Brubaker1
Triple Double Diamond Platinum Club Member
It's time to get my beers off the basement floor. I've been talking about doing this for a long time now. Hopefully letting you all in on my plans will help me see it through.
I've got a 12x14 crawl space that I'm going to convert into a cellar. It will not be easy. I may fail. I suspect this will take me at least the rest of this year.
Current state:
Here's my 3x3 opening into the crawl:
Here's the inside (da lens flare):
and a peak to the left:
The plan:
I'm going to have that opening cutout to 8x3 to make a doorway. Then, I'll excavate the dirt (math says its about 9yds that I'll need to move). The space above the crawl is a bump out for the home office, so the foundation walls do not go down a full 8 feet. I'll need to come in about 2 feet from each wall so as not to undermine the foundation - so essentially I'll be building a room within a room. I'm going to put in 3 foot(ish) cinder block wall, backfill behind it, and then cap it with concrete to create kind of a bench around the outside 3 walls.
Steps:
This is by far my most ambitious project ever. The ball is finally rolling now. Hoping I don't fall flat on my face here. Once it's all done, I'm going to spend just as much time photoshopping worthy beers into the pictures.
I've got a 12x14 crawl space that I'm going to convert into a cellar. It will not be easy. I may fail. I suspect this will take me at least the rest of this year.
Current state:
Here's my 3x3 opening into the crawl:
Here's the inside (da lens flare):
and a peak to the left:
The plan:
I'm going to have that opening cutout to 8x3 to make a doorway. Then, I'll excavate the dirt (math says its about 9yds that I'll need to move). The space above the crawl is a bump out for the home office, so the foundation walls do not go down a full 8 feet. I'll need to come in about 2 feet from each wall so as not to undermine the foundation - so essentially I'll be building a room within a room. I'm going to put in 3 foot(ish) cinder block wall, backfill behind it, and then cap it with concrete to create kind of a bench around the outside 3 walls.
Steps:
- Dig a test hole down to full depth along the intended doorway to ensure no water builds up during heavy rains. It's rained for 100 straight days, no sign of water. Huge check!
- Get estimates for removing the 5x3 wall section. Check! This was more than I expected, but not a deal breaker.
- Check on permitting. This will be classified as unconditioned storage, but I still need to find out what sort of permits I'm looking at. A few calls to the gubmint have so far gone unreturned.
- Remove the wall section. Coming soon.
- Start hauling dirt out of there. It's a walk out basement and I have a large wooded area behind the house. I will pile the dirt in the wooded area and use it later for a separate grading project. I have no clue how long this will take me to complete. I'm only going to be able to work an hour here and an hour there since I've got kids.
- Pour a 10x10 pad. Hire a concrete guy to take me through the pour. I'm hoping I can find someone to take this as a side job as opposed to hiring a whole crew. It's not a lot of concrete to pour. I figure I'll need him 1) to check the site to make sure it looks good before pouring and 2) to manage the pour while me and my friends wheelbarrow the concrete in.
- Build the cinder block wall, backfill, and cap with concrete.
- Add shelving.
- Add barn door into cellar.
- Add no girls/kids allowed sign
This is by far my most ambitious project ever. The ball is finally rolling now. Hoping I don't fall flat on my face here. Once it's all done, I'm going to spend just as much time photoshopping worthy beers into the pictures.