Adding a Basement: Is our contractor doing it right?

16 years ago

We are having a walkout basement added to our almost 100 year old house and I wanted to make sure our contractor was doing this right as he is extremely cheap. We were just going to get the house level but he qouted us so cheap we asked him how much for a basement. He only wants $7500-8500 for the job, including materials and labor. The house is on a hill and the crawl space was already 6 feet deep on the down hill side but decreased to about 1 foot deep on the uphill side.

So far he opened up the cement block wall to accomodate a backhoe and has dug out the area to about 8 feet deep. The thing I was wondering about is except for opening the wall to accomodate the backhoe he is leaving the existing foundation walls alone. He plans on building new walls, about a foot in from the old walls, on top of the concrete floor he is pouring. On the walkout side of the basement the new wall will stop and be capped off when it is at the level of the old wall, leaving a shelf of sorts. On the other walls the new walls will run all the way to the joists. By doing this he is leaving the house supported by the existing walls and footers and the new walls will not be load bearing, although he will be installing new posts through the middle of the basement. He's doing it this way because he can't jack up our house due to an attached brick fireplace, concrete porch and wrap-aroung deck. Is this okay?

By the way, he isn't asking for money up front, we just pay for materials as he needs them and he gets the balance when he finishes the job. He is also: laying PEX tubing so we can have hydro-radiant heat floors, roughing in plumbing for a future bath and for washer/dryer hookups, water sealing, and adding a 36" x 54" window.

I'm just worried because this seems a little too good to be true, he can't take our money and run, so that leaves doing a crappy job. So is our house going to fall down or what?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

worthy
16 years ago
Now that he's broken through one of your basement walls and removed two feet of soil, it's a little late to be having second thoughts!!

So it's labour only. Assuming this is a smallish house--say 2,000 sf or so, the price is low. But, for some parts of the country, I suppose, not absurd for a no-invoice deal.

But, as you have described it, there may be a lot wrong with the way he's doing it!

On a house I bought to renovate, I was presented with a similar situation. The previous owner had lowered the basement floor by about a foot by breaking the concrete floor up and and digging. Then he had laid a new wood floor directly on the soil! (The basement was totally finished when I bought the home, so I didn't realize what I was buying.)

In lowering the floor, he had dug lower than the footings--in this case, bricks laid perpendicular to the brick foundation wall. Essentially, he undermined the house. (And since it was a semi-attached, he had partially undermined the adjoining home too.)

A professional engineer designed the fix: a rebar reinforced retaining wall around the entire perimeter of the basement to provide lateral support to the footings. Since I was doing that, I also lowered the basement a bit further and put in new sewer lines.

My concern on your home is that the excavation has undermined your footings too. He left a foot of undisturbed soil between his excavation and the walls. That's not adequate. Putting up stud walls to secure wall finishings is fine.

None of this work was done with a building permit, I take it. Before you proceed any further, I strongly suggest you contact your local building officials or a qualified professional engineer to design this project properly. Don't be surprised if the municipal inspector puts a "stop work" order on it.

It's only a bargain if it's done right!!
blue_velvet_elvis
16 years ago
We apparently have a miniscule home at 1100 sq ft. We had our home raised on jacks, set on "cribs", eight to ten feet of dirt dug out, a block foundation installed and waterproofed, a new furnace and all downstairs plumbing, doors and windows, done for 30k.

Is there a partial basement or something now? Most 100 year old home aren't built on slabs.
Related Discussions
Help needed-contractor can't get the floor right! What to do?
Q
Comments (1)
it sounds like he screwed up. I bet if you got a refinisher in they would reccomend sanding everything down again, cleaning properly so you do not have dust in your finish and then applying a sheen of your choice.
...See More
Water in basement - What can we do to salvage our Neptune Washer
Q
Comments (3)
I would haul the machines upstairs, perhaps to a garage area and take the backs off the machines, or at least the tops (they will openable in one dimension, or another.) Then set small electric fans blowing on the innards to dry out any insulation and generally get things back to square one. After a few days of drying, then I would try them again and hope for the best. The reason to get them out of the basement which is pumped out, but probably still recovering from having so much water in it is to move the drying of the machines to the fast track. I think the machines will recover unless they were completely submerged. I am so sorry about the tornado. I have had to deal with that, too. People think of it as a windstorm event and it is when your house is blasted away by winds or debris. But even what remains is affected by the intense rains that come with tornados. Our roof was smashed in and partly blown off, but the damage to the insides was from water damage. Fortunately it wasn't flood water, just rain, but it created standing water inside the living areas above grade. Either way, it just sucks! The recovery period is long and emotionally grueling so be sure to ask for and accept any help you are offered. One of the kindest things anyone did for us was mow the freakin' lawn (around the piles of debris). We had so much salvage work on our plate that mowing took a low priority, but when they came and mowed it made life feel more normal and at least we weren't slogging around ankle-deep in grass. When people ask what they can do to help, just give them some small job: please go get us a pizza, or please take these to the cleaners, or, we need cleaning materials can you spare some? The temptation is to be polite and say thanks, we're fine. But people you know will want to help you, they just need some guidance. Take the help now, you can return the favor in some other circumstances. To be able to accept the help is to rejoin the "tribe", if you will, of people with "normal" lives, not just storm-smashed ones. That feeling all by itself is a small blessing, and you need those, now. The first few days of toting your stuff out to the dumpster are terribly painful, but after a bit you just want the wet stuff out of there, so a certain, merciful, numbness sets in. Do you have other salvage, cleaning or drying out issues? I keep a thick folder of material on cleaning and triaging all kinds of household things after tornadoas and floods and would gladly post some links for you. Hope all goes better from here on out. Molly~
...See More
Is my roofing contractor doing me right?
Q
Comments (11)
First thing to do is get a copy of the signed contract and keep it for your records. You need to know what you actually agreed to in writing. Next time don't ever let anyone leave without having a copy, even if it is unsigned. This is a real red flag...even if your neighbor's son is the one that is helping you. The next thing to know is that if it isn't in writing it doesn't exist. The helpful sales rep at the beginning will disappear and instead the contract enforcer will say 'sorry, not included in the contract'. Contracts can be changed before they are signed during your negotiation period. After signing, you need a written addendum signed by the parties (you and vendor) in order to get what you agreed to verbally. Otherwise you are trusting the vendor to follow through based on their word which is not binding. Next, did this roofer pull a permit and did you have county/city inspections? If not, that can be an issue. I know it would be an issue in my area - no roofing permit is trouble IMO. What I don't understand is the drywall component. How in the world are roofers doing drywall? It sounds like you have either a GC or a handyman, hopefully the former and not the latter.
...See More
Our neighbors contractor did work to our house
Q
Comments (9)
We found a neighbor using the same contractor - supposedly our neighbor “2 houses down” on the OTHER end of the road had asked for a quote and the guys (without telling their supervisor about the additional prospective job) decided to just go forward with the work behind his back... so our neighbors who had inquired about a quote were a bit relieved they got the wrong house since that isn’t what they were wanting. But long story short, we got in contact with the guy in charge and he came out and fixed it after we told him we had filed a police report... so all good now thankfully! Thanks everyone :)
...See More
brickeyee
16 years ago
Digging below footers (or in the area below a 45 degree line from the footer downwards) is NOT a good idea.

At the very least you need a geotechnical engineer, and also possibly a structural experienced in house foundation design to tell you if the footers have been compromised.

Depending in the type of soil and how far below (and close) the support has been removed the edges can blow out allowing the base of the wall to shift into the new hole.
You can figure out what happens to the house above.

In many cases 'benches' are left along the footers inside to prevent shifting.
The bench is often as wide as it is tall.
If the footer is 3 feet off the new floor, a 3 foot wide by 3 foot tall bench is left.

Adding a Basement: Is our contractor doing it right?

Comments (3)

worthy

blue_velvet_elvis

Related Discussions

brickeyee

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US