Basement Entrance Drawings..

9 years ago

Ok.. So I ran the exterior basement entrance question through the architect and he sent these two drawings.. he basically said that the entrance would work best due to grading/elevations if it is put on the right side of the house.. He then showed two versions of the entrance..

1) The one depicted on the left shows a welled staircase that goes straight down to the basement from the outside.. The only issue with this staircase is that it will stick out approximately 4.5-5 feet wider from the garage as shown.. I was slightly concerned with this as the edge of the top step would be roughly 4-5 feet from the property line.

2) The picture on the right shows a smaller staircase that enters through a side door which will put you on the main level. Once you enter here you will then use the interior staircase to go down to the basement.

I really like the idea of having the staircase go straight down to the basement from outside as depicted on the left, however I am not crazy about having it stick out that far from the house.. I mean its not that bad if the whole house was the width of the garage but it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.. I contacted him with my concerns so I will see if there is anything else he can do but this was basically the options he gave me.. Any opinions on this?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

rrah
9 years ago
Why do you prefer the entrance from the outside over an interior entrance? Personally I wouldn't consider an outside only entrance.
kirkhall
9 years ago
The right side one seems like a nice option.
How will you drain the water/snow/etc and carry out the leaves and debris that end up in the exterior stair well of the left hand variety?
Related Professionals
Saint Paul Architects & Building Designers · Washington Architects & Building Designers · Artondale Home Builders · California Home Builders · Evans Home Builders · Tustin Home Builders · Owosso General Contractors · Palatine General Contractors · Redan General Contractors · Saint George General Contractors · Signal Hill General Contractors · Syosset General Contractors · University City General Contractors · West Melbourne General Contractors · West Mifflin General Contractors
njbuilding143
Original Author
9 years ago
Rrah - The entrance from the outside would be in addition to the interior entrance.. We were looking for a separate exterior entrance so when storing things that we don't want to track through the house we could just access from exterior.. Also we thought it would be easier to bring in/out any furniture when we do finish the basement down the road.. Trying to plan for the future.. So when you think about contractors and workers going down to work in basement I just figured it would be easier and cleaner to just have an exterior entrance to basement..

Kirkhall - Thanks for the input.. I wasn't even thinking about snow.. I know for rain the architect said we would have to put a drain at the base of the stairs and he mentioned in the fall about leaves and debris and making sure nothing blocks the drain but I wasn't even thinking about snow..
snoonyb
9 years ago
Snow melts. The drains the same.
While the straight shot is preferable, the arch. will more than likely propose a turn to the rear.
The turn's proximity to the house will be determined by the grade.
annkh_nd
9 years ago
It seems to me that the interior staircase with the door to the outside DOES give you a straight shot, with hardly any tracking through the house.

As far as the main floor is concerned - the only difference is whether or not you have an outside door on the right side of the house? It seems to me that an extra staircase is a lot of hassle and expense (drainage, more concrete, a railing around the stairwell) to minimize the possibility of cleaning a small amount of floor when you do use those stairs from outside. I'd put linoleum or tile on the floor and not worry about it (but that's just me).

It's hard to know at this point exactly how you will live in the new house, but you should think about how you might use that side of the house, with and without a staircase.
robin0919
9 years ago
Is this house being built on a flat lot?
chispa
9 years ago
See link for a photo of the type of exterior basement stairs they usually use in the northeast.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bob Vila
rmverb
9 years ago
No way I'd ever use those bilco doors. The steps are very steep and you have a hard time getting things in and out of the basement. If I'm doing any kind of stairs, I'm doing a wide set with a wide door or double doors. I live in the northeast and this is becoming much more popular than those metal doors when you don't have a walkout basement.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0614575018728.html