i had a first floor addition built with a basement. the basement has a kneewall because the rest of the house is on a slab and they did not want to undermine the house. is it possible to remove the kneewall now ( supporting it somehow) so we can finish the entire basement?
removing 5' high concrete wall in basement
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Can you do that? It would be a big help to everyone.down the road
i know down the road we will want to finish the basement for all the toys ( pool table ping pong table work out area) but this is now strickly for my fourth child. the master will go upstairs along with a walk in and bath and the 4 kids will take the other 3 bedrooms. the whole trouble with this knee wall is taking it down in sections and removing the wall and dirt out of the basement door. the wall is 5'6" high and 7' deep and 33' long. the cement that was poured is blue stone which is going to be a $#@! to break up. its going to be an expense.
i know down the road we will want to finish the basement for all the toys ( pool table ping pong table work out area) but this is now strickly for my fourth child. the master will go upstairs along with a walk in and bath and the 4 kids will take the other 3 bedrooms. the whole trouble with this knee wall is taking it down in sections and removing the wall and dirt out of the basement door. the wall is 5'6" high and 7' deep and 33' long. the cement that was poured is blue stone which is going to be a $#@! to break up. its going to be an expense.
The crawl space was put in to probably save money vs. having a full basement. That short wall is holding back dirt, and the footing on the opposite end is probably not at the full basement depth, just to the frost depth. I am guessing that you can't remove that wall.
If you had the addition built, can't you ask the builder?
If you had the addition built, can't you ask the builder?
i know i just repeated what you just said, sorry. we had extension built about 10 years ago and the builder is out of the picture now (n carolina). couldnt the wall be taken down a section at a time all while stabilizing the slab and main part of the house.
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Only have one sideways picture to look at but I'm wondering what's holding up the center of the house without a support wall on top of that knee wall?
Looks like some very long spans.
At one time was that an outside wall and the house was added onto from that point?
Looks like some very long spans.
At one time was that an outside wall and the house was added onto from that point?
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Tell us the spans/species/size of the joists.
Are the old footings/wall only 1/2 as deep as that "half-wall" of concrete? Or 2/3 wall? Probably, since the slab was poured on the crawl area...BTW the facing on the insulation is facing wrong direction.
Gary
Are the old footings/wall only 1/2 as deep as that "half-wall" of concrete? Or 2/3 wall? Probably, since the slab was poured on the crawl area...BTW the facing on the insulation is facing wrong direction.
Gary
You want to double the space, right? I don't think it's worth the money. You can't undermine the footing. You can't even dig flush to it without risking undermining. This is not diy.
It will cost money, but if you can cut pockets into the adjacent foundations and put in LVL or I beam girders, you can support upper joists then remove that short wall. Then you can dig without risking foundation failure. But equal cost/better living space would be above grade-insulated shallow footing addition.
It will cost money, but if you can cut pockets into the adjacent foundations and put in LVL or I beam girders, you can support upper joists then remove that short wall. Then you can dig without risking foundation failure. But equal cost/better living space would be above grade-insulated shallow footing addition.
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It's a retaining wall - holding back the earth from pushing into your basement, and keeping the ground solid under the footings under the rest of the house. You can't just remove it and excavate under the old part of the house without risking collapsing the old footings. You'll need new footings and retaining walls around the new space, under the old part of the house. Not DIY at all.
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