Opening to Under Porch

I have seen several posts similar but none close enough to put my fears to rest. I have a front porch that runs nearly the length of my house and I want to cut a hole in the basement wall to go under the porch and lay concrete down. Some posts I've seen have mentioned to take the cinder block out all the way to the ceiling, but those were to put a doorway to outside. I don't want to do that for this project b/c my ceiling is 8.5' and I'm not going to cover it with a door or anything just have an opening. My actual thought was to remove all blocks for the opening except the top row by the ceiling and install a 6"x6" post as a header and use adjustable poles to hold it in place. Is this a safe, long term, solution? Next do I make the header as wide as my opening or do I remove more blocks on the second row from the top to make room for a wider header. Another concern is since I can't get to the other side yet, how far away from the works space is too far for a temporary wall, or would a temporary wall be needed?

 

It's not clear as to why you think your basement wall needs a hole in it to place concrete under your porch (???). A few more details, and a picture or two, or even a diagram, would be helpful.

 

Yeah I was afraid I wasn't being clear enough. The porch is a solid structure that is just as tall as my basement. The area will add 200 square feet to my space. A perfect area for small hobbies and storage. The reason I know the details is because a neighbor with the exact same floor plan has done the same thing, but used a contractor.

I would post pics but the links people supply to post them says I do not have access.

 

Have you tried these directions?
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/po...your-post.html
It's possible the recent 'upgrade' has messed up the ability to post pics if so, they should get it fixed soon..... we hope.

 

So there's the reason (the recent 'upgrade') I haven't been able to find many of the categories that were always available before!

Any chance we could just 'downgrade' and go back to the way it was, when everything seemed to work just fine?

 

Here's the message I recieve:

m-winters, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

I figure b/c I'm not a paying member of the forums.

 

There aren't any paying members, we're all volunteers....... but I do accept cash if you want to send any my way

For what it's worth, I've also gotten that message several times since the upgrade. Makes you wonder if the only reason they make these 'upgrades' is to keep the site techs busy

Clearing out your cookies does seem to have a positive effect on the new ?improved? forums.

 

Well I see you're in East TN, I'm in Middle, if you come out and help me with my basement I just might.

Utimately pictures wouldn't help here b/c right now all I have is just a block wall. Imagine a walkway from one room to another. That's what I want, I'm just concerned about how to safely handle the cinder block wall.

 

The old picture instruction link is archived because of the upgrade. It will only work for mods. Try http://www.doityourself.com/forum/li...-pictures.html

 

Exterior concrete block walls are load-bearing (cinder blocks haven't been used for 70+/- years), and therefore require a header be installed above any opening you make for a doorway, tightly bearing against the upper remaining course(s) of block. A beefy enough steel angle lintel can work quite well without destroying adjacent block. Your local building supply store (not big box, as the colored apron guys usually don't have enough knowledge) should be able to tell you what sized header/lintel you need. Temporary supports (a wall, as you called it) to take the load off of the block wall being operated on are a good idea.

 

I know I will never understand you people with basements but are you really saying you think there is a sealed off basement under the porch. Why would they do that? I'd expect to find nothing but fill dirt under a porch slab. I'd suggest before you make any major plans you rent a core drill and dill a 2" hole through the wall to see if there is any thing but dirt on the other side.

 

It would make perfect sense in a place that gets cold like New England. You would have to put frost footings in for the porch anyway. Putting them at the same depth as the basement footings would make it easier since the hole in that area is already dug and I think there are codes a bout putting footings on disturbed earth. So that would make building the basement walls, back filling, and then pouring the porch footings higher up a no go. And lets just consider all the hassle of getting the masons and concrete truck back just to do the porch footings and block. So why not just make it part of the basement? Well then you have to deal with insulating the porch floor and trying to keep the water from coming in through the ceiling.

I think basements are great. They make working on the house so much easier because of the access, and not having to walk around on concrete is much easier on the knees.

 

So wouldn't that leave a deep hole on the other side of the basement wall that would fill with water? And if it is as you state "a ceiling that will leak" isn't her choice to use the space problematic since the water infiltration would have to be fixed?

(Just debating, not arguing.)

 

Those are very good points and I wonder about that as well. Maybe her porch is covered. I don't know. I'm not saying it's a great idea. There was a post somewhere here recently with that exact problem. The area under the posters porch filled with water and was rotting the sheathing of the house. It appeared the basement level was largely above ground. So the wood framing of the house started low and the porch was quite high above.