Lowering/deepening basement floor to create livable space (furnace, gas, cost)

[davecj]

People do this very often in Baltimore. You'll see a crew of guys and a conveyor belt and a lot of dirt coming out. Our basements tend to be about 6' so digging tends to be the best way to go.

[chet everett]

I mostly understand where you are coming from. I too live in an expensive area and sometimes it makes sense to do an addition / remodel that would be cost prohibitive in other areas.

That said 400 sq ft that does not include bedrooms, bathrooms or kitchen work at $250/sq ft is not likely to have good "return on investment". Now if you have the cash sitting in the bank doing nothing so that you don't "need" this work to boost your home equity nor do you have any plans to sell in the foreseeable future then it is not truly a financial "risk".

If this space enables you to enjoy your home more than spending an extra $125K plus the hassle of selling & moving would entail I guess it could work out fine.

Personally I have seen more than a few homes in desirable areas that were expanded / modified in the way you are contemplating and it really did not help their marketability. In a few cases the homes ended up as tear downs, the lot being more valuable than the sum total of existing home and addition. When prices were climbing and demand for lots was off the charts those sellers still did alright financially. Now that prices have retreated someone selling is likely to regret doing an addition that does not broadly enhance the appeal of their home. Kitchens and baths still drive home values, further some buyers will simply not even consider a home that lists with fewer bedrooms than they desire.

I would be extremely reluctant to proceed with the sort of renovation that, even in the best of circumstances, may not be prudent.

Originally Posted by sonofagunk

Depends where you live. My house in NJ cost about $300/sqft to buy. Looking to kind of digging out a basement. There is a full basement everywhere in the house except under the 2 car garage. The garage has 13 ft ceilings and the driveway has a steep incline to the garage floor. From the front curb to the garage floow is about a 5 foot rise. Some houses in the area have the garage "in the basement". I am looking to dig out about 4.5 feet, and then putting a floor in above the garage. Figuring I can get about a 9ft living room above the garage and an 8ft garage (and a still have a foot for the floor and all). There are other added costs for me (like retaining walls along the driveway and the "2nd" floor). I am hoping I can get it all done for $100K. It would add add a little over 400sqft to the house, so that is only $250/sqft. Similar houses in my area that only differ by having the garage in the basement and the extra living room run about $125K more than what I paid (there were not any available when we were looking).

[NY Annie]

I was in many older/historic houses in RI where the cellar was a dirt floor and field stone walls. In several of those, the owners decided to dig out the cellar and create a basement. My knowledge was from watching the process and I don't have details other than visual. The houses were laid on large logs - in one case, extremely long as the house was huge. The house was then rolled to the side of the cellar while a real cellar was dug. Then the house was rolled back onto the new cellar. Many of those historic homes had a ceiling around 5' from the dirt floor so they were not much more than crawl spaces.

I know I would not want to be in the position of doing this, but I watched at least 3 in my neighborhood go through this process. It took a very long time.

[sonofagunk]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I mostly understand where you are coming from. I too live in an expensive area and sometimes it makes sense to do an addition / remodel that would be cost prohibitive in other areas.

That said 400 sq ft that does not include bedrooms, bathrooms or kitchen work at $250/sq ft is not likely to have good "return on investment". Now if you have the cash sitting in the bank doing nothing so that you don't "need" this work to boost your home equity nor do you have any plans to sell in the foreseeable future then it is not truly a financial "risk".

If this space enables you to enjoy your home more than spending an extra $125K plus the hassle of selling & moving would entail I guess it could work out fine.

Personally I have seen more than a few homes in desirable areas that were expanded / modified in the way you are contemplating and it really did not help their marketability. In a few cases the homes ended up as tear downs, the lot being more valuable than the sum total of existing home and addition. When prices were climbing and demand for lots was off the charts those sellers still did alright financially. Now that prices have retreated someone selling is likely to regret doing an addition that does not broadly enhance the appeal of their home. Kitchens and baths still drive home values, further some buyers will simply not even consider a home that lists with fewer bedrooms than they desire.

I would be extremely reluctant to proceed with the sort of renovation that, even in the best of circumstances, may not be prudent.

Thanks, but the house is 10 year old and no where near a tear down. There are other examples where this kind of change makes the house sell for $100K+ more. 400 Sqft of family room in a house without a 1st floor family room is a really good return on investment in my town. Many people will not even consider a house that does not have one.

BTW, there are pockets of housing in the country that were not affected by the bubble. Mostly in the North East and very much in NJ where you can commute to NYC (we lost out on 4 houses we like because they sold in a TOTAL of 11 days on the market)

[jerryvan]

Hello Caravan,

I also live in Seattle, I see your started this project 3 years ago, and I am in the exact situation with my 6.5 foot basement. I would like to dig down 1.5 feet to a depth of 8 feet so I can begin using the basement as a living space.

I have a few unique issues. The previous owners did a lot of shoddy work on the house before I bought it, and I am now 100% certain they got no permits to do any work. We have an addition that appears to have never been reported to the city as the square footage the city has on record is a full 600 square feet smaller than the main floor is. With that being said I have no idea what "work" the previous owners did downstairs.

Regardless, my question, is of course, around deepening my own basement. Where do I get started? Can you suggest websites, or government websites I should visit? Can you suggest some good engineers to help me plan the work? What was the final cost in doing this work? How much can I do myself, I am quite experienced in many aspects of remodeling and I would like to save as much as I can by doing my own work where possible.

Any advice, reading, or direction to agencies would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much for your time,

-Jerry

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

If you apply for permits, expect the 1st inspection to trigger a demand to remediate anything the city doesn't like. Get an architect to draw up plans (not as expensive as you might think)and and they will do the load calculations.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[redwolf fan]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

Call me crazy but I would just look for a different house. Seems like a lot of work and money for a basement.

I agree also.

sounds like trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

[Sherifftruman]

I saw a post over at AVS | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews a couple years back in the Home Theater Building sub forum where someone did this. They posted pictures all along the way if you want to see it as it progressed. Theyended up doing it mostly for rec room/ laundry and home theater, I dont think there were any bedrooms involved, but if you wanted you could always do a window well for a bedroom. Pretty crazy in an area like where I live where there are plenty of new construction homes available, but if you are in a more historic area that was built out long ago, I could see that often there really aren't any better options.

[lizvan]

How did the excavating go? What did it cost and how long did it take? Were there any complications? Thnx

[dontaskwhy]

.....and last commented on in 2012???