Originally posted by @Chad Clanton:@Andrew Whatley, the number of electrical appliances/fixtures and their associated requirements in the home have certainly increased from what they used to be (25-50A AC units, 30A dryers, 40A ranges, etc, things which didn't used to be in much older homes),The loads from these devices don't count in this discussion, as today they all have to be served on separate wires, and will all have their own dedicated breaker.If someone has managed to wire up a dryer to 15A or 20A ring, the house has long since burned down.FWIW, ranges are coming down from 50A to 40A.

i call it slow burn flip to brrr combo method. its ok go ahead newbie buy at 100% no money down to get equity to gain cash flow. i love using banks money to access my equity to gain increasing cash flow each month while force appreciation via increasing finished living square feet adding bed or bath if dont buy at wholesale.i bought 3 primary homes in last 15 yrs all 100% LTV listed  on retail Mls with help of realtor, then added value thru fixing up important stuff and expanding square footage, adding insulated useable spaces, and then moving out after only having signed rental agreement lease and using lease to help qualify for the next loan by covering previous mortgage. i maxed the equity out fixed them up rented them while listing for sale and till sold. all must be done thru forced appreciation and rehabbing by adding square feet or adding bathrooms or adding bedrooms or garage...create something to change value quickly. it has worked for 15 years with no money down. long term equity is useless unless you have great credit, must have cash flowing rents or cash flowing job or cash flowing cosigner to qualify for loan most lenders i hear.so i prefer to reduce my risk  of loosing my job, my health my sanity of my time for money instead of 1 man company owned by 100% of my own efforts i now learned leverage my efforts thru buying "doors" and filling em with tenant/employees aka    renters having 1-2% of their paycheck each month in exchange for place live is good deal. money from many different trees instead my own tree.  

So what happens if you own a property free and clear and it burns to the ground?

(you can't insure a property you don't own; if it burns down without insurance, you're out your original investment)  Most properties that are abandoned are abandoned for a reason. 

Should the property burn down I could collect full replacement value on the home.

As an example, let’s consider burn damage to a countertop.

But the house I grew up in had burned down to the studs.

If you sell it , no income , pay capital gains and will have cash to burn .

Maybe a little blunt, maybe slightly sarcastic, but there were no personal attacks so I'd be careful about burning bridges with the members on here.  

Assuming you're burning gas, one thing you could easily do to supplement the heat in the basement is run hot water baseboard from the domestic HW heater.