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03-23-2019 10:50 AM
@Bri369 wrote:I'd be afraid the doors would close when I was down there and I'd be trapped.
I'll take the traditional way down to the basement, please.
There is usually a stairway from inside the house to get down to the basement too in houses with bulkheads. This is an additional entrance from outside the house for direct access to the basement. My aunt had a cape style house when we were young and that was how we went in & out during the summer when we were in & out of the pool to basement. Did not use the back door that went into house to drip all over house to get to basement. Also allows easy access to get yard items, tables & chairs, etc., into basement rather than dragging them into the house & down steep inside stairs to basement. 😊
03-23-2019 12:28 PM
@DREAMON wrote:@stevieb ,
My previous neighbor who has this ...it really isn't a basement. Her water heater and oil tank are down there. It is dug out so you can stand down there. It is on concrete. She stores seasonal outdoor stuff etc. She has a very small home so this is good for storage.
That is the only way down there..no inside steps...Better than no space to store things and keeps tanks, heaters etc out of sight.
@DREAMON For sure, there are homes where the lowest level is more or less a cellar rather than a basement... In those cases this might make sense... This house, though, doesn't look like that would be the case since that's a pretty elaborate entrance... On the other hand, I remember a number of years ago looking just for fun at a somewhat pricey house in a nicer development and for whatever reason, the only basement access was down a long set of exterior stairs at the rear of the house... Made no sense... There was no way that space could be at all functional, even for storage...
03-26-2019 07:22 PM
Looks like an entrance used in the event of a tornado....
03-27-2019 12:21 PM
Extremely creative.....love it!
03-27-2019 12:49 PM
Nicely done. Guess I am showing my age, but I am pretty accustomed to these type of outside entrances into the cellar or unfinished basement. They are/were common in the house where I live back in the day.
I lived in a house that was converted into two apartments. We had one there, but still have traditional inside stair into the basement. One reason I believe was having two doors with limited steps made it easier to get "stuff" down there. IE., furnace; hot water heaters, washer & dryers
03-27-2019 04:19 PM
We have a small "basement" with the a bilco door entrance.
I didn't want a full basement, so this holds our heating/ac units and water heater.
One thing we didn't consider is the inevitable water/dampness penetration when it rains (the doors are not covered).
If we had it to do over, we would make sure the doors were covered in some way. The metal steps have rusted and the sidewalls of the basement area damp when we've had lots of rain.
03-27-2019 05:06 PM
Thanks for the info @Witchy Woman. We are not ready to look at them, but we do know that after having mold in our basement that we need more ventilation. The dehumidifier just doesn't take care of everything. We were also told to have a screen made for the bilco doors so that they could stay open when needed and no bugs could get in the house.
03-27-2019 05:29 PM
Wow, that’s cool.
03-29-2019 07:45 PM
Great idea IF it can be locked for safety and protection. Only problem is the work involved getting into the basement!
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