June 08, 2005

Being a northerner, I have the best of both worlds (attic and full basement)

I could probably live without the attic, but theres no way I could live without the basement. (Where do you southerners install your furnaces and hot water heaters? And the holding tank for the well water? Oil tank? Litter box?)

Plus, being that we have a FULL basement, we finished off half of it (the half without the furnace, and well water crapola) and made a family room with bar and pool table......(cuz every "family" needs some place to drink and shoot pool...lol)

As far as the crud (okay, "treasures") in the attic goes....well, lets just say its outta control, why the last time I went up there to dig out some Christmas decorations, I found Anne Frank....

I agree. I lost both my parents while I was in my early twenties....and several years before my daughter was born. While she enjoys the stories my inlaws tell her about her dad's childhood...there is no one left to tell her those things about me. So...how wonderful it is that my mother, too, hung on to every little thing...like report cards, artwork, and yes, even baby teeth....and that I'm able to share them with my child. Those things are worth WAY MORE to me than any of the "real" valuables they left behind.

Ruth,
There's generally a "mechanical room" on ground level by the garage or combined with the garage. That's where the water heater goes. The litter box tends to end up either in the laundry room or the mechanical room.

Wellheads have thier own outbuildings.

Lamont

Gotcha Lamont...

Your well has its own outbuilding? holy moly...My wellhead is way out back, but the holding tank for the water itself is in the basement....

You learn something new everyday....

BUT one last question, if you dont have a basement, where on earth do hide when a tornado comes thru?

We just stand out in the rain and wave the damn thing north

LOL@ GUYK :)

No Southern basements? The entire South is not flat. Build your house on a hill! Duh.

My folks in Mississippi have a basement, you can just barely thread your way through it, it's so full. But in southeast Georgia, and darn near all of Florida (where I am) Rob is right, more than a few feet down and you're ready for swimming/wading/fishing. Hills? Sorry, the ground may slope here and there, but you've got to go quite a ways inland to find an actual hill. Once you start seeing red clay, maybe. But down here it's sand rather than dirt you could put a basement in, unless you've got mucho money. (And then it'll leak on you, sure as shootin'.)

I live in South Florida and I have a full basement. It is my sanctuary. All you need to do is build it out of waterproof concrete and not make any holes in it below ground level. My attic stays at 150 degrees or better. The only thing we keep up there is christmas decorations. My wife keeps a closet full of the family heirlooms. I too spend hours looking at them sometimes.

Yup, My best days as a boy were in the basement. Building model airplanes, first kiss and all that. Got the best now. A walkout.

I could not stand to live in a house without a basement. There is no better place to set up a room for Gaming, and the constant temperature is always a plus.