ᐅ House extends above ground level – how much soil can be backfilled (with shallow basement)?
Created on: 15 Oct 2022 19:11
M
Machu Picchu
Hello everyone,
we are now in the final phase of our house construction.
Because the sewage system on our property is not far below ground level and we did not install a sewage lift system, our basement was only excavated to a shallow depth.
The ceiling height of the basement rooms is 2.50m (8 feet 2 inches), as these areas are intended to be living spaces, unlike the neighboring houses, whose basement heights are lower.
As a result, our front door and the two patio doors are positioned much higher than those of the neighboring houses. In the next few days, soil will be filled up to the level of the terrace and front doors.
I do not want this to turn into a discussion about different construction methods; instead, I am looking for advice on how to best handle this somewhat unusual situation.
First, some photos:
Marked in red are the two patio doors. Soil will be filled up to just below these patio doors, except, of course, at light wells and shafts. The terrace will be paved around the corner, following the two indicated patio doors (because we wanted two sunny sides on the terrace for different times of the day). To the left of the single-leaf patio door (where the exterior plaster ends), a retaining wall will be built from the terrace level down to the ground.
This is a front view. On the left, the construction staircase leads up to the entrance door. The front door is at the same level as the two patio doors.
Here is the view from the back.
This is the view from the back toward the front door.
And here is another rear view including the neighboring houses.
As planned, as mentioned, soil will be filled up to the level of the house and terrace doors, and at this level the garden will be designed on the side of the large double patio door as well as behind the house, with steep slopes created just before the property boundary.
On the front door side, soil will also be filled up to front door level.
Toward the "front" (the side with the single patio door), the street level will be reached by terrace-like steps with 2-3 slope terraces supported by walls/granite.
Our concern now is: if we fill soil all around the house at door level on the side with the double patio door, at the back, and on the front door side, our garden height will be so high that, compared to the neighbors, our house will stand out significantly due to the very elevated ground level.
We are now considering ways to soften this.
One idea is to fill soil to door level only at the terrace wrapping the corner and directly at the front door, and to fill soil, for example, 50cm (20 inches) below door level everywhere else.
This way, the garden level would not be so dramatically higher than the neighbors’.
The problem with this is that we would partially expose the "basement" and areas without exterior plaster would become visible. We would likely need to hire a plasterer on our own to plaster additional areas and paint them with gray base paint. Time is tight because the soil will be delivered for filling within the next days/weeks. How long would such plastering take and what would it approximately cost?
Question to the forum: What do you think about this? Do you have other solutions? Or are our concerns unfounded?
Thank you very much in advance for any advice.
we are now in the final phase of our house construction.
Because the sewage system on our property is not far below ground level and we did not install a sewage lift system, our basement was only excavated to a shallow depth.
The ceiling height of the basement rooms is 2.50m (8 feet 2 inches), as these areas are intended to be living spaces, unlike the neighboring houses, whose basement heights are lower.
As a result, our front door and the two patio doors are positioned much higher than those of the neighboring houses. In the next few days, soil will be filled up to the level of the terrace and front doors.
I do not want this to turn into a discussion about different construction methods; instead, I am looking for advice on how to best handle this somewhat unusual situation.
First, some photos:
Marked in red are the two patio doors. Soil will be filled up to just below these patio doors, except, of course, at light wells and shafts. The terrace will be paved around the corner, following the two indicated patio doors (because we wanted two sunny sides on the terrace for different times of the day). To the left of the single-leaf patio door (where the exterior plaster ends), a retaining wall will be built from the terrace level down to the ground.
This is a front view. On the left, the construction staircase leads up to the entrance door. The front door is at the same level as the two patio doors.
Here is the view from the back.
This is the view from the back toward the front door.
And here is another rear view including the neighboring houses.
As planned, as mentioned, soil will be filled up to the level of the house and terrace doors, and at this level the garden will be designed on the side of the large double patio door as well as behind the house, with steep slopes created just before the property boundary.
On the front door side, soil will also be filled up to front door level.
Toward the "front" (the side with the single patio door), the street level will be reached by terrace-like steps with 2-3 slope terraces supported by walls/granite.
Our concern now is: if we fill soil all around the house at door level on the side with the double patio door, at the back, and on the front door side, our garden height will be so high that, compared to the neighbors, our house will stand out significantly due to the very elevated ground level.
We are now considering ways to soften this.
One idea is to fill soil to door level only at the terrace wrapping the corner and directly at the front door, and to fill soil, for example, 50cm (20 inches) below door level everywhere else.
This way, the garden level would not be so dramatically higher than the neighbors’.
The problem with this is that we would partially expose the "basement" and areas without exterior plaster would become visible. We would likely need to hire a plasterer on our own to plaster additional areas and paint them with gray base paint. Time is tight because the soil will be delivered for filling within the next days/weeks. How long would such plastering take and what would it approximately cost?
Question to the forum: What do you think about this? Do you have other solutions? Or are our concerns unfounded?
Thank you very much in advance for any advice.
M
Machu Picchu15 Oct 2022 22:4311ant schrieb:
and the MINUSTHREEMETERS of the inspection chamber cover height were obviously deliberately overlooked.In what way do you think something here (what exactly?) was overlooked?
askforafriend15 Oct 2022 22:51I just don’t understand how this could have been planned at all. The basement is designed way too high, plain and simple. This would have been a level, very standard plot—really cheap to build on. Maybe it could have been compensated for on the back side, okay. But extra costs (completely unnecessary extra costs) are accepted (stairs that aren’t needed, walls, etc.) just because no lifting station was “commissioned”? What does that even mean? How can you allow this to happen to you? I’m really sorry, but doing it this way is going to cost a lot of money—you have to carry on with the planner’s mess now. Minus times minus might still turn out okay for you, though. What a shame. 🙁 So my advice is: stick to the plan, it can’t get any “better” than this!
This just can’t be true. Really awful. 🙁
This just can’t be true. Really awful. 🙁
W
WilderSueden15 Oct 2022 22:56Machu Picchu schrieb:
Profile of the side with the double-wing terrace door:
I see a basement that protrudes about two-thirds above ground level at the front. There is an outlined staircase with four steps, which is clearly less than half the height of the fill. How the client could accept this is beyond me. Be that as it may, you will have to get out there again... Given the budget, I don’t expect any filling. Not so much because of the fill itself, but you would then have to retain 2m (6.5 ft) on all sides and in some places you would have very limited space. The retaining walls would be very expensive. I would consider maybe adding about one meter (3.3 ft) of fill and then accessing the house via small exterior stairs.
M
Machu Picchu15 Oct 2022 22:59askforafriend schrieb:
Additional costs (unnecessary additional costs) are accepted (stairs that aren’t needed, walls, etc.) because a lifting system wasn’t “ordered”? What does that mean? How can you let something like that happen to you? During the planning phase a year ago, a lifting system was mentioned but was quickly dismissed by both the general contractor and us because we unanimously preferred the alternative of raising the house, similar to the neighboring houses, plus the retaining wall. (However, we didn’t expect to be that much higher than the neighbors—that only became clear after completion.) At that time, the general idea was that by leaving out the lifting system, we would save money and end up at a similar level as the neighbors.
M
Myrna_Loy15 Oct 2022 23:02WilderSueden schrieb:
I would consider adding about one meter (3 feet) of fill and then accessing the house with small exterior steps.And plan the stairs to the terrace as seating steps, possibly including planter boxes. I would never fill up to the full planned height! That would be too much work for a garden that ends up completely unattractive, and understandably upset neighbors who have to look at retaining walls. Also, with the carefully maintained espalier fruit trees on the neighbor’s entrance side, I predict lasting hostility if you add 2 meters (6.5 feet) of fill there.One wonders what they’re drinking in that planning office. Probably paint thinner.
askforafriend15 Oct 2022 23:11Machu Picchu schrieb:
During the planning phase a year ago, the lifting system was mentioned, but it was quickly dismissed by both the general contractor and us since we all preferred the alternative of raising the house, similar to the neighboring houses, plus the retaining wall. (However, we didn’t expect to be significantly higher than the neighbors—that only became clear after completion).
At the time, the general idea was that by leaving out the lifting system, we would save costs and end up at the same level as the neighbors. So you never visited the site even once? Was there no construction diary? You really have a lot to blame yourselves for. I honestly doubt this story, sorry. Don’t you have any plans showing the elevations? What kind of general contractor is this? Is this their first project? Have you even looked up the costs for lifting systems? And retaining walls? Landscaping? You considered lifting the basement and building retaining walls cheaper than a lifting system? What was the purpose of the system anyway? Now you don’t even have living space (you basically have no natural light despite the open space around). Honestly, no one can help here.
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