crawlspaces to basement - DIY Chatroom

PureCountry72 · 10-10-2009, 01:11 AM

Does anyone know how to convert a crawlspace into a basement? Over half of my crawlspace is tall enough that a 6' man can walk in by just bending over. I understand there will be a lot of digging, but how do you support the house to pour footers for outside walls? Can one side of the house be done at a time. I would like to use cinder blocks for the walls and have a poured concrete floor. Can this be done without lifting the house?

Red Squirrel · 10-10-2009, 01:24 AM

I think the way most people do it is remove the basement windows or make holes in foundation where needed, insert a couple beams, and lift the whole house with jacks or a crane. I've even seen some instances where they move the whole house over to the back yard, do the work (digging/foundation) then place it back.

Be ready to plaster and repairt lot of walls though, there will be cracks and stuff and possibly other damage.

PureCountry72 · 10-10-2009, 01:35 AM

Thank you red squirrel for your quick reply

itsreallyconc · 10-11-2009, 12:19 AM

we slid 16" beams thru the laid-up stone fnd then jack'd to crib 'em,,, after that came the bobcat ( this was before the availability of ' amigo ' labor ),,, pour'd the footer, set forms, & pump'd conc walls,,, no laser then, either - all stick & bubble work,,, if you're not well-acquainted w/the work, consider hiring it - they'll have insurance.

if you're choosing block, suggest you pump grout to fill the cells & vert rebar every 4',,, some may think this's o-kill but, bas'd on what i've seen in the atl area the past few months, it ain't,,, place a proper toe drain in filter cloth trench as shown on our w-site,,, trowel on sonneborn ' sonolastic ' or equivalent, protect that w/miradrain, backfill in lifts, & compact soil well ( you can't do that if you DON'T grout ),,, don't forget final grading w/1'/6' slope & swale as rqd to move the water away.

good luck !

ps - if you don't do this, you'll 99% guarantee you will later

PureCountry72 · 10-15-2009, 04:19 AM

So itsreallyconc, you didn't have to lift the house, you just jacked it up enough to hold the wieght then dug out the basement, but then how did you connect the old foundation to the new poured walls? Thank you for your reply.

itsreallyconc · 10-15-2009, 07:35 AM

yes, we did lift the house - 1/2" [ that's what ' jacking it up ' means OR were you thinking cars

]

1st we excavated dirt keeping far enough away from the fnd for the fireplace - the old stone walls came down next,,, as was the case w/many older homes, there was no foundation,,, the method back then [ 1950s ] was to dig the footer trench & line it w/stone,,, the porch, which later was enclosed w/stub wall & windows becoming the home's dining room, sat on stone piers.