Wood Basement construction/experience info wanted

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We plan on building in northern MN. next year and are contemplating going with a wood basement as we are doing the work and it would save time/money. Anyone with experience or info on durability and possible problems?

-- Mike/Debbie Robinson (robinwoodrealm@rcn.com), March 18, 2001

Answers

As a semi retired contractor, I recommend concrete. It's a lot stronger, generally speaking, and won't rot out, and does not require deadly chemicals to prevent bugs and dryrot. It's not that expensive, if you do the work yourself; in fact, I'd be amazed if you could beat the price using wood.

JOJ

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@ecoweb.net), March 18, 2001.


I built my dads place about 14 years ago, in Northern Minnesota. He is about half way between Grand Rapids and Hibbing. We built a rambler, 22' by 44', with a walk out. The basement is wood, and we have never had any problems with it. There are a couple things to rember, all nails below grade must be stainless steel, and the supports are 1' on center rahter than the normal 16". I would build another wood basement any time. Fast, easy to do, and it is the warmest basement I have aver been in. I would strongly recomend a air hammer also. Driving all those nails by hand gets tough. Drop me a note if you have any other questions. Steve

-- Steve (collins@cpinternet.com), March 19, 2001.

I have a freind who built a large dome house with full basement. The entire foundation and basement walls are built out of pressure treated lumber and pressure treated plywood. He expects a lifespan of about 25 years out of it here in the wet Pacific Northwest.

The basement floor is a concrete slab with heating coils.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), March 19, 2001.


Straw would be a better bet... With either material you will need a water/vapor barrier, but... Straw won't burn through like wood will if there is a fire, it provides triple the insulation, its cheaper, and more versatile. Because it should be sealed with a concrete/stucco coating, bugs getting into it won't be a problem. With wood, termites are not the only critters that can undermine it.

Treated wood can cause problems with allergies, you can't let it get wet because the chemicals bleed out, the gases make it impossible to grow anything near it (like starting seedlings). And, if you do the laundry in the basement, it will be too hard to keep it from rotting.

Just some thoughts. I've never done it, but I've got a friend who used wood and had nothing but problems. We used straw in a (tiny) project and it worked beautifully. Also, our shed/cold cellar had a curved wall at one end - pretty hard to do that with wood...

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 20, 2001.


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