Head to the basement

Over the past couple of weeks we have experienced some early season storms, which reminded me again of my long association with a Midwest tradition, the household basement. Besides the protection from the dangers of tornado season, these underground facilities have provided me, and many others, with a variety of uses.

My memories of basements can be traced all the way back to my earliest recollections at both my parent's farm home and my grandparent's house on South Cedar Street. Truth be known, it is difficult for me to imagine any house that is complete, that doesn't have a basement.

My grandparent's home at 609 S. Cedar was of a style that builders and architects refer to as "shotgun" (meaning the structure is longer from front to back, than it is wide). It had a full basement and there was a basement garage entrance at the back of the house.

In a corner of the basement just as you descended the stairs, there was a cool dry room, where they kept potatoes and onions year round from their garden. They also had a large chest style deep freeze for all kinds of food storage. Shelves and cabinets lined the walls, which held a large variety of canned garden fruits and vegetables.

Outside and above the garage door there was a large screened in back porch, which stood over the driveway entrance. On warm summer nights, my grandfather would pull his car out of the garage and roll out this old brass bed so that it was still covered by the overhanging porch. As kids we were safe from possible rain or dew but the nighttime air made for a wonderful respite, as their home had no air conditioning.

Our farm home also had a full basement. Again it included the same cold and dry storage areas as our grandparent's basement. Both basements also housed the old-fashioned wringer washing machines I described in a story a few weeks back. Our farm basement also included a shower.

As kids we spent many hours in different pursuits in that farm basement. During the hot summer afternoons I can remember playing card games and monopoly there to escape the heat. We also had snap on roller skates. The metal support poles for the main floor beam created an oblong skate route around the poles.

My father had a piece of equipment in the basement called a cream separator. He took the milk from our lone milk cow there each day and saved the cream for butter and other uses. Once when I was really small they tell me I was trying to go down those stairs, which were a bit too steep for me at that age. I fell and began rolling down the stairs but luckily my father was able to catch me before I was seriously injured.

Most of the basements in my life were built with traditional concrete walls. For a reason that I am uncertain of the first house my father built in Nevada at 320 N. Olive St, was built with concrete blocks. I was only 10 years old but I remember watching the bricklayers in amazement as they built those walls. Most of the brick masons on that job were members of the long standing Duncan family well known for their brick and block work.

I didn't live in any homes with a basement for many years after I became an adult. In the '90s, I began my career as a homebuilder and several of those new homes included basements. While I was quite familiar with living in a home with a basement I had almost no prior knowledge of the "nuts and bolts" of their construction.

In our area a basement is quite practical. Besides the obvious protection from severe weather they provide a dollar value enhancement owing to the added livable space.

All of Vernon County has a layer of sandstone rock that lies just a few feet below the surface of the ground. It takes some large equipment to dislodge this rock layer. Not far from here in locations like Oklahoma, they simply don't have the ground structure to allow for basements.

In our area, it is quite common to build what we call a walkout basement. This is completed by digging the basket into the side of a hill and leaving the lowest side open. From the back of the house it then resembles a two-story home. This style creates a cost savings because you are building only one roof over a home, that when finished has twice the living space.

Modern technology has made these underground living areas even more livable. Floor trusses that span the entire cross section of the home making support poles unnecessary.

One issue that comes up with basements is the age of the person living there. I sold a home I really loved a few years ago because the stairs were becoming a real "age" issue.

I can remember almost running up and down staircases but now I am like that small kid of my youth. I need a handrail and I tend to take the steps slowly and painfully.

Following the terrible Joplin tornado of 2011 a lot of attention was given to home safety from storms. Safe rooms or storm cellars work but they are often inconvenient to build and use.

Insulated Concrete Forms are becoming very popular. These can be used to build homes above ground level and still be safe from tornadoes. FEMA actually rates these walls as safe in winds up to 250 mph.

While I don't miss the stairs at my age I do miss those familiar basements that were a large part of my life. Oh, to be able to go back for a Monopoly game on a warm summer day downstairs or perhaps put on my skates for our version of "roller derby." I guess I will always be an "underground" sort of person.