Expanding basement

10 years ago

We bought our house last year and have started dreaming about projects we would love to do. Trying to decide if this can be our forever home, or if, when we have more children, we would like to move again. We love the location, but can see it not being quite enough space in the future. We live in a manufactured ranch home, built in the early 90's. Due to a higher water table, the house sits about 5 feet (7 steps?) above ground. It has a basement under approx. 1/3 and crawl space under the rest. We keep thinking if it had a full basement, we would have enough space. We have also wondered since the basement is only half underground....if it wouldn't be too difficult to dig out and finish the rest. Anyone else have thoughts on the matter? Things to consider, questions to ask? TIA!

Featured Answer

worthy

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

This is not an uncommon project in downtown areas where there is a premium on finished space. I've done one myself.

However, the foundation has to be underpinned and done in sections as you excavate.

Unless you've had experience with this before, I would not suggest it as a diy project. I would also be concerned with hitting the water table and then having no choice but to have sump pumps running 24/7. I saw one such lowering project that ended up hitting an underground stream that required exactly that solution.

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Comments (6)

HU-797951
10 years ago
I do not understand. The house is high off of the group because of the water table, but it then has a basement?
HU-797951
10 years ago
Also, one of the big costs is getting the dirt out. Would there be a way to get some kind of dirt moving equipment into the existing part of the basement?
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turner58800
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for responding! my best understanding is that the previous owners who built the house, were concerned about water in the basement, so they only put about 500 sq ft in. and built the house up as you can see in the pictures. water hasn't been an issue in the current basement, so we have been wondering about expanding.

Our thought would be they could access the basement from the far end of the house (opposite the garage, not pictured) they could remove the garden walls, and there would be approx. 5 ft or so exposed of foundation.
Since the house is on a metal frame (manufactured house) we thought keeping the house supported while working might not be as hard.
schreibdave
10 years ago
That sounds like an incredibly expensive project. I would think that it would make better financial sense to move when you are ready. Good luck.
sherwoodva
10 years ago
We live in an area with a high water table. I agree with worthy, you do not want to do this. We have a sump pump AND a battery back up, but if we lose electricity for a week, we get water in the basement. We are thinking of moving because of this. You have a ranch. Around here, many people bump up so they have two floors above ground. You might want to consider that as an option.