How to Design Your Own House Plans With Walk-Out Basement

A home with a walk-out basement has its advantages. Building steps leading down into the basement and having a door to connect your basement to the outside will add convenience. You may need to carry groceries or gardening supplies in and out of your home. A driveway area near the exterior door of the basement will facilitate loading and unloading of boxes, tools and camping equipment.

Things You'll Need

• Sketch pad and pencil
• Graph paper
• Home design books
• Online floor plans
• Photo of property terrain
• Building contractor for advice

Instructions

1. Create a floor plan to accommodate a set of basement stairs and a door in the basement to walk out into the yard area, Examine your property to see if you can position a basement walk-out door on the lower side of a slopped yard. You can dig away dirt to make an exit space for the basement, but it's easier to design the house by working with a natural land slope.

2. Figure out if you want to build a drive-under garage as part of your house plans. Install a walk-out door right beside the garage roll-up door because that wall of the basement will not be underground. Design a ramp to slope down to a walk-out door if your property is flat or install a set of steps to be built inside a walled-off area.

3. Use graph paper to lay out a floor plan that will place basement stairs near the kitchen or in a hallway close to the kitchen. Allow one square of graph paper to represent 6 inches of real space. Basement stairs close to the kitchen have been a preference in home floor plans for the past 50 years. Design the stairs to be away from sleeping areas so walking up and down will not disturb anyone in the bedroom areas.

4. Consider where to place the exterior door of the basement, since you must consider safety issues. Place the door to come out in a well-lit area you can view from a first floor window area, so that family members can watch out for each other when it's dark outside. Curtail burglaries as well by placing the walk-out door where neighbors can view that general area when you're not home.

5. Designing the basement steps to descend to an area close to the walk-out basement door will save steps in bringing groceries into the home from a lower driveway. You can take out trash or transport gardening supplies down basement steps and outside through the walk-out door easily if you don't have to travel the whole length of your basement to do so.

Tips & Warnings

• Build basement steps at least 42 inches wide, say experts at the National Association of Home Builders. If you have room, make the basement steps 48 inches wide. This will allow you to bring in furniture you've purchased through the basement door and up into the house more easily.

• Buy a steel door with a heavy deadbolt lock to install in the basement walk-out area. Install an exterior light with a motion detector next to the door. A steel door will help prevent break-ins, but buy doors with only very small window panes or you will defeat the purpose of having a steel door.

References

• Build Your Own House: Walkout Basements
• Chief Architect: Build a Walk Out Basement
• Dream Home Source: Walk Out Plans

Resources

• Home Designer Software: Walk Out Basement