"fork" wrote in message
ups.com...
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

I see this all the time in older houses around here, where they dig out the
'Michigan basement' (aka furnace pit) to a near-full basement. What they
generally do if existing foundation is sound, is to hold back 18 inches or
so from the old walls, dig down, pour new footers, and build a short wall
that really isn't holding anything, then cover the dirt shelf between the
two walls with concrete. You end up with a ledge around the perimeter of the
basement. Now if the old foundation is crappy anyway (like an old rubble
stone foundation with failing lime mortar), the correct solution is to have
house moving company support the house (or that wing) on temporary piers and
jacks, raise it maybe half an inch for clearance, and demo the old walls and
footings, dig down, and build new walls and footings. Not Cheap, but may be
worth it if house is otherwise in decent shape, or you need to correct a
little old-age sagging anyway. Good time to add or upgrade support beams in
the middle of the house.

Note that none of the above is DIY-class work. You need an engineer to
eyeball old foundation, design new stub wall or new foundation, etc, and
permits will be required.

aem sends...