Adding a Basement

I want to convert my crawl space into a full basement but have been unable to find a contractor who does this. I did talk to a nearby neighbor who did it himself (and was quite successful!) and I'm considering this. I'd be a lot happier if I could find some "how to" suggestions, so I can avoid any serious pitfalls.

My home presently is a 1 story, sitting on a 3 foot block foundation, with about 3-4 foot of crawl space.

I've had both concrete (footings, block and slab work) and residential framing experience, so I'm pretty sure I could handle the work.

Any suggestions?

 

JW:
This is your lucky day. We ae doing exactly that kind of job as we speak. It is 6:00 am and have to hit the road, but will reply, probably tomorrow. Thanks

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Jack the Contractor

 

JW:
I would call an excavation company, and have someone come over with a bobcat. They will
dig a hole and ramp right under your house.
They will literally drive under your house and haul out the dirt. This is relatively low cost. Now with all of your basement dug out from the inside, you can go to work.
Lucky for you you have a large crawl space. Less dirt to move. Good Luck

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Jack the Contractor

 

Jack, Thanks. We had already found an excavation company to do the major portion of the digging. I had questions like "How close to the existing foundation can I dig?" and "Should I consider removing the old foundation entirely?". Assuming I can dig to the within 1 foot of the existing foundation (maybe not a good assumption?), will the secondary wall require the same footer (since it will not be load bearing)?

The excavation work was easy to find and (as you said)pretty cost effective (about $600.00) but I was unable to find a single cement contractor willing to even bid the job.

Thanks again! Jim

 

I am just finsihing such a project. I dug the dirt out by hand with help from my teenage sons. Then we poured new foundations one foot in from the exisitng wall. City codes are that you leave two feet in my area, but I have rock hard clay soil so I broke the rule. Then we used Pink Foam Xtra, an insulated concrete forming system. We put this 40 feet total length and width wall up in four or five hours. It was 48 inches high to be above the existing footing that holds up the walls that suport my roomabove this room. I then had a concrete pumper come out and a Ready Mix concrete truck with 3 cu. yards of concrete, This cost me about $400.
The wall csot about $450. It took us about 60 or 70 pickup loads to haul out the dirt. We had been doing it for two years off and on.
I had estimates of $5,000 to do this by a contractor. Now I need to know how thik to make my floor.

 

Thanks,
I also finally found a local company that distributes foam concrete forms and has had several customers pour their own basements. Our local code people will allow us to dig to the inside edge of the footing (but only if the new footing and wall are poured "in a reasonable period of time)! We must tie the existing footing into the new wall every 6 feet and place the new wall on a 8 by 16 inch footing (obviously the new wall won't be centered on the footing).

I finally found a foundation company, that specializes in piered foundations and repairs, who estimated the job at $20,000 for my 30 by 50 foot basement! Sounds like you saved a bundle.

A word of caution to other readers ... treat the building inspector with great respect and don't fudge when following local codes. I've seen the inspectors condemn a building (i.e. you can't live there) until a severe code violation was torn out and replaced. They are almost all friendly and eager to offer technical advice ... but they have a HUGE stick if you cross them!

 

JW
The price your concrete contractor gave you is pretty close. I roughly fingured it up.
Sounds like you are on the right track. You will have your new floor in before you know it with no fuss or muss. It won't take you 2 years, and you won't have any problems with an unlevel floor.

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Jack the Contractor