after 40 years I have a bowing basement wall. If the wall was finished I probably would not have noticed. Over all I love my basement. In fact I would love to buy a house built into the side of a hill with an exposed wall. I would put a garage door in and make the entire basement the garage. Whatever you do, when you find something you are interested in, hire an inspector to look for all the shit you never thought to look for.
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Full, unfinished basement is the way to go. Only thing to keep in mind is there will be issues with it, either with water or with the walls moving or cracking. As long as you are able to budget for that, then go that route. It makes the floors upstairs warm, keeps noisy appliances away from you, and allows you to run cable to pipes or whatever you want with ease. I have a crawlspace which I can still run cable under, but doing a military crawl through gravel in the dark isn't much fun.
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Oh yeah, I forgot to add that a slab will create a constant cold ambiant feel

 

my house never really felt cold, just the floors when i walked on them in the winter...this year though, after the subfloor panels, everything was fine

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So far, my favorite is large (long) ranch with full basement.

 

Feels like a bowling alley down there and even if I finish half (which I will), that leaves a ton of room for utilities and storage.

 

Nice to have a heated area under the main floor too.

 

Like Beer30 said, also great for access to crap on the main floor.

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