Anyone go underground?
 

Been in the market for a home and some land for 6 months or so, and as a part of that I'm looking to build/expand a shop.

Depending on county, we have zoning issues that can prevent people from building garages or shops that are taller (or a % taller) than the home...but if you have a ranch-style home, your F'd.

So I'm wondering, has anyone done a lower level, sub-level, or full below-grade shop? Bonus points if your functions as a bunker.

Even the guys who have done a deep lift, or an oil-bay....how'd it go?

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

A friend of mine here in Ga built a home in a fancy gated community that did not allow shops ,his house borders golf course so he built a very large underground shop next to his basement .

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

get out of Milwaukee .

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

A little smaller scale, but a buddy of mine has an HOA that will not allow any structures above the fence line. So no storage, sheds, etc above 5 ft.

He rented a bobcat for the day and dug down so he could put up a 10x10 with 8 ft walls.

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

i built this in the mountains of north carolina because i lived on a hillside with 11 ft walls buried 9 ft
nice thing about earth sheltered is it was always warm and my water line never froze

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/n.../PD_016349.jpg

this is the back side, i could back a pickup to this door

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/n.../PD_016334.jpg

i also built my house earth sheltered

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Hahah I did a doubletake that my name was in your signature. I'm actually asking this because I'm TRYING to get out of Milwaukee, but don't know what I'm gonna face elsewhere.

I've been looking at land up in Jackson, and apparently, they might not give 2 sh!ts...which would make this waaay easier.

Ogre- That's beautiful man, really nice setup.

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

in racine its really open and taxes are not as crazy.

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Different counties calculate roof height differently. I know mine goes by midpoint of roof, so you can get away with more overall height by doing a gambrel style roof. Have the eves be lower to pull down the average and use the additional interior height compared to a hip roof.

http://www.hayestownship.com/ordinance/figure2.gif

Gigantic image: https://www.municode.com/Api/CD/Stat...ame=AppD-1.png

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

nice!

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Brew it may not be an issue up where you live but nearly all basements/garages around here that are built underground have issues with groundwater seeping in..and its expensive to fix as well.

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Our soil is anything from limestone, to sand, to clay, to dirt. Seems like the northern part of the state has limestone which can be a curse and a blessing.

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

poor construction practices make for leaky walls
the shop i have posted is in north carolina red clay soil and never had had a leak
both my shop and home were built with proper drainage, waterproofing, gravel and footing drains

my house in michigan was built in the late 1890s and has no waterproofing
when i bought it there were no gutters, a railroad tie flower bed all the way around the house and was very wet
new gutters, downspouts, removal of the railroad tie pond structure and a little grading has given me a dry basement for 18 yrs

you can build a dry basement in any soil conditions other than a high water table :D

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Hmmmm, an underwater basement.....

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Come to CALY - you can build anything you just cant afford to live here!!!!

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

I'll move to Cali if everyone else agrees to move out ;)

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

i don't own anything but my wife's car that would pass emissions. (by visual inspection anyways)

one of the farmer's i worked for in high school had a shop built that was 6' below ground level at the floor. it had 8' concrete walls and a 20' ceiling. he built it to store any large equipment or grain. the key was keeping a grade out in front of the building to keep the water out. in his case it was accomplished with a nice arching concrete apron. i can't even begin to imagine how much it cost.

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Don't you mean Indoor pool?

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Hahaha no. Indoor pool's SUCK in houses. This is gonna come off like some 1st world problems, but indoor pools are worse than boats in terms of cost-per-benefit. You have to end up maintaining an AprilAire type humidity control system, and the pools can do massive damage to surrounding structures from dampness.

I actually had a friend in HS who's place had an olympic pool indoors, specially built...and all it did was cost upkeep and hurt the home value upon the divorce. (but I mean sh!t, it was a 20k sq ft house so I didn't feel to bad for them).

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Speaking of underground garages, here is one I remember seeing on a TV show.

http://www.cnet.com/news/a-garage-batman-would-envy/

The place in Lake Tahoe is, or was, for sale for fifty million.

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

Ogre I agree with what you are saying but I have a buddy that has spent a small fortune on a leaking basement.. his block walls are poured solid with concrete, the outside walls are coated with tar and even have tar paper stuck to it on outside, french drain around the outside at the bottom, backfilled with gravel and another french drain just below ground level and the inside walls painted with damtite. All this was done when the house was built..I couldn't believe it but he had water spraying between the blocks like it was under pressure. He had several reputable companys "fix" the problem. No luck still did the same thing. Finally they came in redid french drain around the outside, he now has 4 runs of drains around outside.on inside they sandblasted the walls and sprayed some kind of rubber coating on it and then put fiberglass sheeting on that with a glued down rubber baseboard about an inch from the wall that goes around to a sump pump that runs about all the time..his house is on top of a red dirt hill that's never had water running out of it..he's just one.. I know of a bunch more that have similar problems..may just be our area..

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

The shop I'm building is built into a hillside. The wall that's in the hillside is block that's concrete filled and is 8'8" tall. The total wall height is going to be 16' and the grade will be done away from the wall.

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

bold = Alabama ;)

Re: Anyone go underground?
 

i should clarify my statement...
you can build a dry basement in any soil conditions, a high water table basement just costs more
all those skyscrapers in ny city have basements and sub-basements that are under the water table
and trust me, they cost bucu bucks to build :D