My Autumn and Winter project

[Tom F]

Well my wife is finally getting me to fix-up our basement. I've been dragging my feet because it isn't just making pretty rooms; the block walls are cracked and lean in. When I returned home last Spring the largest gap was open 3/8 inches (2 1/2 inch bowed-in), last week it was down to 3/16 (1 1/4 inch bowed-in) and now it's closed.

I got three estimates: $3,600 for plates, $5,000 for I-beams and $5,600 for installing a concrete wall on the outside. Without digging the dirt away the first two would not work. I have a four foot diameter tree which roots (some of the roots were fourteen inch diameter) were pushing against the walls, plus bad drainage and clay.

I did it myself using the I-beams and digging out the dirt. I hired three boys from our church who were raising money for a Mission trip; I gave them each $10.00 an hour. My total cost: boys labor - $485.00, three cans of spray paint $2.37, bolts and lag screws $30.00, welding and torching supplies maybe $20.00 and the angle iron and I-beams were free. I saved enough on fixing the wall to cover the whole rest of the remodeling.

The first picture shows the cracks, the second shows them closed up and close up pictures of the beam. On the other side of the basement it even got tighter and the crack can't be seen at all.