Added Living Space - Adding furring to poured walls or block walls to finish the basement, (usually at the outset thicker than wood walls with similar backfills), increases the wall thickness, reducing the already smaller area of the basement. If this area needed for the furring were put in one place, often the difference in total area gained by building a Permanent Wood Foundation would amount to an additional bathroom. Since a Permanent Wood Foundation basement is always dry and comfortable, it can be used the same way as any part of the building above the basement. There are no odors or off-gassing from the treated wood, and no musty odors from mildew or mold. For a ranch the living space is doubled without increasing the overall cost of building the foundation.