Home construction questions

[wilas101]

My wife and I have been discussing building a house and weighing our options between having a basement and not having one. One of the big pros for no basement is much cheaper construction cost. The unknown part for me is how much cheaper.

Anyone know how thick a pad of concrete would have to be for a house? 3", 4", 6"? Also, any idea of how much a 40' x 70' pad would cost a person? (ballpark figure would work for me, I just need a rough idea)

thanks

[Hoover]

17 dollars

[Phobia]

Yeah - Brian will be along shortly to sell you a kick ass product. It costs a little more, but it's well worth it.

[Goapics1]

17 dollars

A basement for ants?

[Rain Man]

I don't know much about costs, but I'll bet that you'll eventually regret not building a basement if you go without it.

[Fat Elvis]

A lot of the cost depends on whether or not you plan on finishing the basement. If you want to increase resale value, whether you finish it or not, definitely go with a basement.

Edit: Are you looking at a base first floor square footage of 2800 sq. ft.? (40x70) If so, you'll definitely want a basement in a house that size...unless you live in like Texas or Arizona. If you live in KS, MO or OK or some midwestern state, you need a basement.

[seclark]

we're just starting to build...going w/a full basement. if you're building your own house, it should be what you want.
sec

[Fat Elvis]

The cost will depend on the type of lot you have as well. Does the lot support a walkout basement?

[Goapics1]

Are you close to water (pond, lake, ocean)?

[bricks]

My wife and I have been discussing building a house and weighing our options between having a basement and not having one. One of the big pros for no basement is much cheaper construction cost. The unknown part for me is how much cheaper.

Anyone know how thick a pad of concrete would have to be for a house? 3", 4", 6"? Also, any idea of how much a 40' x 70' pad would cost a person? (ballpark figure would work for me, I just need a rough idea)

thanks

When you say padding are you refering to flooring? Just making sure.

[wilas101]

ok. sorry for not giving more info.

what got me started on this was investigation into steel buildings. A lot of people are starting to build houses using morton buildings or butler buildings then finishing out the inside. As I'm looking at this I find a place that sells steel home kits. www.rhinobldg.com

Basically you get you exterior walls, interior walls and roof trusses and all the connectors, etc. Then you just finish the house as any other wooden framed house. You can get a pretty decent sized kit (3 or 4 bedroom, den, garage) for what sounded like a reasonable amount so I decided to start doing some figuring to get an idea of the final cost.

Obviously the options here would be to construct on top of a basement or to pour a concrete pad and construct on it. The model I was looking at isn't exactly 40'x70' because the garage sticks out on one corner and a bedroom sticks out on the backside.

I suppose a simpler question would have been how much would it cost per square foot to pour a concrete pad "x" number of inches thick with "x" being the recommended thickness for a house.

Just from talking with people who have had basements poured in the past few years I had a rough idea of 30'ish thousand to set it on a basement so I was wondering how much cheaper to set it on a pad of concrete.

I'm not much of a construction guy so I'm afraid I'm not making much sense.

[Phobia]

Oh - you need to talk to Nzoner. He has a huge morton building.

[PastorMikH]

Basements add shelter for storms as well as doubling the square footage of a single level home for a fraction of the costs per square foot on the main floor.

A few problems with concrete slabs is that if you have any plumbing problems, you have to use a jackhammer to get to the pipes. Dad has a house built on a slab. It has cracked and settled. Now, after 20 years, one of the bedrooms has an inch and a half to two inch ridge in the floor from the slab settling.

I'd go with a basement - but I'd also spend a little more to make sure it is water-proof.

[Manila-Chief]

Before I left the U.S.A. we built a church building using a metal building. At first our lending agency didn't want to lend us the money coz they thought metal all the way. Of course the only metal visible was the roof. We used brick for the outside walls and finished the inside like a regular building. It still looks great and saved us a bunch of money.

But, it was on a slab.

Check out:

http://andyshowto.com/structural.htm

It says it has a 4' slab. Also, I think it is for a "metal" building?????

[redbrian]

Ok here are my two cents on the issue.

Let me preface this with saying that up until recently I was selling ICF Forms (insulated concrete forms).

The key to building a new home is how energy efficient it is; energy costs need to be considered when building a new home not only from a monthly outlay but also from a resale standpoint. In the very near future energy efficient homes will sell first and for more in the market place.

Basements are for the most part desirable from several stand points, I don’t know where you’re building but in the KC area a storm shelter is very desirable. The cheapest and best place for a storm shelter is in the basement under the front porch. It cost really nothing to excavate out this area and build four walls out of concrete.

The other two issues in building a basement are water and mold.
The rule of thumb is if you have good drainage damp proof, if you have poor drainage waterproof. But in all cases make sure that you have an excellent drainage system installed around the base of the wall and in the case of poor drainage another drainage system about halfway up the wall.

Now as I said I used to do ICF blocks and have since changed my thinking.

Here is how I would do a basement. Have a standard wall poured, then when the forms are removed adhere 2” thick styrene sheets to the exterior, on the inside use steel studs on 2’ centers (if local codes allow, 16” centers otherwise), then have the space between the studs insulated with the spray foam insulation (for a green house use the soy based foam).

This system in my opinion would give the driest warmest basement with little chance of mold growing (there is still some chance of mold growing on the back of the sheet rock if moisture is introduced).

As far as the above ground the steel buildings are not bad, but again use foam insulation. You are looking to make the structure air tight as opposed to R-value. The tighter you make the building the better. Over 60% of energy loss is due to air penetration. The other thing you want to do is install an air make up unit with will pump at least 15cfm of outside air per occupant into the home. You will want a unit that filters the air and is at least 50% efficient. And the unit should run constantly, so that you are actually pressurizing the home about .015 inches of water. (you determine a homes occupancy rate based on the number of bedrooms, count 2 for the master bedroom and then 1 for each additional bedroom, so a 4 bedroom home will have an occupancy rate of 5 and need at least 75cfm of fresh air).

[redbrian]

Before I left the U.S.A. we built a church building using a metal building. At first our lending agency didn't want to lend us the money coz they thought metal all the way. Of course the only metal visible was the roof. We used brick for the outside walls and finished the inside like a regular building. It still looks great and saved us a bunch of money.

But, it was on a slab.

Check out:

http://andyshowto.com/structural.htm

It says it has a 4' slab. Also, I think it is for a "metal" building?????

Banks don't want to lend money on anything different. The big problem is if at least 3 homes like the one you are going to build have not sold on the market. Without the comparable the big banks for the most part won’t touch it.

If this turns out to be the case try a small local bank they tend to be more flexible.

[Iowanian]

If I were building a house, I'd wait until I could afford a fullsized basement.....its great for storage and a manzone...I'm not talking about that in a pillowbiter way...Football-Bigscreen room, work bench complete with vice and grinder.....

You should be sure to talk to joe seahawk about your waterproofing materials...

If I couldn't afford that basement, I'd delay my project until I could, and thats exactly what I told a family member with a similar question last week.


If you're looking for an alternative, I know of some people who have build wood frame basements....Its a different concept, and I've lived in a house with one that is holding up very, very well. they're definitely cheaper too.

http://www.toolbase.org/tertiaryT.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=1286&DocumentID=2067
http://www.southernpine.com/pwf.shtml
http://www.cwc.ca/applications/foundations/


I just moved into a house we bought last saturday, and had a tornado saturday night. With a family, thats reason enough for a basement in the midwest.

[redbrian]

If I were building a house, I'd wait until I could afford a fullsized basement.....its great for storage and a manzone...I'm not talking about that in a pillowbiter way...Football-Bigscreen room, work bench complete with vice and grinder.....

You should be sure to talk to joe seahawk about your waterproofing materials...

If I couldn't afford that basement, I'd delay my project until I could, and thats exactly what I told a family member with a similar question last week.


If you're looking for an alternative, I know of some people who have build wood frame basements....Its a different concept, and I've lived in a house with one that is holding up very, very well. they're definitely cheaper too.

http://www.toolbase.org/tertiaryT.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=1286&DocumentID=2067
http://www.southernpine.com/pwf.shtml
http://www.cwc.ca/applications/foundations/


I just moved into a house we bought last saturday, and had a tornado saturday night. With a family, thats reason enough for a basement in the midwest.

I'm not a big fan of the wood frame basement for three reasons; water, mold and insects. I know they can and have been done, but you’re asking for problems with the system. A monolithic concrete wall is far superior.

[Iowanian]

I understand that.....I'm only providing a cheaper alternative for a basement for the guy. I do know and have been in a handful of houses with wooden foundations, both with crawl spaces and a "basement". Most were constructed 20+ years ago and I've seen nothing of a problem yet. I'm sure they do exist.

[KC Kings]

A lot of the cost depends on whether or not you plan on finishing the basement. If you want to increase resale value, whether you finish it or not, definitely go with a basement.

Edit: Are you looking at a base first floor square footage of 2800 sq. ft.? (40x70) If so, you'll definitely want a basement in a house that size...unless you live in like Texas or Arizona. If you live in KS, MO or OK or some midwestern state, you need a basement.

2800 sq ft on the first floor! That is a big ol house!

I need to have a basement for storage reasons alone. I hate having a garage packed so full with boxes and storage tubs that you can't even pull a car in. Preferably I would get a split level house. I just bought a California split, and it has a basement (walkout) with 25 x 25 family room for big screen and man zone, and has a sub basement that you would be more prone to water, but build shelves and I will have a ton of storage space.

[Nzoner]

what got me started on this was investigation into steel buildings. A lot of people are starting to build houses using morton buildings or butler buildings then finishing out the inside.

Don't know if this will help you as I'm not much of a construction guy myself.We were able to get a 10,500 sq ft wood framed metal building with a two car detatched metal garage for a little under $120,000.

We went with 2 levels,having our business on the 1st floor and living on the 2nd floor.The above price also included the cement pad,an 8 ft thick concrete bomb shelter(the mrs being from Kansas wasn't living in a metal buliding without a shelter from tornadoes),all the interior wall construction,the doors,windows,a couple of sidewalks,2 docks for the business and a 90 ft 2nd floor wood deck with stairs.

One thing I will tell you is a must and that is an in-ground heat pump with the blown-in insulation.Ours was an additional $10,000 but we are total electric and have never had a total bill over $400.

The only two downsides I can tell you is high wind and some of the creaking you experience as well as a good hailstorm on a metal roof.

Other than that you can really do up the inside anyway you want.

Hope that was of some help,if I can answer anything else let me know.