> -Basements actually exist and, even more startling, are quite commonplace.*

> -eric "Brr" sleator
> Sun 26 Nov A.D. 2000

> *This, I believe, has to do with the building codes and the fact that Washington is not all that susceptible to earthquakes.

Actually, a basement helps to lock heat into a house (since heat can escape through walls and windows much more easily than it can through the dirt in a basement). In the winter, this helps to save on heating costs. In Edmonton, I've never seen a house without a basement, even though we're in the middle of the prairies and we never get earthquakes.

Also, a basement is a good place to put a furnace, since heat rises, and by definition everywhere else in the house is higher up than the basement.

...A basement is also a good place to put a sub-pump, your old yearbooks, bits of carpet, bicycles that are too small for you to ride anymore, boxes containing stuff that you can't remember the name for but that you can't bear to throw away, and the christmas presents that you never figured out what to do with!

-SB