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Original poster

Do you have a basement?

66 replies

Samsalone · 12/03/2022 13:42

I don’t and don’t know anyone who does.

Seeing the horrific scenes from Ukraine and how many people have been sheltering in their basements to give them a degree of protection from bomb blasts. I wonder if Ukrainian houses were built with basements with this in mind Sad.

OP posts:
TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 12/03/2022 13:44

Not bc around here but when I lived in Bath several houses did.

Some with kitchens in, some just cellars with tools and stuff in.

Ours was more of an underground tool shed.

Original poster
Samsalone · 12/03/2022 13:46

Yes I imagine the majority of time they would just be useful storage areas. I wonder why they aren’t popular here?

OP posts:
GeidiPrimes · 12/03/2022 13:46

I have a little coal cellar. Old house

SW1amp · 12/03/2022 13:48

I live in London and pretty much every Victorian terrace was built with one as a coal hole

In Switzerland, all houses must have access to a nuclear bunker, by law
So if your house doesn’t have one, you have to have a legally binding agreement with a neighbour to give you access to theirs

OldTinHat · 12/03/2022 14:12

I have a 200yr old cottage, no basement or cellar. My friend has a 150yr old house and I was amazed to find out she has one! Am quite envious.

User0610134049 · 12/03/2022 14:14

I do have one (old house)
But I’m not sure it would protect us if the whole house collapsed on top 🤔 and it’s not sealed you can look up and see gaps through the floorboards

Notcontent · 12/03/2022 14:23

I was just thinking about this myself. I have some family in Europe and I think in many parts of Europe it has been traditional to have cellars/basements to store things. I guess it’s a good use of space.

I also heard that in Ukraine people have been advised to me in a part of their house where there are two walls between them and the street - so often a bathroom or a hallway. I was thinking about my house and there is no such place!

MinnieMountain · 12/03/2022 14:34

We have a basement. House was built in 1865.

indiesearcher · 12/03/2022 14:35

We have one, it's a decent size, and we tanked it all out so it's watertight etc.

It does have a high window though at what is the garden level, so not sure we're any safer in the event of a nuclear attack!

Papertyger · 12/03/2022 14:37

Switzerland has to have nuclear bunkers?

Lot's of European houses seem to make far more use of space than in the UK. With basement's and room's in the loft.

vinoandbrie · 12/03/2022 14:38

We have one, it’s tanked out and we’d not be without it. Our house is old though.

FlippyFloppyFlappy · 12/03/2022 14:40

Yes, the full size of the house. All dry and useable for living conditions if needed.

vinoandbrie · 12/03/2022 14:41

Oh, and I remember visiting my grandparents in Switzerland and under their apartment block was not only the car park but also a nuclear bunker!

I was only a child, but in my mind’s eye there was a VERY heavy looking door that was open at an angle, and loads of tinned food inside. I would not swear to the tinned food, this may be my memory plying tricks, but I am as sure as I can be that there was a nuclear bunker, and grandpa showed it to me and my little sister as a curiosity as we were heading to the car one day!

onemouseplace · 12/03/2022 14:41

We've got a cellar - it would be bugger all use in a nuclear holocaust though. The entrance is also right in the centre of the house - so if we did shelter down there and the house was demolished above, it would be impossible to get out.

IShouldProbablyHooverMore · 12/03/2022 14:41

All my family in Germany have cellars - even those living in flats have communal cellars. Used for storage, or utility space, to house the boiler etc. Some have converted them to living or entertaining spaces. Lots of houses in my UK town have cellars, but that's because the houses are built into hills - most aren't usable in the same way as German cellars.

User9805637 · 12/03/2022 14:43

Some of those in Ukraine looked like carparks rather than basements.

Jenjenn · 12/03/2022 14:44

I am from eastern europe. Basements are built for storage and also serve as utility areas (boilers etc). Living in apartments is a lot easier when you have decent storage space. I have never seen a basement with a wc. If they were built as shelters, there would be loos....

daisypond · 12/03/2022 14:45

Yes, we have a cellar. All houses or ground-floor flat conversions do where we live.

Caspianberg · 12/03/2022 14:47

We have a cellar, they are standard here. But house is built into hillside ( so are most the others), so it’s not really underground, as the front and one side are at ground level.

The bit at the back where it is semi underground is where the oil tanks live, so fat lot of help there.

I think all the main buildings are generally on flatter land and have cellars ie town hall, schools so they would be where most people go I think.

The schools and nurseries all have a supply of iodine to give the children incase of nuclear attack. You have to sign a form when they start giving permission for them to have it

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 12/03/2022 14:47

The house we live in doesn't. The house we rent out is Victorian and dies have one. Its massive.

Our German flat had one. Our German house didn't! I was very Jesus of our friends with them, they were so useful.

dipdye · 12/03/2022 14:49

We do but we live abroad where it's cold and all houses have them.

It's bloody great, a massive playroom for the kids.

Caspianberg · 12/03/2022 14:51

And yes, I don’t really understand why uk doesn’t built cellars as standard. Yes they add building cost, but the same across Europe and everyone pretty much has one.
It’s where all the heating system, large water tanks, bikes, tools, garden stuff, general storage lives.

We have no toilet in ours, but utility sink, (so water supply), and electric ( freezer lives there, and garden tool batteries charge)

Soffit · 12/03/2022 14:55

Nope. Most of the Victorian houses around us have them but ours does not seem to (I say "seem" as I retain a hope level of around 2% that I could be wrong and I haven't unearthed it). However, we have a large Anderson shelter (which the other houses don't have). I need to clear it out just in case...
A better bet would be to live very close to a Tube station. They were often repurposed during the war and have better evacuation routes.

bloodywhitecat · 12/03/2022 14:57

No, if you lift the floorboards we sit on soil (about 4in above it). We have a little vole who goes in the air brick at the front of the house and pops out under the step of the door to the gardener's loo at the back of the house.

Pallisers · 12/03/2022 14:59

We live in a part of the US where most houses have basements. They are so useful. We finished ours a few years ago so now we have a bathroom, a gym area with treadmill etc, an extra living space, a tiled laundry room and a storage room. At the moment it is a mess because we have 2 sets of dorm room stuff being stored - can't imagine what the house would look like if I had to find room for all that stuff in the actual house

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