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KatyaR

(3,638 posts)

5. Our soil and the water table aren't conducive to basements.

Reply to Hugabear (Original post)

Mon May 20, 2013, 10:41 PM

May 2013

It's hard to keep basements water tight here.

Some big buildings will have some sort of an underground structure, but homes don't. I've lived here my entire life and probably don't know of a handful of homes that have basements. More people have been building safe rooms in their new home construction, they cost about $2,000 to add, but they're not as good as an old-fashioned underground shelter, and they're even more expensive to build.

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How can they build tall buildings in OKC area, but not basements? [View all] Hugabear May 2013 OP

probably because basements for houses costs $$ & buyers don't want to pay for them nt msongs May 2013 #1

Substrate. nadinbrzezinski May 2013 #2

Too expensive. And the risk, even in OK is really low in a lifetime. n-t Logical May 2013 #3

It's probably mostly the expense. AndyA May 2013 #4

Our soil and the water table aren't conducive to basements. KatyaR May 2013 #5

Maddow's team has answered this question nobodyspecial May 2013 #6

Thanks for the link. MinneapolisMatt May 2013 #11

tall buildings are already expensive dsc May 2013 #7

Weight? Texasgal May 2013 #8

You're putting an awful lot of words in my mouth Hugabear May 2013 #9

Simple cost pokerfan May 2013 #10

A high water table makes it hard to keep a basement dry. Arkansas Granny May 2013 #12

Some of the kids at a school who died, died of drowning so I heard. MNBrewer May 2013 #13

I believe so. And that's a problem, too. How do you make a basement flood-proof? randome May 2013 #16

I grew up in a house in Georgia with no basement MNBrewer May 2013 #17

When the building collapsed a water main ruptured. The children were trapped in the hall ... 11 Bravo May 2013 #19

$$$$ GeorgeGist May 2013 #14

I don't think basements in the houses I lived in were much TexasProgresive May 2013 #15

My understanding is Ok. has a relatively shallow bedrock hootinholler May 2013 #18