What would be the odd addition to your dream house?
Somehow you've gotten your dream home. The cabin in the mountains, penthouse downtown, castle nestled deep in the woods, nuclear bunker in the hills, or whatever. Whats the bit you'd add that might raise a brow from others? The fireman's pole? The slide? The moat? The hidden room behind a bookshelf where you keep your stuffed animals?
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You know, why don't we have second basements?
My best friends had two attics, one for the garage and one for the regular home. They were in no way connected.
I meant: two levels below each other, down and deeper down...
Oh. In that case, it's probably because of foundation. A basement can't just be dug up out of the ground, it needs to be built in a certain area where you could do that safely and efficiently. If it were possible, I'm certain the bomb shelter boom during the cold war would've birthed some second basement levels.
Not sure if this counts, but my best friends technically have one of these as well, they have a semi-homemade indoor pool in the basement and it's just deep enough to contain a hidden door on the side of its interior, which makes it "below" the regular basement. I'm told it's an emergency tunnel.
Several factors, depending on geology:
Cost of excavation and supporting the sides from extra earth pushing in.
Bedrock not being deep enough.
Running into the water table, or risk of flooding.
Cheaper to at another floor on top, which adds more desirable floor space.
Tall commercial buildings with sub-basements already have much deeper foundations than that. And their land is much more expensive.