Adding a basement to an existing house?

We have a company that does business here in Western Massachusetts and parts of New York that specializes in moving houses and installing foundations under existing houses. They run several steel beams under the house, extending beyond the house for jacking points. They even create collars to support the chimney during the lift. They use boxed timbers as safety supports and when the building is high enough excavate the new cellar hole with a bobcat. They've done it often enough to think through all the problems... hatchway to get the inside concrete forms out of the building, notches which become window holes for when they lower the building and remove the steel beams. Locally there are a lot of summer homes that were originally set on piers. Many from New York City are purchasing these and creating year round homes, it's not cheap.. $30 to 50 grand and if it was me I would just build somewhere else. But it's an interesting project and even more enjoyable when they take these buildings to another location !

Happy modeming, Bill

Reply to
Berkshire Bill
Loading thread data ...

well i was quoting excavation and foundation only. to get you finished living space is going to cost a lot more than that.

Reply to
marson

There is alot to consider I dug out my basement. First get bids to see what the pros think, talk to the permit dept. A few things, what is your water table, just because the neighbor has one does not mean there isnt a spring down below, you dont want a swimming pool. You need to jack, support and monitor house level almost daily to be sure you dont ruin it. You need to figure out how to put in a foundation while removing the old one and keep it jacked up. You need a permit or you can have your home deemed un live able. Its going to be 3x more work than you think.

Reply to
m Ransley

I bought an extended family home. It was built in the 1800's. I bought it in the 1960's. My uncle had the neighborhood boys dig out the basement by hand during the depression. He was a retired submariner and had a little money. He was something of a nut. After I moved in, many of those kids, now my age or older, would stop by and tell me how much my uncle had done for them when they were growing up. That house had many challenges but I loved it.

Yes it can be done, but it is an amazing about of work. It would almost certainly cost more than moving to a home with what you want.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

That would depend entirely on what you wanted the basement for. Additional space that does not need to be underground can be built much more cheaply on the surface. Cheaper still may be a second floor addition. But if what you need is a larger comfortable space for the family to sleep out a tornado warning or other physical threat then that is a different issue.

Reply to
Thomas Daniel Horne

HAVING it done would likely cost more than moving. Doing it yourself, (where permitted) is just hard, tedious work.

Another option is just to jack the sucker up about 9 feet, and build another floor underneath, but that depends on whether the floor-plan works.

Reply to
Goedjn

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.