Dirt in basement?

[Tracy Schanou]

Yesterday I did an FHA inspection. The house is a 2 story built in 1965. There is a family room located behind the attached garage. Normally this area is located on a slab. But when I got to the basement, the homeowner has manually cut a large doorway thur the concrete block into this area that has a 8ft foundation This "room" is filled with dirt (giant pile, not packed down) with dirt floor. So it's kinda like a crawl space? He is attempting to manually remove the dirt (with buckets):Eyecrazy: to try to excavate this area himself, until he thur a disc out in his back! Anyway, this area would seem like it might be violating something in FHA??? IS IT? Dealing with a large cut doorway thru the concrete block? Any input would be helpful!

 

[Marcia Langley]

Tracy,

When foundation walls are altered to the extent that you describe there is always the potential that the structural elements have been compromised. Whether the work was permitted and met code may have an impact on how it is handled. The same goes for the foundation walls in the dirt floor area. That area is a crawl space and the excavation may have weakened the foundation.

Since you are not a structural expert you should check box 4 for an EA to have a structural inspection done.

 

[Greg Bell]

Does he plan to bury his wife in the basement?If so , wait until he concretes the hole in the basment.......

 

[Kevin A. Spellman]

This would be my response:

The rear family room addition has a crawl space for the basement area. The owner /applicant has chosen to open a portion of the foundation within the full basement and has begun the task of removing the earth by hand from the basement area beneath the family room. This task is incomplete.

The crawl space and the full basement area are exposed to the earth. A typical buyer may not complete this task and may choose to install a vapor barrier over the exposed earth and then return concrete block to enclose the opening in the foundation. I have applied a reasonable cost to cure for this task.

I use the term exposed earth and not dirt in my reports.

 

[Tracy Schanou]

Thanks everyone for the comments. This was a new one for me! I need to call for so many things on this house, what's one more!
Marcia- I had typed something very similar to what you mention. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything else before I send it off.
Kevin- Thanks for the write up! Exposed earth sounds much more professional than "dirt" ! I'll go back and change that! I've rewritten this thing so many times....agggg... I am definiately earning my fee for this one!m2:

 

[hglenbetts]

Just courious?? Was the addition built on a slab (as you mentioned is "normal") or was it joisted from a foundation wall? If he excavated under an unsupported slab, you've got big structural problem, not to mention the hole in the wall. Is there any sort of supporting structure (walls) to prevent the sides from collapsing??
It may be a good thing his back went out whan it did

 

[Fritz in NY]

What was the guy doing in the basement? Building a bomb shelter, a wine cellar, or yes he's Jeffery Dalmers cousin and needs a place to dispose of body parts.

 

[Mike Boyd]

Cutting a doorway through a concrete wall does not necessarily weaken the structure. If he removed the entire wall, that would be something else. With a proper header, the weight that was relying on that 3 foot cut would be shifted by means of the header to each side of the supporting walls left intact. BUT, since foundations now require engineering, (in my area) that modification would need more engineering and that engineers stamp.