Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 10/12/2009

Question
Under our home we have a 1/2 basement, that is finished and the rest is a crawl space.  The crawl space is probably about 800sq. ft.  Can the crawl space be made to living space and how much is involved? We would probably not do this ourselves and contract it out.  Also, is it possible to have a bathroom put in a basement if it was not originally plumbed for one?  Thank you for your time in answering this.

Answer
Hi Amy, of course it is possible to remove the dirt and turn the crawl space into a basement.  It involves obviously excavation either by hand or machine.  You have to shore up the bearing walls of the house above while you're pouring the new foundation addition.  And yes you can add plumbing where you have no plumbing roughed in.  If you are tied into city sewer and sewer main is higher than the plumbing you want to install you will need to install a pump system to pump the toilet and bathroom effluent up to the elevation needed.  The same if you have a septic tank that is higher than your basement floor.    If your sewer main is deep enough you can locate your exterior sewer main, uncover it and then tie into it.  I hope this information helps pleaser feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com