No owner of a private country house will be against the idea of building a basement. After all, the underground not only serves as a warehouse for food supplies, but also plays an important role in the thermal insulation of the room. The only problem is that it is more difficult to dig a basement in a finished house than at the stage of building a dwelling. In addition, you need not only
make a basement with your own hands, but also protect it from moisture, which is extremely harmful not only to the foundation, but also to the safety of your supplies.
If the foundation of your house is located below the freezing level of the soil (however, it should be so), then there will be nothing complicated in earthworks. But before digging, in no case do not forget to contact a surveying company! It may happen that the ground under your house is not suitable for any kind of work at all due toshrinkage capabilities.
We'll talk about how to build a basement with our own hands today.
Digging
First, decide where the entrance to your "catacombs" will be located. Of course, it is better to make it where it will not interfere with anyone, where there will be no chance of accidentally falling into it. Starting to dig a basement with your own hands, immediately resolve the issue regarding its depth. The fact is that with large volumes of earthworks, you will have to solve the problem with the posts on which the floor logs lie. In this case, a channel or I-beams will come to the rescue, which are best laid along the walls to save space.
By the way, it's better to immediately think about where you will put all the pulled out land. It can be sent to the garden, or you can make a mound out of it.
So let's continue. After digging a pit and leveling its bottom, we pour up to 0.4 m of high-quality oily clay without organic impurities on the floor, after which it must be tamped down to the state of a stone. After that, the walls are strengthened by making brickwork or using a rammer. Then you need to wait until the clay on the floor dries, and then fill the surface with a layer of thick concrete 10 cm thick.
If it's warm outside, the material can dry out in about a week. After that, two layers of roofing material are rolled on top of it, and the sheets should be fastened together with molten bitumen. For best results, you can spread a high-quality plastic film on top. Along the walls we leave allowances of at least 15-20centimeters. When making a basement with your own hands, try to carry out all the work as carefully as possible, without rushing.
Left allowances are also firmly welded to the wall. To do this, use the same molten bitumen. To make the fastening as reliable as possible, a small retaining wall is laid out near the wall, the only purpose of which is to press the materials to the foundation. After the cement has dried in the masonry, the top of it is poured with concrete. After it dries, the entire supporting wall is carefully plastered.
Some owners are wondering how to make a basement in the garage (with their own hands, of course). In principle, the sequence of work is the same. However, there is still a slight difference, but it lies in the fact that digging deep pits should be taken much more seriously.
Now you can move on to outdoor work. A layer of molten bitumen and mastic is laid out along the base. If there is groundwater near the soil surface, then bitumen should not be used as a means for waterproofing, in this case you will need better and more modern materials. As you can see, making a basement with your own hands is not such a difficult task. The main thing is to take the work seriously and responsibly. And then you will definitely succeed!
