My daughter & family bought a craftsman style home (built about 1920)in Charlo, Montana where there is heavy clay in the soil. The home has a walk-out daylight basement & with 2 small kids, they need to expand for more room. Problem is the ceilings are low in the basement & there is central heat ductwork overhead. With the expense of adding a bathroom, play room and a couple of bedrooms, we are concermed about return on investment when it comes time for resale. So, it seems our options are to jack up the house or jack hammer out the exitsting concrete floor & lower the floor. Both options seem pretty expensive & lots of work. Question is, if we take out the floor(which is not in great shape anyway) how can we add to the foundation under the existing perimiter walls assuming that the existing foundation does not go a foot deep? (the west concrete wall in the basement has a crack that is from water, which has stabilized since they added gutters & downspouts) I might mention that the home is on 4 acres with a creek, a wonderful location which is why they bought & have in the last 2+ years put on a new roof, new exterior paint, totally rewired & replumbed, new fireplace, new kitchen & bath all in keeping with the age & style of the home. We did most of the work , so the family is capable of doing alot of the work ourselves. My husband was a masonry contractor for several years, but we are stumped about this foundation depth problem. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - we hope to start the project soon. trudann @ sti3520@blackfoot.net

[This message has been edited by trudann (edited December 09, 2001).]

basement remodel