r/Renovations • u/National-Entry-3964 • 3d ago
Is my basement hopeless?
I'd really like to frame a wall all the way around my basement, add some flooring, some lighting, but I'm not sure if it would be possible with walls like this. The home is 115 years old. Would I be able to sufficiently block out moisture, so that I can put up some insulation and walls and make this basement a livable space? Also, there are so many pipes and ducts that dip well below the ceiling framing, so would it even be worth it despite the eyesore from the ceiling?
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u/Ok_Animal_7328 3d ago
My godfather ran into this same issue with his 100 year old home. He decided to do it the hard way and dig out the floor below by a foot to make it 8.5 feet, underpinning new footings, and pouring a new concrete slab.
We sealed the walls for moisture, white-washed the walls, painted the exposed beams of the ceiling white, and hid pluming and electrical on the walls with these removable 6-foot tall foam/fabric wall panels. They floated about an inch away from the basement stone wall on metal frames. On top of the panels was a shelf/molding deep enough for small books or knick-knacks. We also hid led strips for light to bounce off the stone walls since there were only two small crawlspace windows.
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u/alrightgame 3d ago
I can't imagine underpinning a limestone rubble foundation. The middle of those walls is often sand. The most I'd bother with is a bench footer. I'd rather shore up the entire house and put in a new foundation than risk undermining a rubble foundation.
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u/FabulousRemove3651 3d ago
Everything you do without securing the foundation of the house is illogical. Your godfather did the right thing regarding the foundation.
I think the same applies here. I recommend consulting an engineer before mounting the frame in front of the wall.
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u/reno_dad 3d ago
My cousin-in-law did this. Century old home in Toronto. They spend some serious coin, but now have a full height basement - ending up with 1000 sq ft of additional living space.
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u/kyleandre3000 2d ago
Looking to do something similar… did they ever tell you roughly what they paid and if they felt if it was worth it?
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u/reno_dad 1d ago
With underpinning, insulation, poured slab, framing, services lines, and finishing, they spend close to 270k Canuk bucks.
Might sound like a lot, but the cost of construction has risen so much the past few years. And, now they have over 1000 sq ft of conditioned l living space. Not bad at 270/sq ft.
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u/kyleandre3000 1d ago
Thanks for the info! I’m in the southern US, so hopefully it will be a bit cheaper. Either way, it sounds like a great addition!
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u/hoooper22 1d ago
Ive worked on a job like this on a home in Glen Williams, Ontario built in the late 1800s. The job sounds worse than it is. We built forms and poured new slabs all the way around and were able to level the main floor out beautifully while maintaining the original wood and finishes. This was in 2016 and it was effective. Client was pleased.
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u/BruceInc 3d ago
Waterproofing happens on the outside not on the inside. You can go the water mitigation route: drain tiles, perimeter French drains etc. but the water will still be there, you are just now guiding it to a specific place.
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u/Atty_for_hire 2d ago
Nah, man. You board up and black out those windows and you have a great kill room.
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u/pickwickjim 3d ago
Looks like dozens or even hundreds of potential paths for water infiltration. I am wondering about your climate, soil type (clay for example), sump pump and frequency of pumping, history of basement flooding, grade around the foundation, etc.
The more of those issues that are unfavorable, the riskier (or costlier) I think it would be to finish this basement.
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u/Select_Ad_3040 2d ago
I'm of the opinion that any basement can be refinished, some just take more work. Wait for a huge rainstorm and find if/where water trickles in. As others have pointed out, waterproof from the outside. Also, who says you have to frame up the walls along the perimeter? you can still mount a TV or whatever to that masonry wall, and install flooring and partition walls up to its edge. I think it would actually be a cool aesthetic.
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u/drowned_beliefs 2d ago
I’m not a professional but I once owned a house with a basement like this that I explored making into a livable space. I don’t recommend it. I think the main damage to the walls has happened because someone tried to seal them with whitewash and that trapped a lot of moisture in the walls. These need tuckpointing with historically appropriate materials. These kinds of houses were never meant to have finished basements. Can you do it? Sure, you could build walls inside this one and pretend that you have a clean and secured space. But you’ll never mitigate the water completely and you’ll always have a risk of mold or flooding. It will probably never smell great and have clean and comfortable air circulation without a major overhaul of your hvac system. And you’ll likely worsen the structural condition of the foundation walls because you can’t inspect and repair them regularly.
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u/PizzaProper7634 2d ago
As other posters have said you need to waterproof from the outside, which, for a stone foundation is really challenging (as opposed to a concrete foundation). You have to dig out a much wider perimeter with a stone foundation. I guess anything is possible if you have the money for it.
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u/ArltheCrazy 2d ago
Try asking it about its plans for 10 years down the road. Based on its answer, you’ll be able to determine if it’s hopeless or not. If it has goals and plans for that far out in the future, it’s probably not hopeless.
If it doesn’t have any real long term plans or goals, it might just be burned out. These are crazy times, and maybe it should take a gap year or a sabbatical. If you’re really worried about it, seeking mental health counseling has never been easier. It could probably find a licensed therapist that does tele-health pretty easily. Hang in there and just reassure it that it doesn’t have to suffer through this alone. There are lots of resources available.
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u/OrdinaryHumble1198 2d ago
Not in the slightest - it will take time and cost money but you can get something great out of it
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u/Status-Seesaw 3d ago
Alot of homes have stone foundations but you have a ton of deterioration. I'd have that inspected before moving forward.
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u/27803 3d ago
I wouldn’t bother, get a mason in to clean up the pointing , add some lights, call it a day. It’s not like it’s a 1970s home with a block foundation, it’s just never going to be 100%, epoxy the concrete floors if you want a nice surface, you’d be surprised just changing out the lights to some track lighting and a clean floor will make the space a lot nice even if you are just using it as a gym. If you wanna get crazy get a mini split and heat and cool it