Hi,
We are in the very early phases of planning an addition on the side of our ranch – it will be approx. 14 x 28. We live in the Washington DC area – not extreme winters or summers. The space will be a dining room & family room combo. I’m still a year away from breaking ground, but I’m starting to get together ideas & preliminary plans. The house currently has a full basement – the end of the house where the addition will go has electric & waste service.
I go back and forth on a basement. On the plus side, I see:
– I’d sure like the extra room.
– I’m thinking dollar for dollar, the cost per sq.ft. to put in a basement has to be significantly lower than for above grade.
– Heating/cooling would be enhanced.
On the downside – cost. I can’t think of any other negatives.
So – any opinions? Again I’m thinking way ahead so I haven’t talked to any contractors about doing the basement. With that in mind, is there a general rule of thumb about how to estimate what putting in a basement under this would cost? I’m not looking for anything exact, but a typical range.
Thanks for any input!
Bob
Replies
the end of the house where the addition will go has electric & waste service.
Is there space and head room for at least a doorway into the proposed basement.
If so....bsmt is a good idea.
If not....get $$ estimate to create access through elec and waste services...then re-consider.
Yes - if we put in a new basement it would be relatively easy to put a door or two between the two spaces. The current basement has a ceiling height of around 82" as I recall and is a cider block wall (with brick on the outside where it is above grade. I'd say that maybe 2.5 - 3' is above grade.
I'd say that maybe 2.5 - 3' is above grade.
Say it's 32".....
So a basement floor would be 50 inches below grade (for the same 82" ceil).
Frost line depth for a crawl space footing in DC has to be around 30" or so.
That means it's only about 20" deeper digging, and 2 to 3 courses extra blocks (on only 3 walls- fourth is there already)
Slab would have to be there anyway, ditto for the footing.
Can't be too much more $$. Divide the extra $$ by the sq ftg of the new basement.....bet it'll be the cheapest space you ever build.
An article in a Realtor trade magazine stated the average cost of a basement remodel runs about $57K in the greater Boston area, yet only returns 70% on the sale of the home. I have now idea where they came up with that number, but, it may have something to do with the basements being finished with antiquated methods that fail, and create an uncomfortable living space in the end. I am just finishing 1700 sq/ft basement strictly following the methods recommended at http://www.buildingscience.com/. Treat the project as if you were adding an additional floor to your home, not a "finished basement". Research acceptable construction techniques, (the information is out there). If hiring the job out, turn away anybody that starts talking "vapor barriers", steel stud (foundation perimeter) walls, and fiberglass. Steel Studs are perfect for interior partitions but not for exterior sub-framing. If you want to see a photo of what happens with fiberglass and a poly-ethylene vapor barrier, I can post a picture of my shop walls, that I have slowly been tearing down since learning the right way to do it.
I agree with what Pickings said. A lot of the excavation work is already being done. I just had an addition built on my house, roughly 12' x 50', I asked for a price to replace the crawl space proposed with a basement. The cost?...........$5,000.00. Best money spent.
Best of luck,
Wolfman