Houses no basements in Ireland

FuzzyCraic · 13-02-2014 2:18pm #1

Hi guys,
I ve been in Ireland for about 7 years.
lived in some place before... Germany , Belgium , The Netherlands , Hungary
Lived in some places in Dublin Ireland also and i noticed
none of the houses had basements...

In all the countries i ve lived before all the house had basements.
People tell me that this is because that Ireland is a big rock.
So you can t build to deep. It could get dangerous

That doesn't make sense does it ?

There should be another explanation right?

Irish Stones · 07-03-2014 8:56am

Over here where I live 99% of houses have basements and foundations deep in the ground. Normally a house have foundations about 3.5 metres deep. This should allow stability and resistance to earthquakes as well.
But is some areas and regions of the country, houses have no deep foundations, let alone basements, and this is because the ground is wet and water runs under the surface of the ground. In some extreme cases a shallow digging in the ground could reveal some water.
I think that Ireland is in the same situation. The ground is often soft and boggy and couldn't allow digging.
Just my opinion

FuzzyCraic · 14-03-2014 7:20am

Ok that explains thank you very much
Have a very nice day !!!

irishmover · 14-03-2014 7:30am

This has some great information in it and should be what you're after

http://www.politics.ie/forum/environment/127276-why-no-basements-houses-ireland-generally-anyway.html

FuzzyCraic · 14-03-2014 8:14am

Thanks man great stuff

Irish Stones · 14-03-2014 8:58am

irishmover wrote: »

This has some great information in it and should be what you're after

http://www.politics.ie/forum/environment/127276-why-no-basements-houses-ireland-generally-anyway.html

Useful link but not everyhting that is said there should be intended as true.
Houses with basements can have dampness issues everywhere, In Ireland or in Sicily. That's why the walls of the basement (or cellar) are covered with a layer of tar on the side towards the ground or are built with double walls and cavity.
Over here where I live all houses have their own basement, and it's a very handy feature.
More, all houses have their own garage built underground, at the basement level, because this way the volume of the garage isn't counted in for the building permission and houses can be built as large as possible according to local laws (cubic capacity or building volumes, I don't know if you're familiar with this concept).