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A basement can be used in almost exactly the same manner as an additional above-ground floor of a house or other building. However, the use of basements depends largely on factors specific to a particular geographical area such as climate, soil, seismic activity, building technology, and real estate economics.
A basement apartment is an apartment located below street level, underneath another structure—usually an apartment building, but possibly a house or a business. Cities in North America are beginning to recognize these units as a vital source of housing in urban areas and legally define them as an accessory dwelling unit or "ADU".
A crawl space or crawlspace is an unoccupied, unfinished, narrow space within a building, between the ground and the first (or ground) floor. The crawl space is so named because there is typically only enough room to crawl rather than stand; anything larger than about 1 to 1.5 metres (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 11 in) and beneath the ground floor would ...
The split entry has two short sets of stairs (usually five or six steps per stairway) and is a one level improvement with a basement. The entry is "between" the floors. Per FNMA/FHLMC regulations the lower level is defined as a basement even if finished. Usually the basement level is "walk out".
In architecture, an area (areaway in North America) is an excavated, subterranean space around the walls of a building, designed to admit light into a basement. Also called a lightwell, it often provides access to the house and a store-room/service cupboard for tradesmen, such as a coal store vault under the pavement.
An English basement is an apartment (flat in UK English) on the lowest floor of a building, generally a townhouse or brownstone, which is partially below and partially above ground level and which has its own entrance, separate from those of the rest of the building.
A raised bungalow is one in which the basement is partially above ground. The benefit is that more light can enter the basement with above ground windows in the basement. A raised bungalow typically has a foyer at ground level that is halfway between the first floor and the basement. Thus, it further has the advantage of creating a foyer with a ...
In architecture, a semi-basement, lower ground, lower level, etc. is a floor of a building that is half below ground, rather than entirely such as a true basement or cellar. Traditionally, semi-basements were designed in larger houses where staff was housed. A semi-basement usually contained kitchens and domestic offices. The advantage over a ...