[Chat] digging out a basement?

Stephen J Gewirtz gewirtz at bellatlantic.net
Mon Mar 28 19:49:12 EST 2005


Bob,

I can't answer your specific questions, but I do know that there is one 
more problem you may or may not have.  In my house and I suspect in many 
others, there are pipes carrying waste water from both my house and one 
next door to the sewer system.  It is very possible that the house next 
door (to the north) does not have such pipes in the front two thirds of 
the basement, since a pipe comes into my house from that house.  I have 
never seen the actual pipes, but there are cracks in the concrete floor 
where the pipes are, and waste water pipes from the bathrooms and 
kitchen can be seen to go under the concrete basement floor to that 
system of pipes.  The pipes run from near the rear of the house (where 
the kitchen and bathrooms are) all the way to the front, so the sewer 
must be under the street in front of the house (Guilford).

Years ago, I thought about doing what you want to do, but I quickly 
realized that the pipes would prevent it; hence, I never really looked 
into it.

Steve.

Robert Watters wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I had a question for you all.  I desperately want to be able to fit 
> some exercise equipment in my basement.  My ceiling height is roughly 
> 77 inches, but it seems like the magic number is 84 inches/7 feet for 
> good clearance. 
>
> From what I have heard, my home didn't have a cement basement floor 
> originally (it was built in 1900).  I have heard of people digging out 
> their basements in their rowhomes, but was curious about hearing some 
> firsthand experiences of cost, etc.  To get me by, I would only need 
> to lower a section of my basement that was roughly 16 feet (width of 
> the house) by 10 feet.
>
> I believe I have heard that you can "dig out" a basement as long as 
> the bottom of the load bearing walls has sufficient lateral support.  
> With concrete, I'm sure you would need less of the wall buried than 
> the original design that was supported by compacted dirt, but I'm 
> definitely not an architect.  Has anyone been through this process?
>
> Thanks for any tips!
> -Bob
>
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