You’re doing it wrong…

If you are familiar with 100 year old or older homes, this is quite a common practice nationwide. Widespread indoor plumbing and automatic water heaters only became common after the 1920s, and they were slow to be implemented. In many small homes, installing the HWH in the kitchen was somewhat the norm....although most homeowners didn't have one large enough to pop out above the countertop. They were usually hidden beneath the countertop or installed as a standalone enameled metal "box" that one could install in an unused spot in the kitchen that (most times) were the same height as the countertops. Those were the "fancy" ones.

Most DIY'ers simply cut the countertop, installed a small HWH, piped it all up and enclosed the unit with a board in front and placed the original countertop right back on top of the new HWH.

Many of those types of homes have been modestly remodeled, and to gain that space back in the kitchen, they have either moved the HWH altogether into some kind of an addition, up in the attic or a separate outdoor closet that is insulated from the elements.

Definitley redneck in today's world, but if money is a concern and you own an older home and want a larger HWH for whatever reason? This is your option, unless you wanted to move it completely out of the kitchen and actually had the money, a plumber, and the room to move it where you wanted. For many across the US living in houses like this, they are typically poorer, older and they do what costs them the lowest amount of money. Hence, the photo above.

Tom

Did something way wrong yesterday!

Plugged in my 1981 Atari Tempest and forgot I didn’t turn off the power button when I pulled the plug the last time
Now I have a dead screen with the Spot Killer light lit on the monitor Deflection Board
DANG IT!

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Well around my parts I guess we are spoiled, we have basements, as I do in my 150yr old home. Those who don't have basements they are usually in the equipment closet with the furnace.

Agreed; try as one might there's just no sane reason for such butchery in a kitchen.

We had one in California. Basements are very rare in CA (at least northern CA).
One of the things that the realtor told us was to make sure that the house was bolted down to the foundation. Many weren't. Those that aren't tend to slide off, more or less completely, in an earthquake. We observed several that did just that during the Loma Prieta quake (1989), which we got to experience. Ours was indeed bolted down.
We also, at the encouragement of our realtor, had strapped our water heater to the studs in the wall of the garage (where it was located). This, too, is a good idea. They have a tendency to fall over in a biggish earthquake. My wife's niece and her husband, then living in San Jose, had this happen at their house when Loma Prieta happened, and they were both still at work. Someone driving by saw water pouring out from under their garage door, and stopped and shut off the water.
Mrs. H decided quickly and definitively that she did not want to stay in CA much longer after Loma Prieta happened.

EDIT:
House 2.1 (just before as we put it on the market and got ready to move back East, in very early 1991)
The house sat (bolted down!) on a "concrete perimeter" with a crawlspace (very tight) below it.

F1nut wrote: »

Plenty of areas have basements.

In some areas, you never see a basement unless the build is into a hill. Much depends on the soils. Many areas have shallow rock and it is very expensive to build a basement unless is part of the natural formation.

Here in Tennessee houses don't have basements. High water table.
The ground doesn't freeze in winter, either. Water lines are buried only
a foot deep.

The majority of the basements in this area older than 30 years are in dire need of repairs

Heck most of the apartments I lived in as a young fellow had basements and I had access to them. My second apartment in 77 I turned the basement into my first man cave-listening room. It was a walk in basement complete with a beer fridge, Marantz receiver with large Advents, exercise equipment and a spot for my motorcycle and all my tools.
We did live in a place for a couple years later on that was on a slab. Those floors being ice cold in the winter was one of my least favorite memories of that place.

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Every home built in an area where tornadoes are even a remote possibility should have at least a room underground, if not a full basement.

Sadly, that will never be the case unless it is mandated by the government, and in the many of the worst areas for tornado risk, they don't generally believe in government overreach. Even if they enacted laws now, there are millions of existing homes build as neighborhoods where they came in and built thousands of semi-affordable slab homes on 1/8 acre each. Between the 90s and the great recession, it was build build build in the south. Very poor build quality overall.

Back to basements...

Pretty sure there were zero basements where we lived in S.E. Florida.