anyone try to dig a basement under House?

   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #1  

megotatractor

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Feb 15, 2004
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Location
New Richland, Minnesota
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JD 2210
I have the compact tractor and loader and wonder if it's possible to dig a basement under my old house which has but a crawl space at present. involves safe tunneling techniquess.anyone done it or heard of it being done?? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #2  
I have heard of it being done with skidsteers but have never done it.

Joe
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #3  
I believe a whole host of serial killers have dug basements under houses that didn't have them before. Has your wife been reported missing? Is there anything you need to confess? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Ok seriously, I read a thread on this topic quite a while ago, and it probably was on this website. You might want to do a search in the history to see if you can find it. I know I saw some pictures too.
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #4  
I (well my son did) dug out part of my crawl space about 25 years ago. I did not want a hole wide enough to take my tractor though. Used a slip scraper to drag dirt out. The ground was dugout about 2' out from the original footings inside basement. Poured a new footing along the inside of the original foundation. On that foundation a block wall was put up about 1' foot above the original foundation bottom. Backfilled behind the blocks and original dirt. After this dirt was tamped in we poured a cement cap between the new wall and and original foundation. The hole through the footing to take dirt out of basement is now the outside entrance to basement.
Here this called a Michigan Basement. It may be called something similar in your area.
As Bob said there was a thread on the subject. But could not find it.
Here is a link to the slip scraper used to remove the dirt. Click Here.
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #5  
been there done that when I was a kid and was done using hand tools and buckets!@ /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I have also heard of them using skid steers too. not sure how much I would trust it but then I also have seen small 4' wide compact bulldozers run up stairs in factorys for use on 2nd floors! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif no I wasn't driving and I'm not sure where they got it either!

ones I watched/did we ended up digging solid deep holes below where the NEW floor would be , poured footers and leveled and then used house jacks to stabilize the house (just in case the walls of the basement decided to give away or get bumped.) this was done around the perimiter then new walls laid in and floors poured, (after the new footers and old walls were removed...) one we did had bolders for walls! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif they removed them using chain and 4x4 tractor and simply drug them out the side wall hole as described above.

Mark M
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #6  
My uncle dug one under his house 30 years ago. He rented a bobcat and dug a ramp down toward the house. He cut the foundation and shored up the house.

Then he dug under it taking out more and more dirt.

I think he recessed the basement walls about 6 ft to let the house rest on the foundation.

The house I grew up in had a HAND DUG basement under it. It had about a 5.5 ft height, which really was not good. It had concrete walls recessed about 6' all around also.

Best wishes,
Ron
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #7  
There are a couple of different companies in my area who advertise that they dig basements under existing houses. So, it obviously can be done. Personally, I wouldn't try it myself and I would only hire it done by people who have considerable experience in doing so and who have a considerable amount of insurance. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Yea, I know it can be hired done... anyone got 45,000 dollars to spare? /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Was curious.
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #9  
A friend of mine at work did this. He's an ultra-high energy guy with no limits to the projects he takes on. He did it all by hand with buckets. Even ran into a huge boulder halfway through. What do you do with a huge boulder in your basement you ask? Dig a hole big and deep enough to roll it into of course. It'll be there for the next nut case to find in the sub-basement addition. I saw another basement go under a house down the road from us. Another manual job from what I could tell.

While it is possible to do it by hand and I'm sure you could do it by skid steer or even CUT, my money would go into a conveyor belt. Still dig by hand but use a conveyor belt of some sort to remove the spoils. Could even have it spill into a dump truck or trailer for ease of removal /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
   / anyone try to dig a basement under House? #10  
I've been involved in 2 of these projects.

20 years ago: This involved a skidsteer, jackhammer and a single weekend worth of work. We dug a ramp to the frost wall, jackhammered an 8' opening to get the skidsteer under the house, and dug like heck because we only did a 2 day rental. We hit a stone easily 6' in diameter, we dug around it and were able to reach it with a full sized backhoe for removal.

10 years ago: The second project was helping a friend with a 200 year old house and involved 5 gallon buckets, a wheelbarrow and shovels. I helped a few days over the 6+ months it took him to dig out the basement. He never hit a rock bigger than your fist.

The only way I'd do it today - hire it out.
 
 
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