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Adding under a pre-existing home

Posts: 6

Location: Missoula, Montana

posted 11 years ago

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Has anyone here tried to add a small basement or rootceller under their home? If so how did you do it, what was easy about it and what was hard?

Gary Mosher

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posted 11 years ago

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What size is your house now? Cement or wood floor? How big do you want the downstairs to be? It is hard and dangerous if you dont do it right. Your house could collapse if you dont support it right when you are digging. It can be done but go cautiously.

R Scott

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posted 11 years ago

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It is NOT something to mess with unless you know exactly what you are doing or you may be digging your own grave. Seriously.

Depending on the existing foundation and ground type, it can range from simple dig and carry the buckets out to fully lift the house on mover's beams and build a new basement underneath.

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Brenda Groth

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posted 11 years ago

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you could hire a house mover to jack up your house onto some steel beams and then dig out the basement..or move it off and dig the basement and then move it back on...might cost more but would be safest way to do it.

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Sheila Nyomo

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Location: Missoula, Montana

posted 11 years ago

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I think I will talk to my nieghbors about how they did theirs. I wouldn't be going very far under the house, just enough to have a rootceller.

Dave Turpin

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Location: Groton, CT

posted 11 years ago

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If you want to do it legally, you are required to get a structural engineering report to apply for a permit. The bad thing is that it costs money, the good thing is that you don't drop your livingroom on your head.

I have read several hilarious news articles about "molepeople' who try to dig out their own basements. There was even a guy in the UK who was building tunnels all over the neighborhood, and the only reason they caught him was because the STREET collapsed.

If you don't want to do it legally, though, my advice would be to dig in the center of your crawlspace, well away from any foundation or load-bearing structure. Or better yet, if you have some land, why not build a DETACHED root cellar? What sort of property are you working with? Do you have septic?

edit:

I was searching for the mole man story that I had read, and found the man has passed away. Sad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/18/hackney-mole-man-william-lyttle-dies

tel jetson

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posted 11 years ago

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our house was built without a basement and one was added later. that was likely sometime in the 1950s, though, and I wasn't around to see how it was done.

I am certainly glad to have the basement. we'll be building a root cellar and cold storage down there in the future.

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Devon Olsen

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posted 11 years ago

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good thread, some of these posts are right on track for a legit wine/root cellar being built legally, i suspect it wont be super cheap
illegally it could be as simple as digging but do make sure you dont dig underneath anything thats load bearing

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tel jetson

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Devon Olsen wrote:it could be as simple as digging but do make sure you dont dig underneath anything thats load bearing

or anywhere near anything that's load bearing.

I would really have liked to see how the basement was excavated under the heavy hearth and chimney at my house.

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Sheila Nyomo

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Location: Missoula, Montana

posted 11 years ago

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I must say thank you everyone for your replies. I think I might not make it under the house but I might make one and then put a greenhouse over it, or over the entrance anyway, so I can get to it in winter witout worrying about the snow or ice over the door.

Tanwen White

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posted 3 years ago

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We are considering digging a small root cellar under our slab foundation shop. Does anyone have experience or advice on this?

Phineas Gulcher

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posted 2 years ago

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Tanwen White wrote:We are considering digging a small root cellar under our slab foundation shop. Does anyone have experience or advice on this?

So what did you do? Around here it’s dry, well drained and half the houses are on pier blocks so adding a cellar, or even a basement, is done all the time and it’s pretty straight forward. Slabs are a whole different kettle of fish. Most houses on slabs in our neck of the woods get an addition with a cellar under rather than anyone bashing through the concrete and undertaking an excavation. Or people do a super insulated room in an existing structure and put it on a north wall.

Marc Dube

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Location: Saskatchewan

posted 2 years ago

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I don't have any advice but I have a story that is dear to me. My grandfather built a house in the early 1940's scrounging many building materials as there was a building material shortage due to the war. He built the house by hand with a very poor concrete foundation and years later he hand dug a basement underneath the house. He started digging outside of the house and dug a ramp going underneath. He dug the whole basement by hand with the help of a team of horses and a stone boat. Apparently it didn't take long before the horses were trained and at the word go they would go straight to the dumping area. The house held up fine for 60 years and then moisture became an issue to the floor joists, which could have been dealt with.

Tanwen White

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posted 2 years ago

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We have not started any digging as of yet, still trying to get more info about a project like that. I am thinking the slab would need to be supported like any ceiling? We would dig from outside the building and have stairs going down underneath to the cellar. So no destroying of concrete.

Phineas Gulcher

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posted 2 years ago

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Tanwen White wrote:We have not started any digging as of yet, still trying to get more info about a project like that. I am thinking the slab would need to be supported like any ceiling? We would dig from outside the building and have stairs going down underneath to the cellar. So no destroying of concrete.

If it is reinforced, maybe. If it lacks steel I would want heavy plywood at and 2x6 joists. 2x12? Double 2x12? Only an engineer can say for sure.

John C Daley

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posted 2 years ago

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I am a Civil Engineer.
Concrete slabs for houses are designed to sit on compacted subgrades, so they do not flex and remain stable.
Excavating underneath will upset that and may cause cracking and heaving of the remaining parts of the slad not undermined.
If you still want to go under I would use standard tunneling techniques by excavating a small distance under, propping the slab and boxing the sides to prevent collapse.
eventually you may need to pour a concrete support structure under there..
Then moving forward again.

I suggest a stand alone root cellar, dug with an excavator, built with concrete walls and roof designed to withstand soil pressure and meet your needs.
The excavated soil can be place over the structure for insulation.

root-cellar_hill.jpg

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Tanwen White

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posted 2 years ago

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Thank you John!

John F Dean

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posted 2 years ago

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I have seen it done 3x in 3 different ways. The most recent was a house near me jacked several feet off the ground by pros and excavated with a Bobcat. The work cost many thousands of dollars. Another was a trap door put in the floor and the dirt hauled out in buckets. The job was eventually completed, and a furnace and hot water heater were installed. Finally, on another project a root cellar was attempted under a house using shovels from the outside of the house. The person doing it lost interest and ended up with water collecting under the house.

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John C Daley

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posted 2 years ago

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John, I take it that the house lifted was built on stumps?
I love the last one!!!

John F Dean

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posted 2 years ago

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Hi John ,

No, it was on a concrete block foundation; it had a craw space. The work was done by pros. The project lasted 8 to 10 months. Of course, it was not a root cellar that was put in but a full basement.

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Matt Todd

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posted 2 years ago

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Grandma Rosie: I want a basement
Grandpa Sparky: Then you dig it
Grandma Rosie: *digs entire basement by hand under their house* Low ceiling because she was short and didn't care.

So my advise to you is to hire a 5 foot tall, first generation Croatian immigrant grandmother to do the work if you can find one.

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