# How to make a walk out basement?



## jomama45 (Nov 13, 2008)

If your in a region that gets any kind of frost in the ground, you will need additional foundation depth. The most cost effective & feasible way to do this IMO is to add on a small addition in this area with proper frost walls, rather than under-pin the existing foundation.


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## wildcat (Oct 24, 2008)

jomama45 said:


> If your in a region that gets any kind of frost in the ground, you will need additional foundation depth. The most cost effective & feasible way to do this IMO is to add on a small addition in this area with proper frost walls, rather than under-pin the existing foundation.


Great idea. I will add that I have seen additions like this simply be for a staircase on that side of the home. The one I'm thinking of had the stairs access the kitchen area of the first floor of the home. Then the landing area of those stairs at the basement was large enough for a simple mud room. It was a great addition to this home because because there was no access from the first floor of the home to the back yard other than from stairs on a small deck that was only accessed from the master bed room.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Walk out - level?
Or stairs that you will have to walk up?
If there isn't any dirt in front of that window then the foundation should already extend down past the frost line. If ther eis dirt there then most likely the foundation does not extend down far enough past the frost line once you dig out

One house in the basement they put a window in when a door was required. They simply cut the concrete & put a door in (4-5 steps to walk up). That was 30 years ago, not sure if they (builder) verified the foundation 1st


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

I'm confused by the replies.

You have a window in the basement, you want to change it into a door, to walk out of?

Is that correct, if not please explain, thank you. Be safe, GBAR


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## kimmieandtco (Apr 20, 2009)

I realize now that I was not as clear as I should have been. We have a window in the basement. There is no door and I want to put a door in. But there is concrete under the window. It seems that there is plenty of room to have cut out the foundation and put in a door in that area. Meaning, there would be no steps necessary. From the outside of the house you would just walk into the basement. So we would need to cut through the foundation right below the window to make the room for the door. The foundation then continues deeper than where the door would lie and that is below the frost line. The property basically drops off in the back of the house versus the front of the house. So it seems there was ample room to make a walkout but for some reason they didn't. So that is what we want to do now. Does that make sense?


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## jomama45 (Nov 13, 2008)

As long as your saying the siding (outside) goes all the way down to the basement floor level, it should be a fairly simple job.


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

> So that is what we want to do now. Does that make sense?


Ayuh,... It should be a piece of cake to cut out a bigger hole,+ install a Door...

Call your contractor...


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