lowering crawl space
#1
06-08-04, 04:01 PM
lowering crawl space
I am considering buying a house. It has a crawlspace. what i would like to do is dig it out to make a basement, is this possible, is it very costly and could i do it myself. there is lots of room on the outside to dig from there.A BIG JOB I KNOW.
#2
06-09-04, 12:05 PM
Id say forget it. When you get done with what you can dig out by code you dont have as much room left as you think. You have to stay back from all the footing down there so far. Id look for another home you will be ahead of the game.
ED
ED
#3
06-09-04, 12:27 PM
Super Moderator
jeffy,
I agree with Ed that it may be more work than you would care to do.
There are two ways to put a basement under the house.
The digging from the outside you are mentioning would involve a bldg mover coming and raising the house and temporarily supporting it with beams. You would then have a new foundation built and then the house would be lowered onto it.
The second less costly way is to hand dig from the inside, but as Ed said there are restictions as to how close you can come from the footing that supports the house. At one time I heard the figure of three feet but you will have to check with your local bldg inspector.
I actually helped an aquaintance with a shovel one afternoon and it wasn't as hard as you would think.
He rigged up a conveyer and all you had to do was shovel onto it and it took the dirt through an opening he made in the side wall.
Trouble was the shovelling got really tough going after the liquid lunch came out.
I agree with Ed that it may be more work than you would care to do.
There are two ways to put a basement under the house.
The digging from the outside you are mentioning would involve a bldg mover coming and raising the house and temporarily supporting it with beams. You would then have a new foundation built and then the house would be lowered onto it.
The second less costly way is to hand dig from the inside, but as Ed said there are restictions as to how close you can come from the footing that supports the house. At one time I heard the figure of three feet but you will have to check with your local bldg inspector.
I actually helped an aquaintance with a shovel one afternoon and it wasn't as hard as you would think.
He rigged up a conveyer and all you had to do was shovel onto it and it took the dirt through an opening he made in the side wall.
Trouble was the shovelling got really tough going after the liquid lunch came out.
#4
06-10-04, 06:43 PM
Home Inspection
well i put an offer in on the house,but i agree with you both. turns out the home owner did some work himself, there is no concrete foundation all the way around , there are peirs and poorly constructed ones as well. he also put insulation between the joist and vaper barriered on the bottom of the joist.the condition of the crawl space is bad there is alot of condensation under that vapour.all this moister in the basement has got alot of spiders also there is alot of wood skirting in contact with the earth. i have told them they need to drop the price by 30000 or no deal. if they go for it then i will put that money to get a proper foundation and basement professionally done.
thanks for your time
thanks for your time
