By Larry Garnett

Walkout Basement

A good way to get to more square footage for the least amount of cost is to finish your basement. Unfortunately, if the basement is completely underground, it is not considered habitable space by the building inspection department. That is because habitable rooms must have two means of ingress and egress, one of which allows ingress & egress to the outside. Ingress & egress can be a door and a window or two doors. If the basement is completely underground there can only be one means of ingress and egress, interior doors for interior ingress & egress. If your building site has a slope to it or is on a hill, you can build your foundation as a walkout basement.






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A walkout basement means that part of the foundation is at grade level and part of it is below grade.

First, a combination concrete slab and concrete wall foundation is poured.


Then the lower concrete slab is framed up with studs to the level of the poured walls.

Then the rest of the house is framed.

From the front or high side of the lot, it looks as if there is but one level.