Robert Allison wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
Robert Allison wrote:

aemeijers wrote:

(educational personal knowledge snipped)

For various reasons, I have only seen about 5 basements in my 35 years
of construction in this area. They just don't make sense down here.
When someone has a basement, it is sort of a; Wow, that is wild! kind of
thing.

OTOH, plenty of storm cellars.

30 bucks per square foot sounds like real cheap space to me. Doesn't
above-grade finish space still run upwards of 120 per square foot? Even
if you cut that in half and call it 'semi-finished storage', the hole in
the ground looks like a winner.

Oh, I believe you that No Basement is the 'usual and customary' in your
area. And in Louisiana, even in the first solid land one parish back
from the Gulf, the water table is too damn high for basements, unless
you build a hill on the lot.

But where are people supposed to keep all their STUFF? (Tools, kid crap,
off-season decorations, workbenches, etc.) In Lake Charles, everyone has
a storage shed (Called a Louisiana basement)in the back end of their
carport, and it is always filled like Fibber McGee's closet. How do they
do it over in Texas? Up here in Michigan, the folks without proper
basements end up with multiple prefab backyard sheds, or put up pole
barns if they are rich enough. (In summer, they fill the garage, but you
have to park inside in winter up here unless you are a masochist- it SNOWS.)

Or do people building new houses simply swear off being packrats?

aem sends...