I need to submit to my foundation company how far out of the ground I want my basement to be.
Based on the numbers I was thinking (below), it would be 3 feet out which I'm not sure is too much or not, especially since most of the houses on the street are slab or crawl space.
6" grade
2" to bottom of basement window
20" basement window
8" header
----------
36" total
There isn't much I can do to fool around with the height. The 6" grade is code, but I can drop the 2" so the window would essentially be "right on" the ground.
I could go with a smaller window (16" or 17") but I really think that the larger one is the way to go.
The 8" header is required for the superior wall system I am using.
After thinking about it, it seems the only option I have (if I want to put more of the foundation into the ground) is to put in window wells.
I guess my question is, what is the benefit to being further off the ground? Is it normal to have a house that is about 30" out of the ground after grading? Does anyone have any recommendations as to what I should do?
Thanks-mike
Based on the numbers I was thinking (below), it would be 3 feet out which I'm not sure is too much or not, especially since most of the houses on the street are slab or crawl space.
6" grade
2" to bottom of basement window
20" basement window
8" header
----------
36" total
There isn't much I can do to fool around with the height. The 6" grade is code, but I can drop the 2" so the window would essentially be "right on" the ground.
I could go with a smaller window (16" or 17") but I really think that the larger one is the way to go.
The 8" header is required for the superior wall system I am using.
After thinking about it, it seems the only option I have (if I want to put more of the foundation into the ground) is to put in window wells.
I guess my question is, what is the benefit to being further off the ground? Is it normal to have a house that is about 30" out of the ground after grading? Does anyone have any recommendations as to what I should do?
Thanks-mike