On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 10:03:50 -0500, "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:

JLagg wrote:
Just curious as to the probability of adding a basement to an existing
house. It was built in 55 and is a ranch style single story 3 bedroom
1000 sq. It has a 3 ft crawl space all the way around. I have a
drywell and well also, no city pumbing at all. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks

I bought an extended family home. It was built in the 1800's. I bought
it in the 1960's. My uncle had the neighborhood boys dig out the basement
by hand during the depression. He was a retired submariner and had a little
money. He was something of a nut. After I moved in, many of those kids,
now my age or older, would stop by and tell me how much my uncle had done
for them when they were growing up. That house had many challenges but I
loved it.

Yes it can be done, but it is an amazing about of work. It would almost
certainly cost more than moving to a home with what you want.

HAVING it done would likely cost more than moving. Doing it
yourself, (where permitted) is just hard, tedious work.

Another option is just to jack the sucker up about 9 feet,
and build another floor underneath, but that depends on
whether the floor-plan works.