自住房最好能有地下室For an Owner-Occupied Home, It’s Best to Have a Basement
在美国多地如伊州地下室非常重要。我建议大家买房尽量挑有地下室的。有人以为地下室没啥用，买房时不太在意其有无。看到没地下室的房子比有地下室的便宜好多就买没地下室的。须知房子没地下室原因复杂，有的是地下坚硬，建地下室成本太高；有的是临河近水或地势太低或地下土质不宜建地下室，更多的是为多快好省盖房而不建地下室。建地下室是建房最为费时之事，也很费钱，地下室的建筑成本占建两层独立民居的很大比例。
房子是为了住，因此居住空间很重要；地下室拓宽居住空间，故而地下室越大越好。房子的上层空间过大，冬费暖气夏费电；而地下室则冬不需加热，夏不必制冷，恒温宜人。
地下室有如下好处：
一是存放物品。
住家总会有些东西要存放，地下室能存别处难容之物。恒温的地下室不仅可存放杂物，还可储存食物，可做酒窖。若想做点小生意，地下室会带来多少方便！
二是安放有噪声的设备。
制暖锅炉、洗衣机、风干机等产生噪音的设备可安在地下室。
三是可开辟娱乐、锻炼和居住空间。
地下室可开辟为娱乐室或健身房，还可装修为聚会之所或客房。为此，买房时要看看地下室是否预设有加装厕所的排水排污管道接口；地下室窗户多多益善，最好四面皆有。
四是可暂避龙卷风、躲过极端天气。
美国现在新建独立民居很少用砖石、水泥板等沉重建材，而多用钢架、木头、胶合板、隔热层、干墙等现代建材。龙卷风一来，房子便如纸盒被吹倒甚至卷跑。躲避龙卷风的最好之处莫过于地下室。
极冷时供暖中断、极热时空调失效可躲地下室。地下室有地土提供的自然空调，衡定温度为六十五度左右，极寒时地下室一般能有六十度，极热时地下室可维持在七十度。
五是以防万一，收无用之用。
美国爱不远万里去惹事生非。如今拥核国家越来越多，疯狂政客如茁壮少年的青春痘不时冒出，谁知会发生什么。白宫有地堡，有些富人也修有地堡。美国有核弹防御系统，那玩意要真灵他们也不修地堡了。惹出事来大人物们携儿带女缩头往地堡一钻，安然无恙；平头百姓也得有自保之法，地下室可权充地堡。核弹的杀伤力主要来自冲击波和热辐射，那就是几十秒的事。躲地下室会大大提高人的生存率。
总而言之，不要因地下室空而不用便以为地下室可有可无，地下室的功能就在其无用之用。当然买房也不必非有地下室不可，因为有的地方因难建地下室而很少民居有地下室，只是买房自住能有地下室则最好有之，买房出租则另当别论。
Zane Cai
2024年4月5日
For an Owner-Occupied Home, It’s Best to Have a Basement
In many parts of the United States—Illinois, for example—basements are extremely important. I recommend that when buying a house, you try to choose one with a basement. Some people think basements are useless and don’t pay much attention to whether a house has one. When they see that houses without basements are much cheaper than those with basements, they go ahead and buy the cheaper option. But the reasons for a house having no basement are complicated: the ground may be too hard, making basement construction extremely costly; the house may be near a river, in a low-lying area, or the soil may be unsuitable for basement construction. More commonly, builders skip basements simply to build houses faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. Building a basement is the most time-consuming part of construction, and also very expensive—its cost accounts for a large portion of the total cost of a two-story single-family home.
A house is meant to be lived in, so livable space matters. A basement expands the usable living area, so the bigger the basement, the better. Upper floors require lots of heating in winter and air conditioning in summer, whereas basements generally need no heating in winter and no cooling in summer; they stay at a stable, comfortable temperature.
Basements offer the following advantages:
1. Storage space.
Every household has things that need to be stored, and the basement can hold items that don’t fit elsewhere. Because of its stable temperature, a basement can store not only miscellaneous items, but also food, and can even serve as a wine cellar. If you want to run a small business from home, a basement provides tremendous convenience.
2. Placement of noisy equipment.
Noisy machines—such as the heating boiler, washing machine, and dryer—can be placed in the basement.
3. Space for entertainment, exercise, or additional living areas.
A basement can be turned into a recreation room or gym, or renovated into a gathering space or guest room. For this reason, when buying a home, check whether the basement has pre-installed plumbing connections for adding a bathroom. The more basement windows, the better; ideally, there should be windows on all sides.
4. A refuge during tornadoes and extreme weather.
Modern American single-family homes are rarely built with heavy materials such as brick, stone, or concrete panels; instead, they use steel frames, wood, plywood, insulation, and drywall. When a tornado strikes, a house like this can be knocked down or blown away like a cardboard box. The best place to take shelter during a tornado is a basement.
During extreme cold when heating fails, or extreme heat when air conditioning breaks, the basement offers refuge. The earth provides natural climate control: basements stay around 65°F, generally at least 60°F in extremely cold weather and about 70°F in extreme heat.
5. A precaution—useful precisely because it seems useless.
The U.S. has a habit of stirring up trouble far from home. More and more nations possess nuclear weapons, and reckless politicians pop up like teenage acne—who knows what might happen? The White House has a bunker; some wealthy people have them too. If America’s nuclear defense system were truly reliable, they wouldn’t bother building bunkers. When trouble comes, important figures dive into their bunkers with their families and remain safe. Ordinary people need a way to protect themselves as well. A basement can serve as a makeshift bunker. The destructive power of a nuclear bomb mainly comes from shock waves and thermal radiation—events that last mere seconds. Taking shelter in a basement greatly increases the chance of survival.
In short, don’t think a basement is optional just because it sits empty—you must understand the usefulness hidden in what seems useless. Of course, you don’t have to buy a house with a basement; in some areas, basements are rare because they are difficult to build. But for an owner-occupied home, it’s best to have one. Buying a house for rental purposes is another matter.
Zane Cai
April 5, 2024
美国买房卖房 找【房三懂 】蔡铮：懂地方，懂房子，懂风水
Zane Cai
Real Estate Agent
847-668-0898 Zanecai0@gmail.com
zanecai.com
