Digging down in basement
We are buying a building with a finished basement which we would like to connect with the first floor unit to create an owner’s duplex. The ceilings, however, are very very low. I asked our home inspector if it would be possible to vault the ceilings but apparently this is not an option due to…
We are buying a building with a finished basement which we would like to connect with the first floor unit to create an owner’s duplex. The ceilings, however, are very very low. I asked our home inspector if it would be possible to vault the ceilings but apparently this is not an option due to the pipes, etc. in the ceiling. He reccommended digging the basement deeper and told me that it is actually possible to go down as far as we want-20 feet even! Three extra feet would be enough to make me happy. Has anyone undertaken such a project? If so, what are your thoughts on the experience/outcome? Any recommendations for contractors who do this type of work? Does this fall into the jurisdiction of an architect?
HI,I’M A LICENSE AN INSURED GENERAL CONTRACTOR.I HAVE READ ALL OF THE COMMENTS AN BY NOW YOU HAVE AN IDEA HOW HUGE THIS PROJECT IS AN THE WORK INVOLVED.IF YOU ARE INTRESTED,PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME SO WE CAN DISCUSS INTO FURTHER DETAILS .CONTACT ME AT 718-807-5014 OR EMAIL ME.
Another word of caution – WATER. In a large part of Brooklyn the reason the besetments are shallow is because the water able sits right under the foundation. If you dig down you may have a swimming pool. Our neighbor went down 2 ½ feet and has had flooding issues ever since.
Just don’t go with a contractor who also tells you to knock out the support columns to “open up the space and make it nice and airy”.
😉
If you dig down, do not go deeper than the existing footings. To do so will create an instability as the soil supporting these footing
will no longer be constrained. To go deeper requires knowledge of underpinning which is beyond, for the most part, small contractors.
I’m 12:49 — I completely agree with 1:42, there were literally no foundations, but we figured that before we started work. I’m very glad we did the work in the end, because one of our neighbours had renovated their cellar and dug down 2-3 feet also, except as we found out doing the work they had not put in new foundations. Scary — basically they were relying on their neighbours property to hold up the party walls. We did the job correctly by putting in new foundations, so we know our house will hopefully satnd for another few lifetimes.
Whatever you do, don’t hire a contractor who suggests that you don’t need to underpin your foundations. I may be mistaken, but I believe Kamal (suggested by someone else) was one of the contractors we interviewed and didn’t get a good feeling about him.
Oh — we have good relations with our neighbours and were sure to invite them in as construction progressed to make sure they were comfortable with what was being done. The one neighbour was delighted, because now at least he has foundations at least on one side of his house.
we used a guy named Kamal. He did a safe, clean, and great job.
Kamal 347 673 4683
I would put in a word of caution about the foundations. We had an issue with this when a neighbor started a project like this without a permit. We were told that due to the technology at the time they were built brownstones don’t have great foundations- ok to hold up the building but if you start digging around them it is dangerous to your house and of course the attached house next door. We contacted the buildings department immediately because we were afraid for our house and he cleaned up his act. So far it is ok, we have no settling, but it is a serious matter.
The cost was approximately $100,000, but we could have done it for less (probably about $50,000), but we opted to move and put in all new pluming, electric (including moving the main pannels), and put in a very nice bathroom — even though code doesn’t permit bathrooms so don’t tell anyone. The price also included high end lighting, custom closets, new staircase, the list goes on. We also built a dedicated room for the boiler and new water tank with direct air intake from the coal chute. Unfortunately the time to complete this project was longer than we expected. Our contractor told us about 4 months, but in the end it took closer to a year. I will warn you that it was a very messy project.
Unfortunately I cant give you the name of our contractor — he’s still working on other projects for us, and we’ve found when he gets other large projects he tends to put some of our work on the back burner.
Best of luck. I can also tell you it was extremely hard to find someone we trusted — afterall they were messing with the foundations of our house. Many of the guy’s we interviewed either were too busy (and failed to even provide quotes) and others simply didn’t have the experience. We eventually found our guy through word of mouth (a freind of a freind).
Hi 12:49,
Extra 2 1/2′! That’s great! I’m plannig to do almost exacatly the same thing. Do you mind telling us the cost and how long it took? I’d love to know who you used for the construction too, if you don’t mind.