Radon gas issues too.
Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
31–40 of 46 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#32What you're saying is just plain wrong. You're not a super old person stuck in a chair that needs to see things from the inside. Go outside. If you are young, you should view the place you are living as your basecamp to sleep so you can go out and explore your world - not look at it through a window. Plus basement dwellings tend to be cheaper in which you can use the extra money you save for exploring.
Yes, BUT: COVID.
The last few years have been significantly worse for out-of-home adventuring. Yes the parks exist, yes there's tons of outdoor stuff you can do. But the baseline "go to the grocery and passively see other human beings" fell of a cliff. Basements don't help with that.
Also, something something vitamin D?
I dunno. I spent a lot of the Pandemic working out of my basement. I did not enjoy it at all. I'm making fairly large & expensive changes to avoid it in the future.
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#33What you're saying is just plain wrong. You're not a super old person stuck in a chair that needs to see things from the inside. Go outside. If you are young, you should view the place you are living as your basecamp to sleep so you can go out and explore your world - not look at it through a window. Plus basement dwellings tend to be cheaper in which you can use the extra money you save for exploring.
Absolutely. I lived in a basement apartment for a couple of years right after college and it was great. It was inexpensive, it met my needs, and it allowed me to save a lot of money for the next stage of my life.
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#34You have a similar problem at very high floors, you are disconnected from street life (in fact, the higher you are, the less frequently you leave the dwelling), but at least higher up you get sunlight. I think the sweet spot is the 2nd to 5th floors.
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#35What you're saying is just plain wrong. You're not a super old person stuck in a chair that needs to see things from the inside. Go outside. If you are young, you should view the place you are living as your basecamp to sleep so you can go out and explore your world - not look at it through a window. Plus basement dwellings tend to be cheaper in which you can use the extra money you save for exploring.
Remote working happens, and its adoption increased during the pandemic.
Some lifestyles may not need change to live in such places, for some some room for improvement may exist, and for others you will get some damage anyway.
And, of course, you should take into account country, city, culture and so on to see if that fits for you and there.
You can use the extra money inside too, like, I don't know, pictures or screens showing nature, fish bowls, furniture and so on, if you have to stay there for too much time anyway. But maybe it may be a better investment to use what you save to go to somewhere else better by some definition, if you can't change too much how depressing it is for you.
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#36While I'm inclined to agree - I wonder why you are still in a basement if you're renting? Surely the benefit of renting is the ability to quickly change living environment as you want, rather than stay somewhere you're unhappy for ten years?
This sort of assumes one lives someplace where rents are cheap. If you rented that basement apartment in the first place, it's a pretty good sign you were in need of somewhere extremely cheap... And in markets like NYC where you need a minimum of 4x the monthly rent just to move in, it can be hard to climb out of the basement (both metaphorically and literally)
Ah got you. I live in the Scottish countryside where property is cheap. Forgot about insane city prices.
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#37What you're saying is just plain wrong. You're not a super old person stuck in a chair that needs to see things from the inside. Go outside. If you are young, you should view the place you are living as your basecamp to sleep so you can go out and explore your world - not look at it through a window. Plus basement dwellings tend to be cheaper in which you can use the extra money you save for exploring.
This is a hilarious example of how people push their own worldviews and personalities.
> You're not a super old person stuck in a chair that needs to see things from the inside. Go outside.
You may not enjoy windows, but I do, and lots of other people do as well. I would prefer my home to not be a solid box. I go outside, but sometimes I come home, and when I do I like windows.
> If you are young, you should
Unless you're basing your next words on what the reader's personal interests are, this would be better phrased as "when I was young, I liked to [...]". Your lifestyle goals are obviously different from mine and so your advice has little relevance to my life.
> basement dwellings tend to be cheaper in which you can use the extra money you save for exploring.
Again you take for granted that everyone cares about exploring as much as you do.
> What you're saying is just plain wrong
This would have been better phrased as "What you're saying is not how I live my life". Wouldn't it be more helpful to first learn more about what the reader actually wants, instead of just assuming everyone is the same as you? If the OP is unhappy about living in basements, they probably won't benefit from being told "you're wrong" lol. I'm happiest when I have a comfortable home with big windows and a great view, and when I spend almost all of my waking life inside that home. The pandemic lockdowns were the best times of my life because I didn't have to see people or leave my home. There are people out there who enjoy different lifestyles than you, and conversations would probably be more effective if we started with that in mind.
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#38I agree 100%. I have been lucky enough to not have to live in a ground-level apartment, let alone a basement, for my adult life so far, and I never will until I buy a house. The boost to quality of life from having nice windows and a view is immeasurable to me.
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#39There are a lot of NYC apartment that also do not have windows at all. Priced at $2k and above. NYC leaves a severe mental scar on me (not just windows, but everything pretty much), yet I am still here because I need the money.
There are zero legal apartments in NYC without windows. Hell, there are zero legal bedrooms in NYC without windows.
Even with recent price moves one can readily find an apartment for less than $2k here in decent parts of Brooklyn and Queens. And if your housing budget is $2k, one can find absolutely incredible places anywhere in the city if you’re willing to have a housemate or two… you shouldn’t have a problem finding a duplex in a nice brownstone, and you could each have a separate floor and entrance.
Re: Ask HN: Do not rent and live in basements
#40I'd like to introduce to you this thing called going outside. Or moving if you can afford it.