If you’d like to tell any Charlotte Realtor that you’re relocating from the North without actually telling them that you’re relocating from the North… Just say that you need a home with a basement. As a girl that grew up in the snow belt of New York State, I understand the confusion and the deep longing that some people have for subterranean storage space. However, basements just aren’t really a popular thing here, and quite simply it’s because of science! And they’re cost prohibitive, also due to science.
First, you can find a few basement homes around the area. These are most-often built due to the topography of a building lot. If there’s a large slope in the grading this could be perfect for a walk-out basement, which is the style you’re most likely to see around here.
Frost line and footers
Climate is a huge factor surrounding the great basement debate. When a home is built, for it to be structurally sound the foundation must be secured beneath what’s known as the frost line. This is the depth of the soil that experiences freezing during the winter months. In a colder climate the ground freezes further down, meaning that home structures must be dug deeper to ensure that the freezing and thawing of the ground doesn’t shift the home’s foundation.
A quick google search will tell you how deep an area’s frost line is into the soil. In the area of New York where I grew up the frost line is approximately 48 inches below the surface of the ground. With these homes needing to be anchored 4 feet into the ground, you’re already almost halfway to digging a useable basement as part of the structural requirements. Here in Charlotte, our frost line is only 12 inches down. That’s a lot less digging and a lot less costly to build. Hence, why we have a lot of homes on crawlspace foundations; we don’t need much more than that for a sturdy base to a home.
Ground water depth
Another piece of the climate discussion is the height of what’s known as the water table, which is how close to the surface soil is consistently saturated with water. Here in NC, our water table is relatively close to the surface, which means when you dig something like a basement it’s really, really difficult to keep it dry. I’ve heard someone liken building a basement to trying to build a reversed swimming pool; where you have to make the structure completely waterproof to keep water out of the pool instead of in the pool. The level of waterproofing needed to ensure that there aren’t issues with moisture, mold and mildew in your basement is extensive to say the least.
Soil composition
Here in NC you will see that our soil is a high percentage of red clay. Clay is heavy. Wet clay is even worse. Based on the high water table level discussed above and the clay composition of our soil, basements are REALLY expensive to build.
Given the high cost of constructing a basement, the potential moisture problems that they can harbor and the fact that there is no need for the depth of the support structure in this climate, most homebuyers don’t see value of having a basement and would rather spend that money elsewhere in their home. If you’ve had a basement your whole life you might feel like you’re lacking storage when you look at homes here, but know that you’re also saving money on building costs of your home and you’re dodging potential maintenance issues down the line.
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