Need advice on purchasing a home with no basement

[desgnr]

Is it a good idea to purchse a home with NO basement ? The reason i ask is because it needs a new Kitchen & i am wondering how would i go about relocating the Electric line for the Range & to move the Plumbing supplies & drain to relocate the Sink. How can this be acomplished ? I know with a Basement it would be an easy task. Also what if i need to relocate the Cable hookup to another wall,also add electric outlets. Would this create a nightmare ? Or can it be easily acomplished. The home is in Pennsylvania. Also there is no attic. Any ideas & suggestions greatly appreciated.

[stan]

Wood frame construction??? Not much info to go on. making assumptions here that "new kitchen" means refitting the existing kitchen area? Or is it intention to 'build onto' the existing structure by adding a new kitchen? Either way one idea might be to build a small annexe or 'back porch' cum storeroom backing if possible onto to the kitchen wall. Then put the electric service in there with very short new wiring to the various kitchen items. But if you do that codes in most places may require a complete up grade of the total electric system. Not just grandfathering some additional or replacement wiring. Is the existing wiring and electric supply services up to satisfactory and insurable standard? Does the power now come in overhead or below ground; gas or electric cooking; ................ so many questions!!!!

[Big Jim]

[benick]

Chances are pretty good the plumbing is in the slab and would require jackhammering holes and trenches to relocate it then patching the concrete which is difficult but doable..Wiring is probably above the ceiling and goes down the walls....Plan on a complete gut of the kitchen which by the sounds you are doing anyway...Probably not a DIYer project....Adding outlets in other rooms probably would require holes in the ceiling and walls that would require patching and painting...Not a nightmare for pros but could be for a DIYer...Expensive as well , especially the kitchen part.........HTH...

[Phisherman]

I'd want a basement, unless I were living in a flood zone. Makes plumbing and electrical easy. Skip the house and buy one that doesn't need a new kitchen *and* has a basement. Basements are perfect for home repair projects.

[dadiOH]

Do they build homes on slab in PA? I wouldn't think so. If not, you must have a crawl space; if so, think of it as a short basement :)

[bob haller]

=BDIf not, you must

I live in PA there are slab homes here, hard to resell..........

basements are a must have for me

[Bill Hall]

Will give you an opinion from a Texan!! We don't have basements and very few have attics! The houses are called "Ranch Style", and most older homes are single story. Newer and larger homes are two/three story, yet still NO basements. You just have to do some preplanning when you want to remodel, etc.

Bill

[Zootal]

I lived in Las Vegas for many years, and owned several homes with no basement. The plumbing drains are all set in concrete - literally - and that is where they are, period. Want to move a drain? Easy - dig up your foundation and move it.

If you can't run the pipe through a wall to the existing drain, then either you dig up your foundation, or you don't do anything at all. I never found this to be a problem, but I never did any remodeling that required plumbing to be relocated.

I now have a home with full basement, and I love it! Wiring, plumbing, you name it, it's all there and it's all exposed.

[desgnr]

[TD]

"desgnr" wrote in news:h5eo0o$312d$ [e-mail]:

Weird house. Maybe it's a mobile home in disguise.

[TD]

"Bill Hall" wrote in news:0ZHem.500647$ [e-mail]:

We have basements because the ground freezes in winter. My basement is a full basement. Most of us have attics,too. I have a ranch style.

[Big Jim]

[Bill Hall]

Jim;

That is inexpensive, not Cheap :>))

Bill

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Sounds VERY weird. No basement, no attic? House made from a container? Definitely unusual house.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I thought PA is cold in winter. No freezing in water pipes w/o basement or attic. How do they run water pipes?

[benick]

By no attic he probably means just a 2X2 access hatch in a closet and just a crawlspace thru the trusses with no floor...One wrong step and your thru the ceiling...Been there done that , got the tee shirt...He probably didn't see it when he toured the house....Pretty common in Modular(double wides) and cheap stick built ranches on a slab....

[benick]

Below the frost line and up thru the slab....They don't freeze...

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Little better than a big tent? I just can't believe No. 1 powerful country like U.S. has houses like that??? Are they built per code? Fire, flood, quake, general safety, all that.

[Ed Pawlowski]

You mean like those thousands of slab homes in Levittown, PA? Given that the state has a population of over 12,000,000, I'd bet there are many slab homes.