I live in Southern California and I don't know anybody who has a basement. I'm sure there must be some, I just have never seen one down here. Most of our homes are built on a concrete slab. I don't have an attic either but I would like to have one to store Christmas decorations. My husband is glad we don't have one, for the same reason.

We have both. The attic is converted into 2 guest rooms and a bathroom. We retained a big cupboard to store Christmas decs etc.
We don't have a garage, so the basement is mainly used for storage, but also doubles as a workshop for upcycling old furniture. As an edwardian house, the basement was originally the kitchen, and the original open fireplace is still in situ.

We just pulled permits for our house and it will have a basement. I love basements.

I live in Tornado Alley.... basement;)

Old house. It has both and I don't like either. Have never liked basements, although they add a lot of space and many families have them, somehow, they always feel like a dungeon to me.

We have both. Basement has been completely renovated, re-plumbing to give us maximum ceiling height.In one room we made "Sun Tuff" drop ceilings, where all the plumbing is. Easy to clean, dust, and remove. Won't get damaged if a pipe bursts.

We also don't have basements where I live and i don't think I know anyone with an attic either although I have always wanted one so that I could rumamge through old suitcases....:

We don't have basements or attics here in S Fl. Slab construction and floodplain explains why we don't have basements. Attic's here are mainly crawl type spaces that allow servicing for HVAC ductwork and that is about it. Anything you store in the attic gets ruined by the heat and humidity.

No basement, no attic. You don't see much of that in Hawaii.

Our basement is the same size as our house, 3500 sq.feet. The attic is 1/4 the size. We don't use the attic and although the basement remains unfinished, it has been very handy.

we have a basement, though in the UK we tend to call it a cellar. Ours housed the old kitchens and servants areas, it is huge, same size as the footprint of the house, and already broken up into rooms (we have an early victorian country house). The cellar has been unused for many years, but we hope to turn it into a laundry, wine cellar, gym and home theatre room.

I'd rather have an attic that can be finished, so I can have an unobstructed view of Mount Rainier. I'd have to raise the roof. I can see the Mountain partly over and between the neighboring houses now, but that's not the same.

I have a basement, finished, with a lot of storage space. If we didn't have the basement, I don't think we would accumulate so much stuff. Where do people without basements or attics store their stuff?

Basement here after living for 12 years without one. Our computers are in the basement, and I have a huge studio for my quilting.. We also have storage which we really appreciate. Somehow a house doesn't seem complete without a basement to me. I guess it goes back to what you grew up with. Never had an attic that did much more then insulate the house. Although with our house with no basement we did store suitcases in the attic.

Our basement is the same footprint and size as the house, and it's totally finished. Two-thirds of it is a mother-in-law suite where my parents now live (the walk-out portion and one staircase with a stair-lift), and the other third is my storm room and storage. First time we've ever had a place I could go in bad weather, and just knowing I have it is incredibly comforting even though where I live now isn't quite the tornado magnet as our old location (west TN).

The basement is a busy place. It includes the one-car garage and yard equipment storage, workbenches for many electrical and mechanical hobbies, woodworking equipment, the laundry, furnace, water system and heater, and the cat's outside door.
The attic is "new" in that we built the first stairway to it in the house's history. We set up one gable end as storage for boxes the electronics came in.

I'm in central Florida and have a walk-out basement! Love it, as it's unique for Florida!

I'm from the San Joaquin Valley in California, Bakersfield, specifically. We had a big earthquake in 1952, originally called an 8, but revised to a 7.2. The downtown businesses with basements mostly fell into them. Attics there are ovens in the summer, some people dried their venison jerky up there. Most houses built prior to 1960 had a crawl space for utility access. Now I'm in WV and have a finished walk-out basement that used to be a separate apartment. It's good for our extended family, but I'd like to replace the acoustical tile ceiling and school house fluorescents.

This is my first house without an attic. I've always had both & that would be my preference. Added storage is key.

Never seen a basement or attic for that matter here in Australia!

We have an attic, a very large one, consisting of a big and high bedroom, a laundry space and storage space.
I would love to have a basement but only houses built before 1960 have one, because of the high water level ( the main part of my country lies below sea level). Homes built later than 1960 have a crawl space for utility access.

I'm fortunate to live in an area where basements do just fine. The big walk-out room there is the den and music room, for TV and the piano. I've also just put a whole wall of IKEA bookcases on one wall - in addition to the IKEA bookcase/desk wall in the living room and other bookcases in the bedrooms. (Obviously a book lover!) There is a windowless room in the back of the basement that is perfect for storage. It's well finished, dry, and the temperature is stable.
The attic, on the other hand, is used for nothing. Here in the south, temps in attics go to 120F and higher in the summer. That and the occasional rat problem make mine useless for storage. And it has no access except a pull-down in the tiny upstairs hall, and no good place to put a permanent staircase even if I wanted to use the attic, which I don't.

Texas is so tornado-prone we need basements, but most of the state sits on thick layers of rock! :o(

No basements here in So Calif, and most attics (for houses that have them) are used for storage only and accessed thru a pull-down ladder.

We have an attic that I'd love to use as a room - maybe an office, or a guest bedroom & bath. Unfortunately, it would be extremely difficult and expensive to add a stairway, and the pull down ladder doesn't work for constant access (regardless of anything else, it blocks access to a front bedroom when down).

We miss our basement!!!!!

My basement is full of junk

No basement as we live in an in groud home (3 sides in the ground). We do have an attic and only a small portion of that is used for storage (winter clothes- X-mas & Halloween decor- other miscellaneous stuff). We really would like a basement.....but would actually rather have a second level built on top. We need more room/storage period!

Our partially finished basement is also our "movie room" with a projector and pull-down screen. It is also our Irish pub where my gallery of Ireland photos (taken on trips there) line the walls. Fun room! (The remainder of the basement is for storage.)

I have both a basement and attic in my over one hundred year old house. We remind the basement with an exit to the backyard. This became a great asset during the cold Canadian winter. Every child learnt to come through that entrance ,shed winter gear . As they grew older my kids' friends always came in the back way. We knew when a new person came to visit as sometimes ,depending on their height ,would ding their head on exposed pipes ouch! We also put stairs up to the attic and refinished that as a sleeping loft. Expanded our living space during the years and now I am an empty nester. Go figure

Just an attic we intend to make into our 'mad room' with windows installed into the peak roof to give us a spectacular view of Manhattan. A spiral staircase will lead up from the second floor after the sofa and worktables are hauled up there. Aiming for a minimalist reno!

No basement at all. With my arthritis in my knees, I couldn't get up or down the stairs anyway.

I have neither, but I've always wanted my own little space in an attic. Unfortunately I live in a bungalow with no potential of an attic space :(

Most houses in Utah have basements; few have real attics. The basement in our new custom home is completely finished, with one bedroom finished as our workout/dance room, another bedroom with en suite as a guest room, a separate bathroom, a family room, kitchen, and about 600 sq ft of storage space. It's a walkout basement so there's lots of natural light.

No basement or attic in current house. We had a cave. We are building now. We have a full basement in the new build. The attic won't be of any use. And we have collapsed the cave.

Basement with no walkout. It gives me shelter from tornadoes but also a place for my long arm quilting machine and a crafts room as well as storage.

I have both. Actually it was a deliberately done by the architect to cut costs on my construction project. Both rooms in the basement and attic will serve as additional self-contained rooms. The room in the basement has a bedroom, shower and a small lounge. Infront I intend to construct a Gazebo for relaxation once I have guests. The attic is also a self-contained bedroom to accommodate two beds, plus shower room and walk in closet. This is for the grandchildren. I intend to decorate my house myself. This is very unusual for people who live in hot and humid African country. But I guess, there are some measures I could take for the heat and humidity.

Julie Elder, in East and North Texas we have too active of clay soils for real basements. Even our West Texas relatives, only have little 'Fraidy holes for tornadoes instead of my Yankee friends' big basements.
Our attic is more kiln than oven in the summer so I no longer store some holiday decorations up there. Not to mention the nasty little critters that creep in there.
I wish we could have both with clean well insulted storage.

I have a basement and absolutely love it; the family room down there was one of the main reasons I bought my place. It is now a library/family room, and I also have a big craft room and my sewing/laundry room downstairs. Living in Tornado Alley, I never considered getting a house without a basement! Plus, in warm/hot weather, like we are now starting to enjoy, I can spend time downstairs comfortably without turning the a/c on! It is a win/win situation for me!

We have a historic Chicago bungalow with a finished basement (including full bath) and an unfinished attic. Most of the other houses on our street have both finished. The square feet of the basement is equivalent to the main floor and the attic is approximately 2/3 the size of the main floor with plenty of head room.

Our "attic" is the second floor. Pitched ceilings makes it an "attic" IMHO. Finished second story. Correct me if I am wrong.

Although many homes in Canada have basements (footings have to go below the frost line anyway, so it's not much further or much more expensive to put the basement in), we just built 1500sf on slab in Prince Edward County ON. No attic space either. Basements and attics end up as storage spaces for "stuff" (junk!). Why do people need so much space and stuff??

We have an 150 year old house, and our basement is made of very rough cut granite stone. In the spring (and after heavy rain), half of our basement is a puddle. In a couple of places you have to duck so you don't hit your head on pipes. Storage is at a premium (with no garage and an attic with poor ventilation), so we store our bikes, lawnmower, gardening tools, Christmas lights, etc down there. I would love a finished basement; it would be great for the kids to play in and keep the Lego out of the living room.

We have a finished attic. Basements are fairly rare in the south

We just moved into a house that I love with no basement which is the only thing I don't love about it...I love a basement, every home we've lived in, we've finished the basement and it adds so much to the home. A place for storage, a place to decorate in a fun way, a place to work out and for the kids to play. Now, we have attic storage over the garage and it's a whole different way of storing. Can't store anything that won't be able to take extreme temps, living in Michigan we get extreme hot and cold in attics that aren't climate controlled. Love this house, but I do miss having a basement! We even considered excavating one under this existing home!

No basement, wish we had one!

Planning on finishing my basement... when I have the cash. Do a lot of planning and dreaming.

I am the luckiest homeowner alive. I have neither basement nor attic, but the ski chalet we purchased 10 years ago has at least one closet in every room and hallway...and we have a detached, heated garage that we use for storage. Home improvement projects included adding more built-in storage. We chose this house so we could live here till we died, not having to move out because we couldn't handle stairs, or inability to access laundry, clean windows, etc. I have found the more storage area you have, the more crap you keep that drags you down. Wish I could get down to "100 Things" but I am pleased that my home helps me keep in check.

Basement. We remodeled last summer and made the Mancave. Many homes in Georgia have basements.

I live on the Gulf of Mexico and no homes along the gulf in Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida have basements due to our ground being so wet.
We all have attics, but they are uninhabitable.......no way you could keep them cool enough to tolerate being up there. I use mine to store some things that aren't temperature sensitive, like the waterproof luggage box that goes on the luggage rack on my SUV and old pottery and such. Attics here are used as an insulating barrier between the 100+ degree heat indexes and our air-conditioned homes......have to keep the air circulating up there in the spring, summer and fall.