Adding A Basement Underneath A Current House‏

Q: I live in Northern California, and I would like to add a full-sized basement below my house. At present, my house is an older Craftsman-style house from the 20s, with nothing more than a 2-3 feet crawlspace. Our house is incredibly tiny, and we need more space! I grew up in the Midwest, where we had basements, and I would like to have one now. To complicate matters even more, I would like the basement to be larger than the house itself, so that I could later expand the house and add an additional floor above the current one. Perhaps it would make more sense to just tear down the house and start from scratch, but the house has a lot of character. However, character or not, if it will be so outrageously complicated and/or expensive to add a basement below the existing house, I will probably go that route. What are all of your thoughts?

A: Basements were created in order to house the furnace and coal necessary to heat the home in colder climates. They were never considered to be "livable" space.

To add a basement under a currently built home is possible, it means jacking up the home and excavating underneath - an expensive project and subject to local ground conditions - it is generally less expensive to add a second story.

Building the basement bigger than the footprint of the current home adds the complexity of supporting the home using beams and then of course there is the problem of capping the area that is not covered by the home.

In the long run I think it would be less expensive to demolish the old home and start over

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Removing Skim Coat From Basement Walls

Q: I'd like to apply a skim coat to my basement wall. It is a 1939 house and has an old skim coat on it, which has been coming off for some time, both outside and inside. I'll need to remove the old skim coat and want to know the best way to do this. Also, will there be a lot of fumes meaning I'd have to do it in the summer with open windows? I noticed there is a small crack on the concrete near a corner wall outside. This is the corner of the house where a lot of moisture would gather from melting snow and rain. Inside the basement at that point, the drywall has bulged out in a vertical line of 3-4 inches from the moisture. It's not a big deal at this point but I'm wondering if it may become a big deal.

A: Without seeing the skim coat, my first thought would be to use a high power pressure washer. If you hit the skim coat from an angle at a point where the skim coat has come off you should be able to get the power washer under the skim coat. No smell. You should consider placing plastic sheeting over the ceiling.

You should repair that crack - cracks only get worse and will cause damage.

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Leaking Foundation‏

Q: We have had a lot of rain and snow lately and I have noticed rainwater leaking from the wall in our basement. Should we put concrete over the dripping part? We are first time homebuyers and our house is over 100 years old and also has plumbing issues. We had a plumber out to snake the pipes and was pulling out dirt. Who should we call to help us on that?

A: You need to repair the leak properly and putting concrete over it is not the answer. The fix is relative to the problem. You can learn more about basement water leakage by following the link:

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Basement Sub-Floor

If you are installing a sub-floor using Dri-Core or your own construction method, in your basement, it is important that you start at the highest point of the floor. The highest point is usually the farthest point from the drain.

If you don't start at the highest point you will have a serious problem leveling the floor.