[tucker0104]

Has anyone out there done a crawlspace to basement conversion? I have been debating it for a while. My house is shaped like an "H". I am thinking of clearing one of the sides of the "H" out into a basement. I would need to dig about 6 foot deep by 50 foot long by 14 foot wide. Has anyone used a company for this? Would you just hire some diggers to dig as long as they stayed the recommended distance away from your supporting structure? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[joecaption]

What do you hope to gain by doing this?
Six ft. would not be a legal height for an occupied space. Must be at least 7'.
If you looking to gain living space it would be far safer, and most likly cheaper to just add on to what you have now above ground.
Trying to build a basement in two differant stages is a poor idea. The two footings would move at differant rates and cause some major issue.

 

[Windows on Wash]

What do you hope to gain by doing this?
Six ft. would not be a legal height for an occupied space. Must be at least 7'.
If you looking to gain living space it would be far safer, and most likly cheaper to just add on to what you have now above ground.
Trying to build a basement in two differant stages is a poor idea. The two footings would move at differant rates and cause some major issue.

I think the poster is probably saying that they would dig down and additional 6' in this case and they net would be the height of the crawl + the 6'.

It has been done before but this is not just an excavate and you are all set project.

There are structural considerations that must be engineered in and accounted for.

 

[md2lgyk]

My brother-in-law did this under his entire house. He owns an excavating company so the digging part of the job was essentially free. Even at that, it would've been far cheaper to build an addition, but his lot wasn't big enough for that. I didn't see any of the work until it was finished, but he told me the house was essentialy uninhabitable while the job was going on.

 

[Daniel Holzman]

My neighbor in SC was in the process of converting a crawl space to a basement. He has been at it for several years now, hand digging. He is a mason, and is in no hurry to finish, as the property is not occupied. It is more of a hobby.

As noted, structural issues can be complicated, you definitely should consult an engineer first to discuss options for support, both temporary and permanent.

 

[tucker0104]

Thanks for the advice for an add on but just not an option. You are correct, 3 foot crawlspace and dig out 6 foot and that makes 9 feet. I have a friend that is a structural engineer so I will have that part handled.