I have a single of those odd houses with a basement that isn’t fully recessed into the ground.
- What most would consider my first floor is really elevated & has to be accessed by stairs in the front & back of the house.
When you get to the basement, the windows looking out are greater & the ground is at chest level as you walk from room to room. Typically a basement is recessed to the point where only a foot or 2 of space above a single’s head overlooks the ground outdoors. As a result, my basement isn’t as tornado safe as a traditional basement, but I live on the east coast so it doesn’t matter. I have a fan-forced furnace in the basement. It has separate air duct that isn’t connected to the cooling system. The air duct for the oil furnace is along the ceiling in the basement, while the air duct for the cooling system is inside the attic above the main floor. When the oil furnace was installed numerous years ago, I told the heating & cooling contractor to put the fuel reservoir underneath the front porch. Putting the oil tank here meant that the Heating, Ventilation, & A/C contractors who stop to refill my fuel have access to it from my driveway. They can run the hose from the truck without needing to drive into my side or backyard. I think that my heating & cooling corporation prefers having full access to the oil tank in the front of the house. However, occasionally I have to get my snowblower out to clear the driveway after a giant snowstorm, otherwise they can get to my house.
New air conditioning