A couple of suggestions depending on exact circumstances.
Is there an existing concrete floor in the rest of the basement you wish to
level up to? What is it's elevation. You probably prefer to have it similar
height. That might mean some excavation or some fill.
Now poured concrete nicely bedded on crushed rock and sand would probably be
ideal but without a window to access the area that would be a filthy job. Maybe
there is reason to insert a window for light, egress and of course to allow
access to the space for the installation of a floor.
Now as for elevation, I would suggest about three inches of sand base leveled
to the thickness of 18 inch or 24 inch pre-cast patio slabs thickness below the
present floor grade. Actually another quarter inch so that the slabs can be
tamped flat and secure. You would probably not go too wrong to lay a film of
poly on the earth before the sand. It might be necessary to excavate some dirt
first. Of course now you have hauled dirt, sand and patio slabs through the
house so, why not cement?
A pressure treated floor too will last longer than you are likely to need it.
You could get away with quite narrow joists if you sunk something like 6 by 6
treated timbers, one at each edge and a third down the middle. getting them
truly level before adding the joists would take some patience, again my trick
is to excavate a little deep then fill with crushed rock the bottom of the
trench and tamp the timbers down until level then pack around them with more
stone to keep them stable and drier. Now 2 by 8 or even 2 by 6 joists on 16
inch centers would make a firm support remembering that the span will be less
than 6 feet.
If the footing timbers are above the grade a little you could even go to
engineered joists for further rigidity as they will be out of the mud then
apply decking as per usual. I understand that these days they glue the decking
down onto the engineered joists to produce a "monolithic" structure.
If the basement walls are cement block you might consider adding a window.
Modern code may require though that this be suitable for egress in case of fire
and that may be a larger window and well and more than you wanted.
Hope these are helpful ideas.
Dale leavens
If I was Han Solo I'd probably pet my wookie
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Vos
To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 7:43 PM
Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Putting in a basement floor
Are there any alternatives for a basement floor other than concrete?
We have a room in the basement with a dirt floor. It's not very usable that
way, but to get concrete down there will be tough.
There are no windows, so concrete would have to be hauled through the entry
and kitchen and down the stairs.
Or we could carry bags of Redi Mix, but it's going to take a whale of a lot
of bags to do the room. It's only about 12 feet square, but that's a lot of
lugging.
Any ideas?
Blessings,
Tom
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