DC Rowhouse - wet basement floor

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any contractor recommendations for removing a rat slab basement floor in a DC rowhouse (that is allowing a lot of moisture in), doing gravel, digging drains, putting in a sump pump and doing a new concrete slab? We are having trouble finding a contractor that will give us an estimate for this type of job because it's not a particularly big job.

[Anonymous]

What kind of square footage? Not sure what types of contractors you are talking to, but this is not a small job. It's not adding-a-level-to-your-house big, but taking up the floor, moving that much dirt around is not quick and easy. If you are like most rowhouses they won't be able to get a skid steer loader down there, so that means the old floor and every bucket of dirt is coming out by hand. The old floor is probably not very thick and with no sub-surface drainage meaning they will have to remove dirt anyway to put in gravel and a vapor barrier (usually 4" gravel + new 4" floor = excavating down 8" at least). Plus removal for the french drains and sump pit. There are a ton of companies that specialize in this sort of thing, look around for contractors that specialize in underpinning; the scope of this is basically the same without the foundation re-enforcement. Alternatively a lot of concrete/hardscaping firms would be well equipped. Do you have an Angie's List account? Get a half dozen estimates from underpinning contractors from there as a start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of square footage? Not sure what types of contractors you are talking to, but this is not a small job. It's not adding-a-level-to-your-house big, but taking up the floor, moving that much dirt around is not quick and easy. If you are like most rowhouses they won't be able to get a skid steer loader down there, so that means the old floor and every bucket of dirt is coming out by hand. The old floor is probably not very thick and with no sub-surface drainage meaning they will have to remove dirt anyway to put in gravel and a vapor barrier (usually 4" gravel + new 4" floor = excavating down 8" at least). Plus removal for the french drains and sump pit. There are a ton of companies that specialize in this sort of thing, look around for contractors that specialize in underpinning; the scope of this is basically the same without the foundation re-enforcement. Alternatively a lot of concrete/hardscaping firms would be well equipped. Do you have an Angie's List account? Get a half dozen estimates from underpinning contractors from there as a start.

If they're going to go through all this effort, they might as well dig down enough to create a legal rental apartment.
People have posted on PoPville that the dig out plus re-slabbing costs about $40K. This is a very big, time intensive job.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. We can't do a legal unit because we are in the historic district and our facade doesn't work with adding a front entrance.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can still do a live-in unit if you provide certain minimum code requirements. Even if it's not a separate unit, wouldn't you want to make this space user friendly?
You could make a family room, bathroom and/or laundry/workshop area.
I have done this type of project before and I highly recommend exploring this route.
Feel free to contact me to discuss it further,
ileana
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. We can't do a legal unit because we are in the historic district and our facade doesn't work with adding a front entrance.

I would echo the others: if you are going through the trouble of doing this go down far enough to make it legal usable space. That will likely require underpinning, but you could be surprised and not have to do any foundation work. Do the neighbors on either side have finished basements? Minimum height is only 7' for finished ceiling (and support beams can drop lower than that).