Extremely low basement ceiling.
tony....@gmail.com
for the fact that it has a very low basement ceiling.
The ceiling joists make the head room in the basement around 6'1. It
has been completely remodeled and has every thing else i'm looking for.
It is a row house, so you can't jack up the house. Are there any other
solutions and if so, how costly are they? Can I replace the ceiling
joists with smaller steel joists and raise the head room that way? Is
there any cost efficent way of doing this?
I'm really only looking for about five more inches. I'd just like
people to be able to walk into the basement without slamming their head
on the ceiling joists.
bill allemann
it's a bunch of grunt work, to be sure, but low tech.
a possible dicey plumbing issue, though, is how deep are the laterals to
floor drains.
the slabs in older buildings are generally very thin.
bill
<tony....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1160743932....@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
tony....@gmail.com
The basment floor has been broken up towards the front of the house and
brick was put in to replace it. So I'd assume it to be very thin. it's
also not flat so perhaps it would be a good thing to do and possibly
get some walking room out of the basement. Any idea what something like
this would cost to have done. the basment is aproximately 33'x17'
Old Fangled
$7I1....@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net:
> lowering the floor is your only option.
> it's a bunch of grunt work, to be sure, but low tech.
Digging a deeper basement is seriously high tech. The foundation walls are
supported by the soil, and if you just dig straight down on the inside, the
entire foundation's structural support is compromised. Either the walls
will need to be underpinned, or a bench will need to be build around the
inside perimeter to protect the load bearing soil.
www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/footing_fundamentals/why_soils_matter.htm
http://www.khdavis.com/residential1.htm
The job needs a qualified structural engineer (and permits).
tony....@gmail.com
possible that I wont reach the bottom of the foundation?? This is an
old home.
Glenn
mess.
<tony....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1160743932....@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com
> I'm *possibly* buying a house, it has everything I'm
Old Fangled
@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:
> Right right..... but if I'm only lowering a few inches... is it
> possible that I wont reach the bottom of the foundation?? This is an
> old home.
Anything is possible, but do you really want to take the chance of your
entire foundation collapsing? If you really want to know, hire a
structural engineer to make a site visit; it's not that expensive, and
worth every penny.
tony....@gmail.com
cannot be removed, the foundation walls lenghtened (another row of
foundation) and new, smaller steel joists put in their place.
Glenn
fall into the basement and reduce the ceiling height by another
6'-1" all the way down to the existing basement floor. Is that
plain enough?
It's going to collapse anyway, wouldn't it be cheaper to just burn
it down and start over?
All the money you are wanting to spend on the ceiling height could
be applied to a house that you did like instead of one that you
will wish you never seen.
<tony....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1160759227.6...@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com
scott...@gmail.com
Old Fangled
@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:
> No one has yet explained to me why the old and huge ceiling joists
> cannot be removed, the foundation walls lenghtened (another row of
> foundation) and new, smaller steel joists put in their place.
It's possible, but the new steel beams may not be as much smaller as you
think. In addition, those beams are heavy -- getting them into the
basement can be a task for some heavy machinery.
Again, hire a structural engineer. They don't charge that much, and they
can answer all of your questions definitively.
Bobk207
How about you give us some joist dimensions: depth, width, span,
spacing
The ceiling is now at 73" how much more are you looking for? 76? 60?
anything is doable but at what effort & what cost?
cheers
Bob
Italian Mason
Look tony one person hit it right on the head this is not rocket
science it is VERY do-able however there are some potentially major
concerns one of which (also was already mentiond) is your plumbiing
connections depending on where you are on the street you may be right
at your max. but if you are lowering the floor only 5 inches (which
means you will have to go down 9" to accomidate a 4' slab) I doubt it
will be an issue but it definatly needs to be looked into FIRST because
if it is it creates a whole other set of problems.
As far as disturbing the soil this is really a non issue for what you
want to do. Chances are that you will not even hit the footing that
the walls are built on and unless you jack hammer that out or even
parts of it (footing) and flood the basment with water for a week they
are not going to move it just doesnt work that way.
When I lived back east my father and I did a couple of these floor
lowerings if you are in a row house the only route out for the dirt is
through the front door or back door right? Do you really want to go
through that? Call a concrete contractor and have them give you a ball
park cost it may make your descision much eaiser..
neonbluedanny
http://www.thestuccocompany.com/construction/Extremely-low-basement-ceiling-2648-.htm
:
I have the exact same issue. I found a house, fell in love with it and
bought it despite the low basement ceiling. I brought in some people to
give me cost ideas for lowering the floor, lifting the house and other
ideas.
Lifting the house was going to cost over $40,000
Lowering the basement floor was going to be around $20,000 to start.
The problem with lifting was that there is a height zoning issues and the
older foundation wasn't up to snuff.
The problem with lowering the floor was that older homes aren't always up
to today's building codes. Even though I only wanted to go down a few
inches (like you) I was going to have to go down at least a foot to
prepare for the new floor (under floor drainage, gravel, etc). I was also
going to have to build concrete benches all around the basement which was
going to seriously cut into the livable space down there making it hardly
useful for much of anything.
So going the professional route was going to cost me way more then I could
afford or would think of spending. I then looked at the DIY option and
when I calculated the materials, using vacation time to complete the job,
how long it would take me alone, etc. it just wasn't much of a savings.
I also looked into Engineered beams to replace the joists and boy was I
surprised how much those suckers cost and I was still going to have to
have the house lifted off the foundation, have all the plumbing and wiring
that was run through the existing joists removed all before even thinking
about having the engineered joists added.
Someone told me about a new type of joistless flooring system (I think it
is done with concrete) but so far I have not been able to find what they
were talking about. Everything I find still takes up just as much, if not
more room then the existing joists.
I have not given up on the idea... but until either I find something cost
and back saving effective or technology catches up to my wants, I'll keep
dreaming.
I hope this helps.
Danny
tony....@gmail.com wrote:
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Just a homeowner with questions and answers only they don\'t match up.
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