A friend is having their basement dug out. It’s a 90~ year old house with a poor partial basement and 2 different crawl spaces. They hired a contractor for the job.
Since I know both the homeowner and the contractor pretty well, I’ve snuck over and taken a few pics when I got home from work. I’m in no way involved in the project. Just think it’s interesting.
These first 2 pics show the ramp they cut for the dozer to get down into the hole, and the dozer sitting in the basement. They took the roll cage off the dozer so they could get it in there.
We’re good together.
But I like it better when we’re bad together.
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Day 3 shows a couple of views where they've dug out one of the crawlspaces. You can see where they've left one of the chimneys. I don't think it's used, so I don't know why they don't take it out.
The last pic is one of the guys backing the dozer down into it's "Garage" for the night.
That's all the pics I have right now. I'll try to sneak over and take some more if they're still working when I get home tomorrow.
Newspaper ad: "Home wanted for friendly Labrador. Will eat anything -- loves children"
Ron: re; took the roll cage off the dozer ... OUCH
1. read post on "big toys"
2. people is really lazy these days, did house that looked like that in Spfld when I was 5, carrying coal buckets of clay up stairs. (Ok, I only did a little bit of the carrying) <G>
edit ps: you left pix dark to make everybody copy and paste to brighten those pix on purpose???
Which leads to a prospero query - anyone know how to brighten the pix without copy/paste to photo-ed or such ?
Edited 12/15/2003 10:18:35 PM ET by JUNKHOUND
>>Which leads to a prospero query - anyone know how to brighten the pix without copy/paste to photo-ed or such ?
Not I - I c/p'ed some of them and then (i) gamma corrected them and (ii) reduced 'em about 75%.
Here they are, revised per above.
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Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in January (we hope) and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
Thanks to Jeff and David and Jim for their offers!
Bet they left the chimney because even though it isn't being used ...
it's still there ... thru the rest of the house.
Heard a story about some people that wanted more room in the basment and first floor ... so they simply dismantled the brick chimney .. in the basement and first floor...
Coupla days later they heard a loud crash ....
Guess they finally figure it went somewhere after the first 2 levels?
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Thanks for lightening those up, Bob. I couldn't figure out how to do that in the version of irfanview at home.The Internet has probably made it impossible for any country to have the kind of censorship and propaganda monopoly that totalitarian countries achieved in the first half of this century. [Thomas Sowell]
BH - I use Paintshop pro.
For lightening pics, I find "gamma correction" (whatever the heck that is) to be best.
I used to do a lot of photography, and with film if it was underexposed, too bad, the information just wasn't there.
With digital, there is a lot of information hidden in the shadows and highlights that can be brought out with photo imaging tools.
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in January (we hope) and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
Thanks to Jeff and David and Jim for their offers!
Any idea what, if any, precautions were observed near the foundations to make sure they didn't undermine them?
"...what, if any, precautions were observed near the foundations to make sure they didn't undermine them?"
Looks to me like they just tried to stay back from them a ways. I think they're leaving 2' of dirt, then pouring new concrete walls inside the old foundation.I married the first man I ever kissed. When I tell my children that, they just about throw up. [Barbara Bush]
My father saw a job in Manhattan in the 1980s where a group of men dug a basement by hand, carrying buckets on their shoulders through an alley walkway for several months.
The dozer on this job seems like overkill, risking damage for little gain. Those guys digging the Manhattan basement would probably been thrilled with a Bobcat though.
This kind of work is still done in Manhattan all of the time (cheaper to excavate a store down than move to a bigger space). My Wife's firm gets a lot of these jobs. Sometimes the stone church next door gets upset when the contractor tries to skip the skip sequence under the party walls, but usually the go smoothly....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
"The dozer on this job seems like overkill..."
I don't think so. They have to move a great deal of dirt out. The dozer has a much bigger bucket than a bobcat. And the tracks don't sink in the soft ground as much as the skid steer.
The skid steer was having trouble getting up the slope in the soft, wet ground. The dozer had no trouble. And the guy running the dozer is talented - I've seen him work with that dozer for many years.There is no accounting for taste, poor or otherwise.
How are those "cuts" being done? Any concern about failue? Just wondering.
Impressive. Thanks for the photos.
Yeah, I've been thinking about this for my own house.
Really needs a drainage system under the floor to deal with high water table, and a proper slab, which amounts to about 2 feet of additional excavated depth. Cost of a manual dig came in as brutal- no one wants that job! I've already done enough digging in this life to know it is way beyond my limits. Heck, I even dug out other folks basements when I was [much] younger, and that is probably why my back is not so great. Perhaps I should call the Sheriff about renting his 'chain gang'...
Anyways, my question to Boss is whether they made any provision for blowing out the exhaust fumes?
"Anyways, my question to Boss is whether they made any provision for blowing out the exhaust fumes?"
On the far side of the basement, there's an outside stairway. They have fans set up in there to keep air moving.To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have.
Well, I may or may not have any more pictures. Turns out there was a serious disagreement/misunderstanding between the contractor and HO. So they aren't working on the job right now.
The contractor was planning on digging down a couple of feet in from the old foundation (To make the basement deeper) and putting a new foundation wall in there.
The HO thought he was going to REMOVE and REPLACE the old foundation walls, so they wouldn't lose any width out of their basement.
Don't know enough about the situation to have a clue who's at fault. Or maybe it's a lack of communication from both sides. But I'm glad I'm not in their shoes right now.
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
The HO thought he was going to REMOVE and REPLACE the old foundation walls, so they wouldn't lose any width out of their basement.
Well, maybe the HO should hire the guy in the other "digging out" thread, who can do just about anything, using only bottle jacks and 2X4's.
Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.
Well, the GC and HO finaly worked things out and got back to it again. So I snuck out and took a couple of pictures yesterday afternoon.
They're planning on removing the east wall, and replacing it before continuing. They're going to pour a 6' tall concrete wall then take the rest up to the sill plate with concrete blocks.
Don't know how they plan to anchor the house to the block.Your skin is like silk. For the sake of romance, let's ignore the fact that silk comes from a worm's butt, O.K.?
I haven't been over there much lately - They've been knocking off before I get home from work and fencing the place off.
These shots are of the footings along the east wall.It's time to change the air in your head.
Here are a couple of shots of them pouring the east wall.
They're pouring 6' walls, then extending the walls up to the underside of the house with concrete blocks.My tire was thumpingI thought it was flatWhen I looked at the tireI noticed your cat.
Hey, in that last pic I see the old asphalt impregnated fiberboard Insul-brick product from the 50s there in the corner.
I suppose they plan on leaving it on the house? :o)
You mean that fake brick siding stuff? Never did know what that was called.
Actually, I think they plan to eventually tear off the multiple layers of messy siding and replace it with vinyl.Leadership - The ability to hide your panic from others.
Great pictures and looks like quite the challenge. The footings look a bit smooth and usually there is dowel bars sticking up to tie into the stem wall. Make sure there is good footing drains (don't use black ADS flex pipe-use rigid PVC) set below the top of the footing. Otherwise water will seep through the smooth cold joint between ftg and stem wall. Takes a good operator to run a mini excavator under a jacked house. I'm impressed.
"Make sure there is good footing drains..."
I'm not involved in this project in any way. I just know the homeowner and contractor, and am nosey.I haven't spoken to my wife for 18 months - I don't like to interrupt her
I guess I am a bit nosey as welll :)