04-22-2025, 12:22 PM
Our Wisconsin house, built in 1940, is undergoing a big renovation. Some previous owners turned an original tuck-under 1 car garage into living space. The house foundation and garage floor at the original garage opening left concrete in a U shape, with a concrete (slab?) foundation and poured concrete house foundation on either side.
Like this (looking into the opening of the old garage):
Their original plan was to fill the _end_ of the crawl space with framing, sheathing, etc, then cover with siding (which would go lower than the siding on the rest of the side of the house to the right). The plan also called for adjusting the surrounding grade so that it doesn’t slope _toward_ the house, as it does now. But we pointed out that this would leave the bottom of the siding and underlying framing under ground.
So they came up with a plan for this 8 foot wide space involving multiple layers of treated lumber, sheathing, wrap and a waterproof barrier under the siding, additional cost ~$3500. This still leaves the regraded dirt up against the siding. The cost is not a problem, but we asked Couldn’t we just fill this 8 foot opening with maybe two rows of concrete block to match the remaining (house) foundation (to the right)?
They say no, that the old tuck-under garage floor is subject to frost heave so they can’t lay block on it (by code? Or just a bad idea?) We pointed out that this is a 80 year old house, and the garage floor hasn’t heaved yet.
Any opinions?
Like this (looking into the opening of the old garage):
Their original plan was to fill the _end_ of the crawl space with framing, sheathing, etc, then cover with siding (which would go lower than the siding on the rest of the side of the house to the right). The plan also called for adjusting the surrounding grade so that it doesn’t slope _toward_ the house, as it does now. But we pointed out that this would leave the bottom of the siding and underlying framing under ground.
So they came up with a plan for this 8 foot wide space involving multiple layers of treated lumber, sheathing, wrap and a waterproof barrier under the siding, additional cost ~$3500. This still leaves the regraded dirt up against the siding. The cost is not a problem, but we asked Couldn’t we just fill this 8 foot opening with maybe two rows of concrete block to match the remaining (house) foundation (to the right)?
They say no, that the old tuck-under garage floor is subject to frost heave so they can’t lay block on it (by code? Or just a bad idea?) We pointed out that this is a 80 year old house, and the garage floor hasn’t heaved yet.
Any opinions?