Turn your Cavernous Basement into a Great Home Addition with the Help of an Excavation Company

You may be looking to renovate your cold, empty, cement-floor basement in the near future, which can be a great idea. A finished basement can act as a second living room, games room, personal bar, or simply a spot for some occasional downtime. But don’t jump right into it without first learning how to do it properly; it could have some serious consequences, including structural weakening and damage liabilities. We’ll walk you through underpinning your basement.

First, determine whether your basement has enough headroom or not. If it’s full-height, renovations should be relatively simple. If not, you’ll have to add some headroom. When you go to increase the height of your basement, avoid putting pressure on any of the structural foundations. If you can’t avoid it, put pressure on one at a time. Hire an expert to identify how much weight the footings are holding and how well they’re doing so.

You’ll then have to inspect the layout of your house’s heating and cooling system. Sometimes, contractors can work around them, but other times, they have to be temporarily removed. If the boiler needs to be replaced soon anyway, the whole system can be demolished and left for the duration of the construction. Once the plumbing system has been checked as well, workers can start digging to increase the basement’s headroom.

 Most of the digging is done in the centre of the basement, while the outer edges are left alone. This is mainly due to the extra costs associated with completing the task a different way. Having workers dig manually can be pricey, so it’s best to have a machine do the job for them. Most contractors will either use a conveyor belt to enter, or cut a hole in the basement wall to let the machine in. Make sure to compare the excavation costs of several different Toronto excavation companies.

Before digging starts, the ground is divided up into sections that are to be removed one by one, so as not to disturb the basement’s supports and jeopardize the structural soundness of the house. Each section, when dug out, is filled with cement and new footings that don’t quite reach the top of the old ones. The empty space is then filled with epoxy grout to prevent the dirt from contaminating the cement. Every section undergoes this process one at a time until the basement has been safely heightened.

The city is required to inspect the excavation at each stage of development to ensure safety regulations are being followed. If you’re not too keen on underpinning, you can also opt for the benching process. Benching is done by spreading concrete from the wall to the centre of the basement’s initial floor level. This method can be done for a cheaper sum and at a faster rate, though you’ll have to cover the benches with large pieces of furniture afterwards.

Now that you know what renovating your basement involves, go for it. A reputable excavation company will always work according to procedures to ensure a smooth renovation process.