carl1647545492 Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 We have a half basement crawl space that was not finished by Rockford and it is a pain to crawl back there to get to anything. What type of cost are we looking at to excavate a area,about 23 x 19 x 3.8 ft high or about 60 yards? Is it common to punch through the outside wall and create a door to deal with excavating all the dirt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wnaplay1647545503 Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 This is a very costly undertaking. The block typically does not go down to the ground and there is no footer to support the wall being lowered. You would have to support the house, excavate/dig for a new footer, build the wall and then excavate the center. I have heard of this costing more than rebuilding the house. I have the same issue and have thought about possibly excavating the center wide enough to walk from end to end. Building retaining walls to hold back the dirt then concreting the remaining sides. Essential a pathway with a concrete shelf on either side. I could excavate by hand although time consuming and I only need to go deepbenough to stand. Its the retaining wall that could be fun. I would remove one block from my basement walls and shoot the voncrete down. You must also be getting christmas decorations out of the crawlspace at this time of year. I have cut hundreds of doors and openings in concrete/block walls, thats the easy part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillJoy Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 We have a 1/2 Crawl. I ended up building a 8' Wide x 16' Deep platform (rather level). I lined shelves on both side and the back, then built a 3' Wide Ladder to get up there. It has helped a TON in crawl space access.... KillJoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon1647545566 Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 (edited) Carl- this is Jon, who you got the tires from. I made it on here to check it out. Anyway, i suppose it depends on how your house it situated and if it has a block or poured foundation. It would likely be cheaper to do with a block foundation because they could use jacks fairly easily. It would be pretty expensive if you didn't have a walk out basement. It would also be pretty expensive if you had a poured concrete foundation. If you have a cinder block foundation, it may not actually go down as far as your partial basement walls. Many times they will only go far enough to get below the frost line and then use grade blocks and go from there, so literally your block foundation may only go 42" or so below ground level in that part of the house. If that is the case, digging that area out would reduce the soil stability and ultimately compromise your foundation. My brother is a construction superintendent, and I am a CE. We actually built my garage, when we did, I had Thomas Excavating out of Centerburg, OH do the foundation. They did a good job and he used them as contractors for his production homes. You might give them a call and have them come out and see what you are working with to see if it is a worthwhile venture. Edited December 6, 2014 by Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyG Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Interested in what you find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS_Sonoma Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Or you could just purchase a truck load of blocks, 50 shovels + Beer and have a CR outting. Profit Or just 10 shovels and 50 people. Whatev's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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