Victorian basement: lowering brick floor

[iantresman]

1. Our basement could do with an extra 6-inches of height. The floor is bricked, and the bottom of the walls (also brick) form a double-step (like a pyramid) with the floor:
[code:1]
| --- Brick wall
|_
|_
|___Brick floor___[/code:1]
Is it a simple matter of removing the brick floor layer, and excavating 6-inches, or do the bricks act as "keystones", the removing of which could cause collapse of the house?

2. Our basement seems to go only halfway under our living room; the basement wall is not load-bearing (only floor-board joists). Could this be demolished, and the basement extended under the rest of the living room?

Regards,
Ian Tresman

 

[Static]

1) No, the brick steping may well be the foundations.
2) " the basement wall is not load-bearing (only floor-board joists)." Urm something sits ontop of the wall = loadbearing. If you removed the wall the floor would fall down. Youll need to provide alternative support for the floor joists if you plan to remove the wall.

 

[carryoncamping]

DONT'T remove the stepped bricks! They are the footings for the house.

My mother-in-law's neighbour did as you are proposing and caused subsidence in her house. (Her's is a victorian terrace)

 

[Static]

No they MAY be the footings

 

[carryoncamping]

No they MAY be the footings

Oh alright MAY be the footings, Mr Clevercloggs!

Before the concrete footings became common place 1920s onward, brick footings such as those described were very common.

My mother-in-laws are just like it.