Salem, Utah Basement Walkout Entry
Hello, Caleb with Dansie Design Build. Today, I wanted to show you a project we are helping to finish; a basement walkout in Salem, Utah, and we are here helping to get the header fixed and install the beam since it still needs to be installed.
Potential Home Foundation Crack Concerns
I also wanted to discuss how your home’s foundation can crack and have problems if you don’t get the construction order done correctly or if you need engineering if necessary. So, we have another video on determining if you need to get the header engineered if you’re going to be disturbing that.
Turning the Window into a Basement Walkout Entry Way
So where the window used to be is a walkout entry doorway now, and you can tell that it was a window because there’s a shape in the concrete and some silicone left over from where they sealed the window. And essentially, they cut the bottom open; they didn’t cut it much. And then, at the top, we had to do a little bit of grinding. So we’ll have to do more to fit that beam for the structural header.
Structural Header
But essentially, there’s no reinforcement. You can see two pieces of rebar; those are cut, so this header here is effectively not reinforced, and several cracks have been forming over the last few months and into the winter, where this is wholly fractured. So there are five places where it’s cracked. So this needs to be reinforced and should have been before the concrete cutting happened.
How to Install a Structural Header for a Basement Walkout Entry
So we were able to get the new beam installed today. And the way we did it was:
- We first put it in place and jacked it up with a bottle jack.
- Then we got it up and lifted it into place with wooden four-by-fours.
- Then we put grout in so it’s structural and the space between the existing concrete and the new beam, so that’s filled in.
- And lastly, we grout around the edges where the bolts are and finished it off with Sika caulk to ensure that any water doesn’t end up down in the piece of the channel in the future.
Contact Dansie Design Build
It turned out great today, and now this walkout is structurally good to go for a long time. So you can contact us to schedule a consultation if you need help with your basement walkout entry, finish your basement, or remodel your home. So thank you for your time today, and have a wonderful week.
