Have a question that I have never had to consider…
Had a potential customer call and wanted me to look at finishing his basement. I show up to find a rather large crawl space, 18×24 that is 5’6″ from the top of footing to the bottom of the floor joist. The footing is dug 5′ deep below grade for some reason. The floor area is littered with old construction debris that has been there for 38 yrs.
He wants to try and convert the area to either of the following, and I would appreciate any input you could give me as to the possibility of #2 as I have never had it proposed to me….the choices are:
1. extra storage space. I would pour a concrete floor and maximize the space he could use, which would be a lot. The space is wide open with an easy access from an adjacent room via some steps.
or (the customers preferred choice)
2 convert the space into a “liveable” area. My biggest question would be the possibility to somehow dig below/add to the footings in order to make a finished height of 7’6″ (approx.) My gut tells me this is not possible, but thought I’d propose it to this hotbed of experience and ideas to see what floats.
Thanks in advance!
knowledge without experience is just information…. Mark Twain
Politicians, like diapers, need to be changed often…and for the same reason. (bumber sticker)
Replies
The answer depends a lot on what a soils engineer finds about soils type and where the water table is. It can certainly be done, but it is not a cheap venture.
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I did work on a job once where we did just that. We hand dug the basement, shoveling dirt onto a rented conveyor that went out a basement window and into a dumpster. Filled one a day for what seemed like an eternity but was probably a week or so. Then underpinned the foundation in the typical 1/3 procedure. Poured a new slab and finished the basement, complete with bathroom and both internal and external stairs. Turned out real nice, don't remember what it cost though.
shovel for a week?Man, you had it easy! I got to jackhammer for two months. had a helper on the wheelbarrow though
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
"Then underpinned the foundation in the typical 1/3 procedure."What is this exactally?knowledge without experience is just information.... Mark Twain
Politicians, like diapers, need to be changed often...and for the same reason. (bumber sticker)
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For every 6' of wall, you excavate and pour the section from 0' - 2', then after it has cured, you pour the next strip 2' - 4' and finally the last 4' - 6'. I have usually seen 2' to 3' increments, don't think you should push it much further. Always best to have an engineer weigh in on the process though.
Do you mean 6' going bottom to top ? Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
No, linearly.
#2, also been there, done that, twice even. DIY of course.
As said, depends on worst case water table and if/how you can drain.
Last one was about 6 years ago for son's house, dug out about 50 yards by hand over a 3 week period, couple of hours and about 2 yards a day. Semi-hardpan so dug to within 1 foot of the existing footing on 3 sides, then poured an 18 inch thick concrete embankment with rebar into where floor which was poured at the same time over 4" of gravel. Installed sleeper wood floor over new concrete floor . If you dont know soils, then the 2 foot at a time method is safest.
One side was open to daylight so could wheelbarrow out dirt, also good for drainage. Dug 1 foot down inside the new wall and installed 4 inch french drain in pea gravel, drain to daylight. Also dug down and put outside french drain on uphil side after embankment cured .
Cost. About $1200 for concrete, wood was free out of my scavenge stacks, about 20 sheets of ply for floor and cabinets, about 200 LF of PT 1x4 for sleepers. About $100 worth of drain pipe and $100 worth of u-haul gravel. < $1500 out of pocket. Probably $3K if I'da had to buy everything used (lotta semi scrap wood used for the embankment forms, plus had left over wall insulation, 'scrap' steel for a new beam to be able to eliminate 2 posts, etc.)
Time: Maybe 40 hours digging, 16 hours forms and concrete work, 40 or so hours finish work including electrical and new sink and cabinets and carpet (reason for sleeper floor). Say 120 hours labor.
My guess would be at least a $10K job if making a living doing this stuff, slightly less if you can get a bobcat in under there.
Fringe benefit - lost 25 pounds doing it, priceless!
Charlie, This topic was discussed in May. I've converted approximately 350 sq.ft. of crawlspace into basement space. My soil is hard clay.
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