Author Topic: Tutorial: Basements Under Foundations  (Read 157637 times)

Offline Twinmum

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Tutorial: Basements Under Foundations
« on: June 30, 2010, 06:35:56 PM »
With the introduction of the basement tool, building a basement for your sims became a lot easier than it used to be, but there is still room for confusion when using this tool, so I will try and guide you through some tips for using these tools.
First up, let’s build a basement under an existing house that is not built on a foundation. This is the easiest of all basement building.

Go into the build tab and select the basement tool and just drag it out where you would like your basement to be. A few points to remember though, you need to be on ground level to do this and you need space to add your stairs to the ground floor. For the stairs, you will need 6 spaces which includes 1 landing spot at the top and the bottom of the stairs (when you are placing stairs it will show 2 landing spaces at the top, but when you are placing stairs at ground level down, you don’t need the additional space) Of these 6 spaces, you really only have to have 5 in the basement as the stairs can back up to an existing wall and 5 on the upper level.


So that is the very basics of basement building, but what if your house is built on a foundation? How do you get the stairs to go down to the basement then? Keep reading and I will tell you how.

If you have a foundation under your house and a basement, you need to build your stairs in two sections, from floor level to the ground and then from the ground down to the basement floor. The first step is simple enough, just demolish 2 blocks of foundation then add your stairs down to the ground. (don’t forget to cover that grassy tile with flooring lol)

The second step can be a little tricky. You will need a landing of one tile at the bottom of the first section of stairs. From that landing, you can go down to the basement, but you need to remove more foundation than just where the stairs will be. If you try to place the stairs with just one row of foundation removed, you will be told that you can’t place stairs inside a foundation.  To get around this, remove two rows of foundation from each side of the stairs. Don’t worry, once the stairs are in place, you can build the foundation right up next to them.
The problem is that with the foundation in place too close to where you want the stairs, you can still see a floor grid where the foundation is missing. You need to get rid of this so there is nothing above the stairs. Once you have removed enough foundation you can then place the stairs down to the basement. Even this final placement can be a bit sticky – you may have to jiggle the mouse around in the right spot before the stairs ‘stick’

Once your stairs are in place, you can then build the foundation right up to them again to give the stairwell walls. These walls will not go beyond the ground, so to give your stairwell nice closed in walls add 2 walls either side of where the stairs will go BEFORE you actually place the stairs. This step isn’t needed, but it gives the stairs a better look (in my opinion anyway)

Now the stairs are in place and the foundation is back you can add some floor tiles over the last two spaces over the stairs. You can actually cover all the lower stairs with floor tiles, but when sims use the stairs, they pass through the floor which looks weird. You can also build walls over these floor tiles, you can paint these walls,but you can’t place anything on the walls or floor over the stairs (unless you use the moveobjects cheat) Your sim will however be able to walk over them.

So now you should have a set of stairs going down to your basement through the foundation. Finish them up by putting walls or railings around (so the kids don’t fall over the edge lol)
For a variation, when it comes to the second flight, try changing direction to go at a right angle from the top stairs. If you do this though, you will need an extra landing tile between the top stairs and the lower ones.

So as you can see, you can add a basement to a house on a foundation. Of course it is much easier if you haven’t got decorated walls above the area, but what major home renovation like adding stairs doesn’t include a bit of mess.
If you are still unsure about adding stairs down through your foundation, there is always the option of building a garden shed in the back yard with the stairs inside!


Norma
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Offline jersygirl15

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2010, 07:18:49 PM »
This tutorial is really very helpful and well made ... I loved the idea of adding explaination photos .. I wish all topics had describing photos .... but can you make a tutorial for building a second story ?? It would really help me a lot ... I hope you can do it.
Thanks  :)



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Offline LlamaMama

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2010, 07:41:11 PM »
This is so fantastic! Thank you!  :-*
I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally walk through into another dimension. -- Steven Wright

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your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. -- George Carlin

Offline JahloveAngel

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2010, 12:49:42 AM »
Thank you very much for this! I was beginning to wonder if I'd always have to deal with the awkwardness of having a building on a foundation and another building without foundation (that happens to have stairs to a basement) on the same lot. This tutorial will make everything much easier!  :D

Offline LlamaMama

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2010, 01:45:14 AM »
Not knowing what you've just shown us, I recently made a basement under the lawn. I then surrounded the ground level stair cutout with a pretty fence with a locked gate, and placed boulders and shrubs around, to help it blend into the surroundings. I placed a small wall at the base of the stairs with a locked door to the basement.

Eventually a robber came, let himself into the locked gate at the top (D'oh! All that effort for naught!), opened the locked door at the bottom, and was finally stopped by the burglar alarm. The lesson I learned: robbers can unlock locks, and alarms and phone calls to the police work best.

I still put a fence around my money trees, though. Now I'm wondering why.
I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally walk through into another dimension. -- Steven Wright

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die,
your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. -- George Carlin

Offline Twinmum

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2010, 02:11:30 AM »
.... but can you make a tutorial for building a second story ?? It would really help me a lot ... I hope you can do it.
Thanks  :)
I can do that, no problem.. when I regain control of my good computer .. kids!! :P

Norma
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Offline jersygirl15

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2010, 12:50:49 PM »
I'll be waiting ..... thank you  :)



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Offline Naga

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2010, 01:27:21 PM »
Detailed explanation (+1)
Pictures!=O (+1)
Including ideas and recommendations (+1)

For short, good work! And thank you.

Offline LlamaMama

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2010, 01:28:29 PM »
I found it very simple to build a second story. In Build mode click on Stairs, then place them in the house. At the top of the stairs an invisible grid appears, around which you can place walls (click Wall), and floor tiles (click Floor).
I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally walk through into another dimension. -- Steven Wright

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die,
your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. -- George Carlin

Offline LlamaMama

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2010, 08:11:29 PM »
I just tried to build an underground parking lot using the basement tool. Ideally I'd like to have the grass cover the hole and an asphalt driveway leading up to the slope. I'm lost on making a slope.

Anyone with experience have advice?
I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally walk through into another dimension. -- Steven Wright

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die,
your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. -- George Carlin

Offline Twinmum

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2010, 08:27:13 PM »
The basement tool is good for just that basements, but for something like a parking level, you need to use the foundation tool. That's how we used to always build basements. I've built a few houses with under house parking in TS2, I presume it is still much the same method. I'll have a play and let you know.

Norma
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Offline LlamaMama

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2010, 08:56:52 PM »
I saw a youtube video showing it, so I might be able to figure it out. Thanks.
I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally walk through into another dimension. -- Steven Wright

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die,
your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. -- George Carlin

Offline Twinmum

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2010, 09:33:38 PM »
Were you after doing something like this...




That was done using no cheats. In TS2 you could get a better result on the driveway (and be able to lay any paving on it) by using cheats, but it's been so long since I did that, I've forgotten how to do it and would have to find my building notes.

Norma
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Offline LlamaMama

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2010, 10:19:05 PM »
I was hoping to create a parking area on the home lot that wouldn't show the cars or need a separate building. I don't want to mar the natural beauty. Silly, I know.
I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally walk through into another dimension. -- Steven Wright

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die,
your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. -- George Carlin

Offline Naga

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Re: Basements under foundations tutorial
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2010, 10:53:24 PM »
That is totally dependent on whether you want it to follow the logic way of being or just "not show the cars".

 

anything