Almost no one has a basement, finished for entertaining or unfinished for storage, in their homes here. Perhaps a few older homes might but any new build in the last 50 years is built on a concrete slab. It almost defies logic to me. It can get very hot in many Australian areas and so an underground basement would be a cooler asset to have. Only in the opal mining area of Coober Pedy are some sleeping arrangements made subterranean. And where do people store their off-season clothing, sporting equipment, suitcases and other bulky stuff that does not need to be upfront and center all the time? We have a metal cage in a room off a parking shelter on the far side of the adjoining property. Not exactly convenient, nor climate controlled in any way and the past has shown for it not to be entirely safe from burglary. A colleague pointed out that Mother England isn't basement happy either. Sure, people will have root or wine cellars but real basements? Why? Basements are not unAustralian, just not Australian by tradition.
Why not, I say? I understand why attics may be in short supply in a land of ten-month summers but my valuable stuff needs a home, too.
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| My valuable stuff. |
So the challenge is not to look like we're aspirants for a Hoarders Realty Show or 'need' what we really don't. But sometimes I feel like a squatting college student.
And dream of homes with basements.
From Reader D.D. :
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on your basement fondness. Even though mine is more of a true cellar than a basement (no way would you want to actually bivouac down there unless you were seeking shelter from a tornado and life and limb were at risk), but still, as you say, the storage space is invaluable. Plus, our big freezer is down there (no room for it in my small kitchen), which is a v-e-r-y good thing because I store some of the yummier desserts in it (like cheesecakes and specialty candy) . When I get the urge to splurge on some calorie-laden treat, I weigh very carefully the intensity of my desire for it against the energy I'll have to expend trudging downstairs into that dungeon-esque underworld (and back up again, don't forget) in order to score that amount of yumminess. So it serves as a bit of a diet guardian as well. But not always. :-) And you are so right about it being m-u-c-h cooler than the main floor . . . I'd say probably 20 degrees. So HOORAY for basements, I'll get on that bandwagon for sure.
Basements are not a luxury, they are an integral part of residential architecture. Just ask anyone who has ever lived with one and then had to do without!! As this blog so clearly made the point, there are sound ecological reasons for houses to be built with one. Not if you live in a flood plain maybe, but everywhere else-yes! " Basements are not just for savers, they are for the Earth!" Has a certain ring to it, no?? Basement backers, be silent no more! :D)
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