I have a Basement Mystery for Engineers, Architects, Builders, Contractors

I recently discovered the basement floor has been raised over 6 inches.
This is a mystery to me.
The last step on the rear staircase was covered over by many inches in concrete and still has a rubber tread on it.
There appears to be a 1-2″ layer of concrete, then dirt, debris and coal fill, then the “bottom” layer of concrete. Don’t know how thick that is.

I found an old piece of BX cable in the debris, was this was done after the 30s?

It is a turn of the century brownstone in Crown Heights.

Does anyone have any ideas why this would have been done?

This is actually the “newest” basement mystery. I also have a room down there that is about 12×35 which the floor is about 18-20 inches above the others and filled with dirt. Could never figure that one out.

wzszsekcntvhli

in General Discussion 3 years and 7 months ago

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neilw | 3 years and 7 months ago

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I”m not an engineer, architect, builder nor contractor, just a homeowner so take this for what it’s worth: in my previous brownstone, we dug out the cellar and found another floor a foot or more beneath what we thought was the actual floor. Down there, we found the remains of a massive iron boiler, a good amount of bluestone pavers, and what looked like portions of a foundation for another home (it wasn’t oriented with the rest of the house and didn’t look like a furnace, but who knows).

At some point, several additions were made to the house, and the cellar under those had different floor heights. I suspect someone just threw the debris on the original floor and capped it with concrete. The original footings were much deeper than the adjacent houses so maybe they felt there was room to work with.

cate | 3 years and 7 months ago

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Are you referring to the cellar? Perhaps they wanted a thicker layer than a “rat slab” and maybe they even put in a vapor barrier. If so, rejoice.