Repurposing part of a basement
by
Sharon Doyle
+1
We are buying a distressed property with a basement in need of stabilization and foundation repair. We don't need the entire basement, so considering repurposing the most damaged area as an in-ground pool. Any similar experience out there? Any suggestions? I know we would need an engineer involved.
4 answers
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Are you buying this house as a fixer-upper? I'd have a professional stabilize and repair the foundation. When I married my husband, I moved into his house. I swear there wasn't a square corner in the house and any work done on it was not done professionally, more "hill-billy style". The brick foundation had a hole in it. The house had a crawl space and the house was held up by jacks. The floor slanted towards the middle, so any piece of furniture I put against the wall I had to put a 2x4 under the front of it to level it. If a glass of milk or juice spilled, the liquied would run off towards the slant so fast that it would be on the floor before I could get a dish clothe to wipe it up. There was one wall furance to heat the entire house. All the bedrooms were upstairs, so when you got up in the winter you could see your breath. There had been other sources of heat in this house because there were two chimnies. I remember we had a severe storm and it blew down one of the chimney's leaving a hole in the roof and bricks in the bedroom. Luckily, I don't think any of the kids were in the room and I wasn't home. I was very upset. My husband did a "hill-billy" job to fix it. We finally moved out into another old house. Paul, husband, just wants a livable place. He does nothing to fix anything and when he's done it looks awful. This house is 98 yrs. old and I would consider it a fixer-upper. I believe the previous owners "covered up" a lot just to get the estate sold. That's my experence with living in a distressed property. It takes a lot of work, financing, and remodeling to make it a comfortable living habitat. My husband and I are on fixed incomes, but I plan on doing some work on this old house. It has good bones. I'm working on downsizing stuff that I don't use. After living here 15 yrs., we have "collected" a lot of clutter. My husband says it's all mine, but it isn't. I don't like this house like I liked it when we first moved in. I can't keep up with the daily household chores and it's just too big. I don't know what to tell you about your pool idea. What about a storage room? Inground pools are okay outside, but your insurance will go up. Two items I wouldn't have a pool and a trampoline. In my opinion, I beleive if they are not used correctly both could be dangerous. One person should be jumping on a tampoline and the others spot. I would be afraid that others would use them when I'm gone, get serously injured, or die. Well, I don,t know if I helped or not. I just can't figure where you're putting your pool. Inside you'd have to think about head room when you dove into your pool and lots of lighting.
Bev Deardurff
on Jul 28, 2015
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The north end of the house is the most messed up, partially because a company started the repair and then realized they were in over their head, took less $ and walked away from it. The house is my parents and they've never paid for a professional to do anything, it's all been hillbilly fixes, in hillbilly land. House was built in 1947. So I am considering separating the north end of the basement from the rest of the basement with a cinder block wall most likely. Then or before that I think I'd have to have foundation corrected separately, as 2 entities. Then we'd demolish the house above the north end of the basement, put French doors on the north end of the house for accessing the pool which would then be outside. The north end is plenty spacious enough for decking around the pool, with concrete slabs I'm assuming. We'd have to screen the pool and decking in because the property is rural Ark, rice country.
Sharon Doyle
on Jul 28, 2015
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Now, I understand. That sounds like a great and cool idea. I love it. Good luck with your plans. No hillbilly fixes. Call a professional when you install your ingroud pool. Boy are you brave! to concur such a grand project that will take severval years. Is the house livable, now?
Bev Deardurff
on Jul 29, 2015
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No, we live in a 5th wheel when we r there
Sharon Doyle
on Jul 29, 2015
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