In article . com,
"fork" wrote:

The house I just bought is three stories tall, built into a moderate
hillside. The ground floor is not as large as the floor above it, and
there's a 'workshop' in the crawlspace behind the ground floor, beneath
the second floor. This workshop has a sloped dirt floor. It goes from
about 7.5 ' tall to about 6' tall over the span of about 8'. What I'd
like to do is dig this out so it's flat and pour a slab. But I'm
worried that this dirt is supporting the foundation, and if I remove
too much of it the pressure from the dirt on the other side would
eventually do some harm. Needless to say, I know nothing about this
stuff . Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Fork

You might want to get a structural engineer out to take a
look at this. Depending on the soil and how the foundation
for the 2nd story is built, you might be OK. One thing
you can do is dig a small hole along the 2nd story foundation
and see how far down the foundation goes. If it goes more
than a foot and a half below your dirt level, you are probably
OK. If not, you might be able to do this in sections, one
strip at a time, with the new concrete floor supporting
the wall while you remove the dirt for the next stip.
As a builder, realtor, or architect for advice on who to
talk with to look this over. Or perhaps the concrete
company has someone available to help you.

-john-

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John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
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