Icky basements - fixable? Worth it? (floors, foundation, washer, pool)

[IrishGalMinnesota]

I was hoping to use this board as a starting point for information about basements.

My husband and I are currently house hunting, and we found one that we really like for many reasons. The main problem is the basement is pretty icky. It has cracks, water seepage (but not flooding), and part of it is even still dirt! It's not like a cellar that's separate from the house, it's accessible through a door in the kitchen.

We were very surprised to see this when we went downstairs, because the rest of the house was extremely nice and well-maintained; there are so many things we love about this house! Awesome yard, big main bedroom, very clean, nice neighborhood, close to work, etc. We were actually surprised to find a house like this in our price range. The only other issue is no central air, but we could probably work around that, and even though the square footage is rather small, there are lots of opportunities for expansion.

It was a pretty small basement, but it's where the washer & dryer are located, so this seems like it would be problematic (and also it's in bad enough shape that I wouldn't really want pets or kids going down there and you know it would be really hard to keep them out!).

My question is, how big of a deal is this and how difficult/costly would it be to fix these problems (I know this is a very broad question but any feedback would be appreciated). I am mostly concerned about rodents and/or bugs getting in through the cracks or where it's just dirt, and I have also heard that radon can be a problem in basements like this? Some people have told me it would be a simple matter to just seal it up, but I don't know how simple that would really be. And I would think it could be expensive to try to seal up or block in the areas that are still dirt.

Any feedback would be much appreciated, or if you have experiences with basements like this, positive or negative. Thanks!!

[Cosmic]

Some pixs help a lot.

Things to consider:

How high is the overhead in the basement?

Is the structure solid with no settling?

Is there a door from the basement to the outside?

What is the existing basement wall made of? How thick, etc.

An easy fix can be to dig a footing trench around the inside walls, pour a good footing and lay up a block or brick wall on the inside, filling the gap between the old wall with high cement content motar. Then pouring a cement floor. Or you can come in and spray a cement wall like building a swimming pool, sort of like gunnite. Usually you want to dig the dirt floor out a little. Want to find out what the old footing system is like. Sounds like a partial basement as described. The gunnite solution, usually you put wire mesh in just like planning out a swimming pool, probably shoot some steel studs into the existing wall to help bond it all.

You just about have to see it to really know what to do but a fix might not be all that complicated. Pix are worth a zillion words. May not be that expensive to fix in relation to total house costs. Would try to talk down the selling price to get some slack.

If going the sprayed cement route can also do the floor at the same time, making walls and floor into one good leak tight unit. Is also an easy way to get the materials into a very tight space. If no door, even a window might be used.

[IrishGalMinnesota]

Hi, thanks for responding. If we view the house again I will find out if it's okay to take pictures of the basement. It's definitely a partial basement, in fact I wonder if at one time it was somehow separate from the house like a cellar. There is no door to the outside; the ceilings are somewhat low but we were able to stand comfortably without worrying about hitting our heads. The existing walls are concrete but I am not sure how thick. I don't think there were any windows either. The more I think about it, the more I think they're asking too much for the house overall actually (I think it's mostly the huge yard and convenient location that may be driving up the price), so I think we would be justified in making a low offer; the basement steps were also not in the best shape and we would want to replace those pretty soon. They bowed under our weight when we walked up and down.

[jhlcomp]

I would be very concerned with the foundation given your findings. How old is the house?

Personally, I would not want to ackle something like this. Where is this located?

I had a house in McLean, VA that flooded during unusally heavy rains. Didn't know this when we bought it and there was no sign of past possible flooding. I had to install two sump pumps. It was quite an expense because the floors and walls had to be replaced and this was a partial basement. The fact that your basement has not been finished, has dirt floors in places, and has a lowish ceiling would make me reconsider.

Either way, good luck to you!

[Cosmic]

You probably only have the option of doing the walls in gunite. Here are some links what it is all about. The floor, you could probably do in shotcrete, the companies probably have both capabilities.

With only a basement door from the inside eliminates a number of repair options. With the gunite and shotcrete, they can actually snake the hoses in thru the house and down the basement stairs. Hoses are not that heavy if placed empty.

You might even be able to dig out the basement floor dirt a bit and carry it out bucket by bucket. Can be a type job for the DIY project. But I would say it is possible to make it fairly useable.

The good thing about those methods there is no form work, so you are talking a one or two day job, quick in, quick out. Costs should not be all that bad. Tough to guessimate but I might think ~$3000 - 5000 depending on what is involved. You are paying for the equipment, time, profit and man power, more than the materials.

The gunite is a dry mix and they use their eye to trowel it into shape. Shotcrete is more used where gravity will not cause it to sag. The floor might make sense to be done like that. All depends on how the contractor wants to do it and cost it out.

http://www.a1gunite.com/gunite.htm

http://www.mdfoundations.com/sprayed.html (broken link)

[IrishGalMinnesota]

Originally Posted by jhlcomp

I would be very concerned with the foundation given your findings. How old is the house?

Personally, I would not want to ackle something like this. Where is this located?

I had a house in McLean, VA that flooded during unusally heavy rains. Didn't know this when we bought it and there was no sign of past possible flooding. I had to install two sump pumps. It was quite an expense because the floors and walls had to be replaced and this was a partial basement. The fact that your basement has not been finished, has dirt floors in places, and has a lowish ceiling would make me reconsider.

Either way, good luck to you!

Hi, the house is about 80 years old. We live in Minnesota, and the houses we're looking at are just outside the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The people who live there have diclosed that they had some seepage but checked "no" for flooding - I think of there were flooding issues they probably wouldn't have their washer & dryer down there, but you never know!

[rubytue]

The low ceilings might be an issue, depending on building codes. In some areas, new building codes require finished basements have higher ceilings (and often egress) than some older buildings will have.

Had a good friend who discovered this when her house burned (almost) down. They savaged everything from the first floor joists and down, then she could not have a finished basement in the rebuilt house, even though it was before. Couldn't not get it inspected for habitable space due to ceiling height.

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by rubytue

The low ceilings might be an issue, depending on building codes. In some areas, new building codes require finished basements have higher ceilings (and often egress) than some older buildings will have.

Had a good friend who discovered this when her house burned (almost) down. They savaged everything from the first floor joists and down, then she could not have a finished basement in the rebuilt house, even though it was before. Couldn't not get it inspected for habitable space due to ceiling height.

That does not sound right. Yes, the ceiling height requirements might change but it is an easy fix. All you have to do is strip it down to the basement and then install a small cripple wall high enough to meet the additional height required in the basement, then do a standard lay up for the first floor on top of that and so on. Difficult to get good help these dazes.

[lightson]

hello

That does not sound right. Yes, the ceiling height requirements might change but it is an easy fix. All you have to do is strip it down to the basement and then install a small cripple wall high enough to meet the additional height required in the basement, then do a standard lay up for the first floor on top of that and so on. Difficult to get good help these dazes.

I agree with Cosmic, My friend had same problems but doing great with stripping down the basement and he installed this amaizing cripple wall by expert and no problems since five years now..

Goodluck

[rubytue]

Originally Posted by Cosmic

That does not sound right. Yes, the ceiling height requirements might change but it is an easy fix. All you have to do is strip it down to the basement and then install a small cripple wall high enough to meet the additional height required in the basement, then do a standard lay up for the first floor on top of that and so on. Difficult to get good help these dazes.

Ok. Clearly I have no clue about building stuff - LOL I was just going by what my friend had said - she couldn't get livable space out of her old basement b/c the ceiling was too low and the couldn't raise the first floor (or at least the insurance company wouldn't pay for it)