I think I might just hang a few hardhats on the entrance door and call it a day.

Makes no sense why they only built the walls 5"11. What would another 6" matter to make it completely usable.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
That's the fanciest basement-looking "crawlspace" I have ever seen.

It is.
I'm right at 6' tall but the thought of having that kind of room below my house is like a fantasy. It looks great to me as is. I'd personally have asked if they could make the tools and leaving it as-is part of the purchase price.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Where are the footings for the foundation walls?

I can't imagine you'd get away with busting up the floor and digging down another 2 feet without compromising the footings.

I also can't imagine you have any idea just how much work busting up that floor and removing it would be, not to mention the X cubic yards of dirt.

I suspect it would be easier, and quite probably cheaper, to jack the house up and add a couple feet to the top of the walls.

I would have to agree PHPaul. After hurricane Sandy there are thousands of homes that have to be raised up to 8'in my area. I would think 2 or 3 block would raise yours enough.

We did alot of mason work for one customer. He wanted an addition on his house with full basement. We dug it out for him with a slope were cut an opening a little wider than a bobcat. He dug out the.crawl space.
To solve the.footing issue you dig around the interior 12" deep24" wide. Pour concrete inside and place blocks in wet concrete. Lay block to top of footing. Pour concrete inside block and behind.
The drawback is a large shelf unless you fill it with cabinets.

My parent's first home was a stone home built in Bucks County, PA. It dated back to sometime in the 1700's with some historical provenance as part of a well-known estate. Dad hand dug a 2-foot high crawl space to a full depth basement bucket by bucket then wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow. He hand mixed and poured a concrete foundation to underpin the stone walls. Luckily there was no large rock encountered. It can be done if you are highly motivated and a member of the Greatest Generation. Proud of you Dad.

Puget Sound area make me think of Water Table issues. As in go down 2 feet and you need 4 sump pumps to keep it sort of dry. IMO you'll need to consult with a Structural Engineer and a Hydrologist before you even chalk some layout lines on that floor you want to break into. I also suspect that it would actually be cheaper to lift the whole house and build the walls up another course to two than it would be to take the floor down. Because without a doubt you'll be removing some vital support for the foundation and may end up having to lift the house just to reconstruct the entire foundation.

Rule number One for any construction renovation is to NOT mess with load bearing walls until after that load has been removed properly.