Washington DC/Baltimore

[nativeoutsider]

Hello all,

A portion of my basement is finished, and the major barrior of making the rest of the basement finished is the elevated concrete floor, which allows only about 6 ft of headroom while standing up  (problematic since I'm 6'5).  

I've read that increasing the hieght in most basements is a major task since a lot of people have to dig into the ground and mess with the footings, however in my case, it would simply be to get rid of the thick layer of concrete and make it even with the finished portion of the basement.

So how hard would it be to chisel out the elevated concrete in the basement?  I'm assuming a jackhammer would have to to be used.  Would this be really expensive, and what are the potential problems?  Would  it have any affect on the structure of the house or problems with flooding?

Thanks!

[RFAddict]

I would try to determine the underlying reason for why the slab is thicker in that area, or if just elevated due to the ground beneath it.  Do you know?

[nativeoutsider]

I'm not sure, it seems that whoever renovated the house a few years ago was only interested in finishing a portion of the basement, and layed a thick layer of concrete on the rest.  A contractor who happened to be working on a house nearly identical to mine next door said that the basements were originally just dirt, with no concrete. 

[Brookworld]

I vaguely recall something about 7 ft min. if the space is for legal rental.