WANT MORE LIVING SPACE? LOWER YOUR BASEMENT!

By Doug Hanna 

It's been a couple of years since Cambridge and Somerville relaxed their zoning ordinances regarding living space in basements. It's now far easier to increase the floor-to-ceiling dimension far beyond the 7 foot mark, which defines living space, without running afoul of FAR (floor area ratio) regulations. "You can dig to China if you want to," was how a building inspector in Somerville responded when I asked how far we could lower a basement slab.

Flood Prevention with Stormwater Drainage Systems

As we see and hear about the epic flooding and destruction in Houston, it's hard to imagine what the Boston area would look like if it suffered a similar storm.  We are located on the Atlantic coast, and huge hurricanes can happen here (1938 and 1954, among others).