Expert: Nazim Nice - 5/18/2009

Question
I am looking to purchase a 28'5" X 36' ranch style home, but I would want to put a basement in underneath the home, potentially even extending out of the ground a few feet, depending on cost. The house is in central Maine. I'm curious about how much this would cost. I want to put my furnace down there, as well as my washer and dryer, and have storage space, but it does not need to be cosmetically finished. Do you know how much this would cost, and what the difference in price would be if the basement extended out of the ground. Are there different materials that could cost different amounts?

Answer
Hi Nikita,

To construct the space my guess is in the range of $80-120 per square foot, but I would recommend you speak to several contractors in your area and get opinions from them. Costs vary from region to region, and from contractor to contractor.  

If you lift the house up, you'll have the cost of the lift versus the savings of not having to excavate the basement down as far. It might be a wash.  If you dig down further, you'll still have to keep the house 'lifted' off the ground while the excavation is done.

You may want to read our article on basements for some other points to consider:
http://www.motion-space.com/seattle-basement-remodel.htm

If you have plans to make this into finished space down the road, I would make the ceiling height at least 8' tall, preferably 8'-6 because inevitably ductwork or pipes hang down below the ceiling.

Keep in mind that any main level masonry chimney/fireplace will likely need to be removed.  Often we replace these with metal-prefab units.  

In terms of materials, the most common is going to be poured concrete.  There are some new Insulated Concrete Forms such as this that you might consider:
http://www.reddiform.com/

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

Nazim Nice
Principal / Architect
http://www.motion-space.com
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