Walk out basement floor plans - critiques welcome
Breeanne C
last year
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littlebug Zone 5 Missouri
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basement options? walk out, look out?
Comments (21)We just built a walk out basement and love it! We came from Missouri so we were VERY accustomed to walk outs with the hills, but when we moved to Oklahoma, the land is just to flat. But we found a hill! Most people here have no idea what a walk out basement is until they see a picture. We have very young boys but I am not nervous about having the walk out. The deck is high but really the railing is tall and tight so I have no worries about them falling. I like having a level front yard and level backyard. Our landscaping is simple, we built a boulder retaining wall to hold back the dirt on one side of the house but the other side has a gentle slope so we just graded it off. Most people see the front of your house anyway and it just looks like a normal house. The basement ceiling is over 9ft and with huge windows so it is very bright open and doesn't feel like a basement at all. There is no doubt that we would do a walk out basement again. I love being able to access the backyard from the basement and having a patio and deck is nice. We planned the deck so we could add stairs from the deck to the backyard later if we decide to, but I like how useable the space is without stairs. The energy efficiency of the basement is so much better than a normal 2 story would be and we still get the space without a huge footprint....See MorePlease critique my floor plan
Comments (25)I understand the need for saving money on what you build. However keep in mind that a rectangular foundation and walls will be cheaper to build than a bump-out for stairs. That bump out will end up costing you more than adding as part of the normal rectangle. More expensive foundation wise, the tie in to the roof, more material to build u-turn steps etc. The plan posted by bungeii is a really good workable plan. As solie suggested you could remove the master closet use space from bedroom 2 for the master closet. Bedroom 3 will be pushed into bedroom 2. That would take off around 112 sq ft and make it close to 1300 sq ft. You would also be able to get a larger closet for the office/bedroom and it would be a good size to squeeze guests in too in addition to office space. Another thing to cut down on costs is to keep bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry close to each other as the plumbing is shorter to route. For the bath size - as you age it will be better to have space to be able to move around easily or if you'd need help with anything....See MoreFinished walk-out basement or over garage bonus - new build
Comments (17)nidnay - at our current facility we have an 8 stall barn with a bathroom, 12' X 18' office, and 12' X 24' tackroom, with the barn being about 125' away from the back of our house (facing it actually). I've lived here for 18 years now and we RARELY EVER use the stalls, so we don't plan on building a 'stable' (or a barn with stalls). The horses are going to live out with shelters in each pasture. Our current barn had to have it's own it's own septic system. $$$ The current land we are looking at only had one perc site for 4 bedrooms. I don't want to pay for the test for a second perc ($250) plus the cost of having another septic system (about $4K), as well as creating a climate controlled office and bathroom in the barn (a mini split system is about $3K and a 2 piece bathroom probably around $2K). That is about $10K right there in a separate septic, a 2 piece bathroom, and office and climate control for both (as well as permitting, creating plans, etc.). All things that would have already been in the house at the square footage we had to build. Plus grading for a large barn was going to be expensive. We found a place next to the house to put in a modest shed row 'barn' for a tack room, feed room and grooming, that will work with the topography of the land for minimal grading work. We did this to keep things cost effective. It's just my husband and I living in this house, it's not like we have kids to keep separated from my business. We're both fine with this situation. The door up the stairs to the main floor will have a lock on it. And I don't have a lesson mill program, I focus on quality not quantity. I've been teaching for over 20 years now. I keep about 8 weekly students at any given time. I get to know my students and my parents well... my students tend to stick around for years. Same for my boarders. We'll have 2 or 3 boarders at the new location. At our current facility 3 of our customers have been with us for 5+ years. At one point or another I end up paying most of my students and all of my boarders to house sit / dog sit / farm sit for us when we go on vacation. I'm pretty confident they are not going to bust the door down to access the main floor of my home. And they won't be there at inappropriate hours of the day / night anyhow. Vigil Carter - I guess you didn't read my last post. We priced out a 1 story 'ranch' with the same builder. 2200 sq ft was going to cost $209,000 THEN another $15K because of the sloped ground to add more courses to the crawl space foundation. This 1700 sq ft two story house, without walkout basement, came in at $178K pre-basement. The cost of the completely finished 840 sq ft basement, with a grand total heated sq ft of 2540, came to a total less than the single story 2200 sq ft ranch. Though we could have gotten a separate entrance in-law space, the in-law space would have been way smaller (by over 150 sq ft) and I would not have had an office that was separate from my main living space. I lift 50 pound bags of feed and hay nearly daily and my husband is military / infantry, we are active horse riders and hikers. I think we can handle interior stairs for another 12+ years. :) At that point if it starts to bother us then we can add a master suit to the side of the house (which we had already spec'd out anyhow but we just do not need at this time)....See MoreFinishing attic and walk out basement
Comments (5)The problem wouldn't be the height, but whether the structural members (e.g. joists) were designed to support a livable build-out. Looking at the plans, it appears as though this is the case, but I'd check before getting too far in the process....See MoreMolly D. Zone4B
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