Hi! I’m new to the board and new to basement repair in general. I have a house (1930’s) with a full size, unfinished basement. There are some water problems but, after researching, I think that fixing the slope of the yard would correct those. The floor is level and smooth, as are the walls (except for one spot, where the old oil tank used to be, which has a rough area and a pretty deep pit). Anyway, we would like to finish this basement, but I have an issue/question that I can’t find any information on: :wall: The house was built on top of/ around the foundation of an even older house. The old foundation is part of the foundation in use. However, it only goes ¾ of the way to the ‘ceiling’ of the basement. (Er, the real, in-use foundation is taller than the old foundation) This leaves two small and open ‘crawlspace’ areas that have a dirt floor. How should I handle this? Would adding block to enclose those sections work? Or should we poor a cement floor over them first? Any help/ ideas, or places to look for help and ideas, would be welcome. Thanks in advance! Nettle

Greetings, all. New user here, hope to learn a lot and possiby share anything of use... My question concerns what sequence I should do things in re: remodeling an ex-garage/basement area. This area, we call it the basement but it is all entirely ABOVE grade. It is a large area about 30 by 15 in toto, currently subdivided into a laundry area at one end, and workbench along one wall. I will be remodeling this area in to a den/computer room/library, and keep about half of the existing "workshop" area, and retain the laundry area. The room currently is drywalled pretty much on all wall, concrete floored, and exposed joist ceiling (the floor of the 2-story addition this basement is to) with batt insulation. There are a few flourescent fixtures hanging from the joists to provide some light. I plan to hang suspended ceiling (2x4, probably) over the entire room area, and lay a wood flooring of some type and manner over the existing concrete floor. In addition, the walls will be finished with panelling (??) or some other material. Then I'm building in the desk/computer workspace, tossing in some bookshelves, etc, and in one corner, adding a lavatory and toilet. My question is, what should I be looking at doing first? My thoughts are that if I lay the flooring down first, then all the subsequent construction debris/sawdust, etc etc would get ground in to it. Not good. If I put in the ceiling first, then the wall/ceiling joints will be hard to handle. So that leaves the wall treatment, whatever it might be. Should THAT be first??? Appreciate any guidance here. Thanks very much Ol' southpaw Jim