My house is 1600 sq ft., The basement is a full basement so it is 1600 sq ft as well. 952 not seem that big, but if you finish it, in addition to your upstairs, you will have a lot of extra room.... Enjoy

I think that it always seems small when you're in the build process. We just added a basement to our existing home and it looked pretty dinky to me. The house is 1,100 sq. It looks bigger as the walls go up. It seems like it should be just the opposite.

Our basement is only about 650 sq. ft. and it gives us plenty of extra room. However, there are only two of us. It's finished except for the laundry area and has a "1/3" bath (toilet only).

Our house is 1680 sq ft (2 storey). In addition we have a 840 sq ft basement. Our basement is not finished but we have a large storage area, spare bed, work bench and TV/couch area. The kids play down there. There is plenty of room.

I think 952 sq ft is plenty. I would keep some unfinished space for storage space too.

We were actually planning on making 240 sq ft of it storage and laundry. The footer just looks so small. I guess we just have to plan out how to utilize the space the best.

We have a walk out on one side and are trying to also figure out the best way to possibly add a bath in the future. We have the elevation to be able to do this. Would the best method me to tie into the septic main inside the house or outside the house. Also would I want to add any pipes right now to make this easier in the future.

I have an 800 sq ft basement. We are only going to finish off 400 sq ft and are leaving the other 400 sq ft for the oil tank, boiler and storage. Even an extra 400 sq ft makes a big difference for extra living space.

My 800 sq ft basement is my storm shelter in case of a tornado, the place where my furnace, well pump,water softener reside. As well as the futur home of my Sauna to get away from my spouse, In a 2800 sq ft house I get 800 sq ft of my space and I get to pay the mortgage; go figure.
It seems big enough until my German Shepard says he wants a spot in the winter. :>)

My basement square footage is the same as the first floor of my house which is 1950sf. We finished about 1400 sf of it last year. We put in a bedroom, bathroom, small media room with a kitchen along one wall and an exercise room. The basement gets used all the time and we really love the extra space. It is also a great in-law or guest suite. The remaining 500 sf is my husbands shop area and a walk in storage room.

Annette

jkbogle,

952 does seem small to me also. What are you planning to have on the first floor. I have 1275 on first floor, and that is 2 bedroom, 2 bath, small galley kitchen, fair sized liv room, small dining room/area, and a small hall utility. If you have any more than that, they will be pretty small.

Your builder should tell you what he should do now for you to have a bath down there later.

A friend of mine has a bath in the basement and has something that makes it flush 'up' or so he said.

Sue
I have a full basement as well, but haven't had the need to finish any of it...yet. I live alone and consider my house fine for myself, or maybe 1 other person.

What an odd post :)
Of course 952 sq foot is small if you need to play soccer in the basement. Or install a bowling alley. Small compared to what? Just because bigger is better? If so, then you'd have to increase the footprint of the house to get a bigger basement, methinks. Or tunnel over to the neighbor's. It's pretty huge if all you need to do is do the laundry down there.
Are you saying that some of math is wrong, compared to the upstairs?

Chris- As the post indicated, this was an attempt to determine the "average" basement square footage. I felt as if my basement footprint was small in comparison to the "average" single family dwelling. As the previous posts indicate, this as about "average". Although I did find your post amusing, I think I have the awnsers I was looking for. Thanks for the effort!