From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Subject: Re: Lowering garage to basement level and finishing upper level.
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1992 19:03:57 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.173758.17638@cbnewsi.cb.att.com> rav@cbnewsi.cb.att.com (reinaldo.a.valenzuela) writes:
>
>I would like to lower the garage floor down to the basement floor level.
>Thus, I can buiild a floor at the house ground floor level and
>turn the space above into a dramatic great room. This would involve:


> - Remove exixting garage doors.
> - Jacking-up the garage (so that fundation wall can be rebuilt/extended)
> - Breaking up the existing garage floor slab and about 1/2 of the driveway.

Any sewer lines running under the floor?

> - Excavating the garage floor 3-4 ft. 

How's drainage?

> - Regrading the driveway so it is 4 ft lower at the garage end.

Again, how's your drainage?  With the driveway below grade, you'll need
to add a full-width drain between the foundation and the near end of
the driveway, and provide someplace for the water to drain to.
Local codes may or may not allow use of a sump pump for this drain.

> - Wreking existing fundation walls around the garage perimeter
>   (or extending down exixting walls??)

May need to reinforce existing foundation prior to excavating and removing
old walls.

> - Re-building new, higher garage fundation walls
> - Pouring a new garage cement slab (now at the basement floor level)
> - Installing columns/girder/ floor joists/decking/flooring 
>    to create the garage ceiling and great room floor.

Assuming the old floor (garage ceiling) was structural, this may be
a tricky part, depending upon just where all supports are.  If the inner
garage wall was mid-span along an I-beam, then you'll need another footing
wherever the I-beam is going to be cut.  Probably worth it at to have
a structural engineer give his blessing on this, if for no other reason
than to keep your insurance valid.

> - Re-install garage doors at the new level.
> - Close-up are occupied by old garage doors
> - Extend siding on the sides and over location of old doors.

Makes sense - try drawing the front elevation to see what this will
do to aesthetics.  I've seen some homes built recently that are
very nice on the inside, and very ugly on the outside, because the
inside was designed to be trendy and the exterior design was ignored.

>
>Is this totallt crazy?

No, but it does sound quite ambitious.

>Would it be cheaper to wreck the existing garage/fundation/slab
>and start from scratch?

Hard to say - I've been assuming while reading this that you've got
a split-level house with rooms already over the garage.  If the
garage could, in essence, be cut off from the rest of the house,
I may be assuming things are worse than they are.

>Approx. how much many can I expect to pay?

A project of similar magnitude had us spending a hundred or so on
preliminary consultation with the architect to get our ideas in synch.,
and a total of around $800 for finished drawings to let out for bids.
A good general contractor can probably give you a ballpark figure
without a set of final drawings, but don't expect firm numbers without them.

>Does it make sense for me to act as general
>contractor??

Some here have done so successfully; we decided we simply didn't have the
time to invest in research or in managing subcontractors.  We did find
a few general contractors who were willing to let us do some of the work,
but under the condition that if we couldn't keep the same schedules as
the pros, and we delayed other subcontractors, then all completion date
guarantees were out the window.  This is only fair, considering that the
general contractor and subs are often scheduled tightly and in advance.
Also, after going through the agony of getting the drawings finalized
(and hence reconciling two entirely different concepts of the same
project) my wife and I decided that, for us, doing the contracting as
well was one more strain our marriage didn't need at that time.
We've since learned that building houses and additions are prominent
causes of marital strife....
-- 
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com                                        Naperville, IL
'71 CL450-K4 "Gleep"  - "Worth the Obsession"
DoD #094        "I'm not mad; just terribly, terribly hurt."  HDM #007
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