Digging out the basement

[mako652]

Greetings All
Thought it was a good time to post some photos on my current project. I have an old (1840's) post and beam house with an attachment that was added in 1874. The basement under the original house still has a dirt floor. If any of you have ever had a dirt floor in your basement, you know why this had to get done. It is always damp, musty, and dirty. Just a real pain, and not good for the overall health of the house.

The first photo you see is the ramp and cart I built to remove the dirt. There was an old coal shute on this side of the house that made a good opening to use.

 

[mako652]

Here is were the tractor came to the rescue. A rope attached to the cart was used to haul the cart loaded with dirt up and out of the basement.
I had started this project before I bought the tractor using a wheelbarrow and a ramp up the cellar steps. About 5 loads of dirt up that ramp was enough for me. I decided it could wait until I had some help !! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[mako652]

Here is a shot of a cart load of dirt coming up and out the coal shute. This job was kinda like working in a mine. It all had to be dug out by hand, and hauled out one load at a time. The cart was dumped and rolled back down the ramp for the next load.

 

[mako652]

Now for the next phase. I had to work this in sections because I was also pouring new pads for the support colums. The beams that span this section of the house had been poorly supported over the years and had some sag to them. This makes for some crooked floors above.
I dug down about 2-1/2" feet for the areas that needed the pads poured. The remaining area was dug down about 8-10". Then it was time to bring the stone in. If you look behind the tractor in this photo you will notice a large "funnel". This was placed into the ramp opening, and the stone was loaded into the funnel. I have some better pictures I will post next time.

 

[mako652]

Ok, so far it has been dirt out and stone in. Hre is a pic of one of the new pads and colums. The pads are about 14" thick and 16" x 22". This is major overkill, but thats the way I tend to do things.

 

[mako652]

In addition to new support colums, I deciced it was time to get some perimeter drains and a sump installed. This is a bit tricky, because I am digging next to a laid up stone foundation. I have to be very carefull not to dig to close to the foundation and risk having it come down. I have dug a trench about 3' deep for the drain pipe. Filled the bottom in with about 1' of stone. Then laid down a geotextile material to keep the silt out of the drain pipe. Stone is then added to surround the drain pipe. Its hard to see in this photo, but I left plenty of extra material to "wrap" the pipe and stone. This was then covered with more stone.

 

[mako652]

Here is one of the beams with the new support in place. These are big hand hewn beams

 

[mako652]

Once I get all the dirt out and stone in I will have a contractor come in and pour a floor in the basement. That is just to much concrete for me and my little mixer to handle!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

One last shot for today. This is a picture of the house when I bought it last fall. There is a ton of work to do on this old one. It is hard work, but very rewarding.

 

[MikePA]

Mark, very nice work! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif Our house looks similar, including the basement. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif You were fortunate that your basement walls went deeper than the existing dirt floor level. Ours did not and the previous owners simply had a 1 inch layer of concrete poured over the dirt. I found this out when I tried installing my first support post. I cracked right through the floor! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif So, I got to dig down two feet under each post and pour concrete footers.

 

[dummy]

Brings back memories of lots of blisters. Start with a trenching tool + 5 gallon bucket and work your way down to full size picks and shovels. We built a conveyor though using 8" pvc pipe, 2x12's and some rubber belts powered by a front tine rototiller. What a project you chose to tackle.

 

[Egon]

You have done much hard productive work.

Congradulations are in order for a job well done.

Egon

 

[RobS]

Mark, that's an incredible amount of work! At least you have a big helper in that tractor. A friend of mine did the same thing using 5 gallon buckets up the stairs. He even brought a section of crawl space down to full basement depth. Then excavated around the perimeter and poured a new foundation wall. All by hand!

Great work and an honorable thing to do for your vintage house /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Slamfire]

Cement can be either too wet, or too dry, but it is always too heavy. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Libertine]

mako652:

Thank you for taking the time to post pics/text on the project. Never know when a tractor can come in handy!

JEH

 

[TimSullivan]

We owned a old house with a several modern additions. The area under the original structure was similar to your basement.. For the fourteen years we were there my wife and I were going to do the same thing.

We sold the house last year and never did get up the nerve to tackle the project. Of course then we did not have any equipment either.

You have a good project to improve your home I am just glad that it is not on my to do list anymore. Sure looks like you are doing it right.

 

[ikline]

Reminds me of 2 years ago. My brother in law has an old farm house and half of it (about 16 by 36) had no basement. Well he wanted one. the dirt was 4 inches from the floor joists. We dug down 8 feet, poured foundation, layed block, drain tile, poured floor and added a bilco door (All by hand). I feel your pain, but I am sure you will be happy when it is done. Keep the pics coming.

 

[mako652]

Ok here are a few more of the pics. Let me just first say thanks for the response, and if ANYBODY has any pointers or suggestions fire away!

Second, thanks for the words of encouragement from all.

Dummy, that sounds like an interesting contraption you built as a conveyer belt. I even considered modifying an old conveyer for this project, but figured the time and cost to do it just would not pan out.

Slamfire, you are soooooooooo right about cement. No matter how you mix it. IT IS HEAVY. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Last, IKLINE you must REALLY get along good with your brother in law to do a project like that!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ok here are the rest of the pics to date. This one is a shot of the funnel for brining the stone in.

 

[mako652]

Here is a load of stone coming in.

 

[mako652]

This is one of my jacking posts next to the support. It is 5" schedual 40 or 80 (not sure I'm not a pipefitter) and 1/4" steel plate on each end. I use a 20 ton bottle jack to do the work and tighten it up with the supports. These are very handy, but VERY heavy.

 

[mako652]

This is a new pad still curing for the next support. You can see how the drain system and digging is still ongoing in the background.