Digging room out of basement?

Sounds like a serious idea. Dont know if it would be safe though. but hey if you got the balls

 

I'd get in touch with a contractor and just have some professionals do it. I'm sure they'd be able to design a discrete entrance for it as well. It's sound like a cool idea, but it's a bit of a stretch to consider "digging" a room onto your home.

 

If you don't know about construction then don't try it, you don't want to mess up your foundation that's holding up the house, and you also don't want a room that's going to cave in on you...

 

This.
Remember, anything that has dirt above it needs some serious support. it also needs to be water proof otherwise it will cave in and flood.

Are you sure you have thought this through?

 

then wait till your done with this harvest and tear everything down and call in a contractor... do not do this without one..... it voids your home owner insurance policy and if your house sags... your on your own for the cost.... thousands of dollars...

 

I can help, but I'd need to see pics first. The key element here which others have mentioned is structural integrity.

Under no circumstance should you cut away foundation block without knowing if its load bearing, meaning it holds part of your house up. Even if it isn't load bearing, you still need to take precautions.

Also, cement will not prevent leaks or flooding, so get that idea out of your head. You most likely have whats called a french drain and a sump pump in your basement to get rid of water that accumulates through the block.

New buildings use foundation coatings to slow the process, but generally speaking, water will always find a way.

Again, without detail its impossible to give solid advice. Still a risky endeavor, but anything is possible if properly planned and executed.

 

knock out a portion of your foundation

HELLO MCFLY? its called the foundation. I would assume its all load bearing being your whole effing house sits on top of it. You guys kill me with your crazy ass ideas. kinda like this moomoo person who wants to bury a generator for a 600w grow.

i hope you two are just hella stoned.

 

Actually, his house could easily sit on a partial basement. Basically half of the house sits above a basement, the other half just has a crawlspace with access to the subfloor.

Lots of houses are like that, assuming his is and he just wants to utilize a part of that crawlspace, it would be easy to do without affecting the structural integrity. Not saying its chop-chop and a couple nails, but its something that can be done.

All speculation at this point really, although his comments suggest that it is a partial basement.

 

Fair enough. So its kinda like when you add on? But still thats alot of work for a grow. If I had a basement I would just build a false wall and call it a day. I think there is another member on here that did something like i have mentioned with a book shelf thats actually a door.

 

I agree with you 100% bro - he'd have a ton of work on his hands hauling out all that dirt. He could pull a shawshank redemption on it and empty the dirt a pocketfull at a time lol.

False walls are cool too, but he may have some windows going all around the basement which could cause problems with the stealth aspect.

Funny but at one time I considered an partially underground grow room hidden within my crawlspace. In the end I decided that that was waaay too much work for my small operation

Edit: Sorry, re-read your post. You mentioned if it were like an addition to the home. And the answer is:

Not unless they built the addition, blew out most of that exterior wall and supported the rest with a carrying beam of some sort. Its possible I guess, but for some reason I still think he's got a partial basement.

Partial basements were more common in older homes (not really sure why, all that crap pre-dates me), but for whatever reason they only built so much basement and put the rest of the house on piers or a shorter foundation. Often a half block wall was placed between the two sections allowing access to the plumbing, electrical, etc.

 

Definitely a partial basement. However that slab your calling "the roof" is supported by gravel and dirt beneath.

In other words, It's not meant to be freestanding. It may or may not have reinforcment in it (steel rebar or even chicken wire), but it probably wont stand on its own without the soil.

If I were seriously considering this, I'd remove the concrete roof.

Its bizarre that they poured a slab there like that - never saw that before. Typically its bare dirt in a partial.

Overall I think its too complex for a small grow-op. What would you do with all that fill dirt you'd have to remove? You'd also have tons of other debris to remove.

Have you considered a false wall? That would be ten times easier.

 

why don't you get a quote from a contractor? tell them you would like to add an additional " rec room" im sure they would quote you 30-50k but atleast during the process he'll tell you what he has to do or what you can expect..

it definetly looks like its possible.. personally if you were dead set on this idea.. what i would do is excavate a 10x10 next to the house.. drop a prefab room in the hole and cover it with dirt, then make a crafty entrance to the room from your basement.

and be careful about your "buddies" knowing about it.. i mean shit, the first time he gets drunk at the local watering hole he is telling people about your false wall i guarantee it! and then you have invested in a stealth room everyone knows about.

 

I am glad I read thru all this, I was gonna sugguest the same thing about the prefab room except make it 15x15 as that allows for future "growth" pardon the pun

 

By putting in a prefab you could always say "Safe Room" to anyone that asks while it was being built