Where you situate your basement wall determines the out come of your new home!

The basement of a home needs to be carefully situated on the lot to avoid water problems. If you are a new home builder, I have many hints that will help you make critical decisions regarding your new home. Don't be in a hurry, think everything through first. When the basement contractor stands the walls and pours them full of concrete, you won't be able to say, can you move it here or turn it that way. When the concrete forms come off, you are on your way to building a new home.

You should know where the sun will rise and set around your new home. You may want to sit on your deck in the afternoon and sun yourself. Or you may want the sun shining in your kitchen window at 7 am. It is nice to sit on your deck in the evening and watch the sun set. Take a few minutes to decide where to place the basement wall. This will allow you to get the full benefits of the sun.


If you are going to have flower beds around the new home it is important to know if the sun will be shining directly on them and at what time of the day. Some plants don’t need a lot of sun and some do. You may want to work on your flower beds without too much sun shining down on you. You also have to consider how your driveway will approach the new home. Will the angle of the house allow you easy access to the car garage from the road?

Think about what you may want in the future for your new home. Will you want a swimming pool, tennis court, garage? If your building lot is small, you will have to position the basement wall so that the lot can accomidate the other things I mentioned. Remember this, there are strict bylaws that come into play when building to close to your neighbours property line.

In most cases it is not permissable to drain your water onto your neighbours lawn or property. If you don’t prepare the basement properly you will have water problems. Digging a basement too deep will cause you problems and not deep enough will cause problems.

Your new home will hopefully last a life time so take the time to read the information through the links below. Believe me, not all contractors think about all the things that can go wrong. By reading this information you will have first hand knowledge to question your contractor with.