# Home buyers - how important is a basement?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-buyers-how-important-is-a-basement/838404>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 9, 2019, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-buyers-how-important-is-a-basement/838404 "2019-08-09T11:28:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-buyers-how-important-is-a-basement/838404/61 "2019-08-12T13:02:21Z")

</div>

Just wanna say, the main thing I’ve gotten from this thread is a reminder of how much I dislike the term/concept of “man cave.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-buyers-how-important-is-a-basement/838404/62 "2019-08-12T13:45:20Z")

</div>

> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> A foundation and a basement are two different things. The foundation goes below the basement.

And if your frost line is deep enough, it makes more sense to just build a basement than to put in a mega-slab of concrete.

As was already mentioned in the OP itself and shown by several other posts, it’s very much a regional thing. I’d generally want to have one if they’re normal in the area, but wouldn’t insist on one if they’re not: there’s likely to be good reasons either way. For example, in Miami or New Orleans a basement is a flood waiting to happen, thus they’re not particularly common in either; meanwhile in most of the central US they’re common and double as a tornado refuge.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-buyers-how-important-is-a-basement/838404/63 "2019-08-12T15:20:49Z")

</div>

> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Guys without basements: where is your man-cave?😕

We recently bought a house with no basement, the first no-basement home I have ever owned. We did it primarily because this is planned to be our last home - 2400 sq. ft. all on one level. My “man cave” is my home office, which was the 4th bedroom. Not big enough for a pool table, but I really don’t need one of those anyway. My tools and workshop spaces are the garage, barn and 2 permanent storage buildings.

So far, I don’t miss the basement. That said, I wouldn’t be sad if one magically appeared under the house one day!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![skyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@skyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skyr)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-buyers-how-important-is-a-basement/838404/64 "2019-08-12T22:26:15Z")

</div>

I would definitely want a basement in the midwest or southeast due to the tornado risk. Sure, it doesn’t happen every year, but since you may only have a few minutes to get into shelter if a tornado does happen, you want somewhere to go.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-buyers-how-important-is-a-basement/838404.md?page=3)