That Damp, Dark, Beautiful Basement

The TV meteorologist was displaying a graphic that showed, to the minute, when the tornado would arrive that evening, Sept. 20. That was reinforced by the tornado warning siren and an automated call from Goodhue County’s CodeRED system. OK, I thought, maybe we should pay attention.

Did you get these same warnings during the recent storm? Did you go to a lower level? Was it your basement, your cellar, or your man cave? Who cares when you’re hiding from a tornado, right? Well, that damp lower level, whatever you call it and whatever shape it’s in, comes in pretty handy. I’m sure it was for the many in the direct path of the tornadoes that evening.

But protection from storms was not the original intent for basements. In our climate, they prevent the deep winter frost from shifting the house and damaging the foundation and walls. It’s also cooler down there so became a great place to store preserves.

My childhood home on East Seventh St. was so old that the basement was little more than a cave under the original part of the house. It had overhead storage shelves above the stairs – a treacherous reach for a can of corn. It also had some shelves for storing things you wouldn’t want to let freeze, such as paint and preserves.

There was a whole row of glass jars with their screw caps nailed to an overhead board. These stored nails, screws, and stuff we would never use. It had a dirt floor for many years. Jutting out of one area of the cement floor was a large sandstone boulder that was no doubt left there because it was too hard to move. Red Wing has a lot of basements like that.

We don’t even think about it, but basements are now usually where the HVAC system, water heater, water softener, breaker box, and phone and internet service are located. And if there’s room, it’s also the place for the extra fridge, freezer, workbench, tools, washer and dryer, and Christmas ornaments. Where would you put all that without a basement? With all that stuff down there you probably need a  dehumidifier.

Some of the really old basements are accessible only from the outside, often with doors that pull up from ground level. These are usually called cellar doors. OK, so is it a basement or a cellar? What’s the difference?

There actually is a technical difference between a cellar and a basement. If more than half of the floor height is above ground level (curb level), it’s a basement. If less than half is above ground, it’s a cellar. Apparently, this is based on the view from the front of the house. If that’s true, most of us have cellars. There’s a lot more to it so if you’re interested, Google it.

Some consider a cellar to be a space that can only be entered from the outside. A cellar also was often a completely separate underground location for storing preserves or for protection from storms (Wizard of Oz), bombs (fallout shelter) and infrastructure failure (Y2K).

Anyhow, basements are now a main feature of a house – fully finished with bedrooms, bathroom, utility room, bar and rec room or man cave. A “finished basement” sounds better than just “basement” or “cellar”, especially if you’re a realtor. If you’re a fireman, it’s always a basement. They don’t have time for semantics.

My first visit to a house without a basement was in Texas. This particular single-story house had the same overall square footage as a multi-level house here, but since it was all on one level, it was a hike to go from one end to the other.

Homes “on a slab” have to accommodate all the things a basement does here. To be sure, there are many homes around here that are also built on a slab. But technology has improved so a basement is not absolutely necessary anymore.

The large house we had on Central Ave. had a huge basement that I’m sure was originally called a cellar. I used to joke that you could play basketball in the basement and floor hockey in the attic of that house. It wasn’t a finished basement, but it was big enough for the kids to run off steam in the dead of winter. It had a swing and the kids could ride their trikes around the two furnaces.

It also had a huge cistern that was used to collect rainwater before water softeners came along. It cost $1,000 to have someone jackhammer it out of there so we would have additional space. The cover on it was one perfectly smooth slab of limestone, about 8×10 ft. and about a foot thick. How did they place that there in 1910?

Our new house has a finished walkout basement. We remodeled the main floor but haven’t gotten to the basement yet. It’s currently storing things left from the move. The man cave will have to wait.

Unlike many areas, Red Wing was fortunate that it didn’t get hit by a tornado this time. But, just the same, I’m thankful for basements.

Heading to the basement during a storm is a lot smarter than the times we’d drive to the top of Memorial Park to join the 25 others already there watching for a reported tornado.