wood foundation walls

[bucketmouth64]

I looked at a house built in 2010 and it has wood foundation walls instead of concrete. Realtor said it's fairly common to use. This is a first I've seen or heard of it. I've researched a bit on it and there's good and bad reviews about it. Would anyone have any experience with this either building it or having it in your home? Does this affect the value of the home? What should I look for when inspecting the house? The basement is unfinished so I'm able to look behind the insulation. My first thought in the basement is to replace the fiberglass insulation with sprayed in foam insulation. Any information would be grateful so my wife and I can make an informed decision to make an offer on the house or not.   

[Surface Tension]

The topic comes up once in a while here is a link to the latest.

http://hotspotoutdoors.com/forums/topic/172714-wood-basement

[bucketmouth64]

Thanks for the links, that helped out.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Absolutely positively 100% wouldn't touch one.  The cons vastly outweigh the pros.  Water problems, bowing, settling, etc, not to mention you'll get killed on resale in the future.  

[delcecchi]

Block walls don't stop water problems.  BTDT

[MNice]

I bet the price is lower than the comp's in the area...  That will tell you what's in store for you if you try to sell.  Just not a popular type of construction here.

[nofishfisherman]

I'm not sure I'd be worried about the actual resale value of the house.  The lower future sale price is probably being offset by a lower initial purchase price so in the end its a wash.  Even if the house is valued at $50,000 less than comps in the area when you go to sell, the house is then probably valued at $50,000 less than comps when you go to purchase it in the first place.  As long as you don't overpay for the house to start with then you should be able to recoup the money upon sale. 

The bigger question is whether or not the foundation type will make it harder to find a buyer for the house even at the lower price.  I suspect there will always be people that don't know anything building techniques and foundations and who won't give it a second thought.  They'll see a nice house at a lower price than comparable homes and thats all they'll worry about.

[Tom7227]

assuming things don't turn sourt when you own it.

[nofishfisherman]

Yes, of course unless something goes wrong after purchase.  So I would research it based more on risk of failure versus potential resale value. 

[delcecchi]

If you guys looked at the previous threads, you would see that it makes a huge difference how the wood foundation was designed and installed. 

It is impossible to tell, however, if the rules changed as a result of problems with previous rules. 

[ANYFISH2]

I have a wood foundation in our home here in Randall mn.  Randall is notorious for water infiltrating basements hear.

Ours is the best at preventing water infiltration of the people we know (all have block except one poured).  We got water one time in 13 years, we received 11 in of rain in 36 hours.  Our clay soil doesn't help here.

So in my instance, I am happy with our wood foundation.