Attic vs. Basement

Main Difference

The main difference between Attic and Basement is that the Attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building and Basement is a below-ground floor of a building.

• Attic

  An attic (sometimes referred to as a loft) is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a sky parlor or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the top floor of a building and the slanted roof, they are known for being awkwardly shaped spaces with exposed rafters and difficult-to-reach corners.

  While some attics are converted into bedrooms, home offices, or attic apartments complete with windows and staircases, most remain difficult to access (and are usually entered using a loft hatch and ladder). Attics are generally used for storage, though they can also help control temperatures in a house by providing a large mass of slowly moving air. The hot air rising from the lower floors of a building is often retained in attics, further compounding their reputation as inhospitable environments. However, in recent years attics have been insulated to help decrease heating costs, since, on average, uninsulated attics account for 15 percent of the total energy loss in average houses.A loft is also the uppermost space in a building but is distinguished from an attic in that an attic typically constitutes an entire floor of the building, while a loft covers only a few rooms, leaving one or more sides open to the lower floor.

• Basement

  A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. They are generally used as a utility space for a building where such items as the boiler, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system are located; so also are amenities such as the electrical distribution system, and cable television distribution point. However, in cities with high property prices such as London, basements are often fitted out to a high standard and used as living space.

  In British English, the word basement is used for underground floors of, for example, department stores, but the word is only used with houses when the space below their ground floor is habitable, with windows and (usually) its own access. The word cellar or cellars is used to apply to the whole underground level or to any large underground room. A subcellar is a cellar that lies further underneath.

• Basement (noun)

  the floor of a building which is partly or entirely below ground level

  “a basement flat”

  “they went down the stairs into the basement”

• Basement (noun)

  the oldest formation of rocks underlying a particular area

  “basement rocks”