Underground, cellar, basement: the main differences

Many owners of private houses are thinking about arranging a storage facility for their crops – conservation and vegetables. However, some do not understand the difference between a basement, a cellar and a basement. Let’s, together with the site Our site, figure out how these options for underground storage differ.

Let’s start with the underground, so that you understand well what it is:

• The name speaks for itself – this storage facility is located directly under the floor. Most often in the kitchen or in the hallway, so as not to carry the cans with preservation far;
• The height of the underground varies from 1.2 to 1.6 meters, so it is impossible to straighten up to its full height;
• The manhole is narrow, the stairs are steep to take up less space;
• The temperature in the underground, which is located under a warm room and does not sink deep into the ground, is usually about + 12 ° C. Therefore, such a storage is not suitable for potatoes – it will germinate too quickly;
• Usually, conservation, homemade wine, fruits – late varieties of pears and apples, garlic and onions in bunches, watermelons and melons for all autumn months are stored underground.

If the owners have the task of storing exactly potatoes and other vegetables, using underground, as you already understood, is impractical, in this case you need a cellar:

• Just like the underground, this storage option can be located under the kitchen or hallway, but it can also be completely separate from the house. For example, you can dig a recess and install a finished plastic cellar, a caisson, about the features of which the portal wrote in detail, in any corner of the garden;
• The maximum height of the walls of the cellar is 1.9 meters;
• Due to the fact that the cellar is always deeper than underground, the temperature in it, even if it is located under a heated room, does not rise above + 10 ° C. If the cellar is located under a shed, garage, separate from the house and outbuildings, then the temperature in it will be only about + 5 ° C, which is already suitable for long-term storage of vegetables.

Important! A significant difference between a separately located cellar from one under a house or other building is that it may not be completely buried in the ground. The height of the walls can be traditional, that is, up to 1.9 meters, but the cellar goes deep into the ground by half or even a quarter. Under the house, of course, this will not work. In addition, a glacier can be built in a free-standing cellar.

The basement, unlike the underground and the cellar, can be by no means only a place for storing preserves and vegetables:

• The basement can be heated;
• If desired, the owners can equip an additional separate entrance to the basement from the street;
• The height of the walls is at least 1.9 meters, which is the maximum for a cellar;
• The basement can become a full-fledged living space with wall heights up to 2.5 meters. If this is a technical floor, where the boiler room and the laundry room are located, then the height is made at least 2.2 meters;
• A basement is always a room that is at least half buried in the ground. With a shallower depth, it will be considered the basement of the building, often with windows;
• The basement can take up the entire space under the house and divide partitions into rooms with different functions.

Important! The walls of the basement, located under the house, serve as a foundation, that is, they must withstand a significant load, be thick and strong enough. This is another difference from the cellar, the walls of which do not carry such a load and can be of minimal thickness..

The choice between underground, cellar and basement is, of course, yours. In any case, you will need to take care of the waterproofing of the walls and floor, arrange everything so that the use of this underground or semi-underground room is as convenient as possible.