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I have a crawl space under family room and bedroom that had been added on to the original home---it is cold and drafty----how do I go about ( or who do I go about finding) to extend the basement under these 2 rooms??? I have no clues about this stuff---especially the cost involved---can anyone help????
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In most cases the descision to put in a basement must be done prior to the building. While it is possible to excavate a basement under an existing structure, it is at best a risky business, and usually one that will prove cost prohibitive.
In oder to put in a basement under an existing structure they have to almost use a mining technique of excavating and installing temporary house jacks to hold the structure until the new footers and foundation walls can be erected.
Due to the confined working space they can in some cases get a small BOBCAT excavator in to do the digging, but in general it is a very labor intensive process of hand digging.
During the excavating process they will have to remove dirt below the existing footers and supports theerfore proper placement of shoring and jacks is critical. You certainly dont want the existing structure to cave in during the excavation process.
If you elect to do this project, it is one that you would certainly want to be extremely careful about selecting a contractor. Find one that has had lots of experience in this type of project, get plenty of references, and check them thoroughly. This is definitely not a project to sub out to the lowest bidder based on cost factors alone.
If the intent of this project is purely to improve the heating quality of the new rooms I think you would be much better served to consider insulating the crawlspace and flooring.
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