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Posted: 10/9/2016 2:02:06 PM EDT
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Current gun room in the basement consists of two cement walls and two regular framed walls.
I am considering taking the two framed walls down and replacing them with cement. Has anyone else added cement walls in their basement? Is this possible? Would I have to go with cinder blocks instead? |
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How difficult is that? To pour new walls inside a basement? Quoted:
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The best would be poured walls or cinder blocks, but either would require new footings to be done correctly. How difficult is that? To pour new walls inside a basement? I want to do the same in my shop the concrete said we would have to cut. |
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Current gun room in the basement consists of two cement walls and two regular framed walls. I am considering taking the two framed walls down and replacing them with cement. Has anyone else added cement walls in their basement? Is this possible? Would I have to go with cinder blocks instead? Call up a local residential structural engineer with knowledge of local soil issues and building practices and see what they say. Or do lots of mspaint and ask again here. You didn't give much detail. ETA- of course it is possible. It just might be very expensive. |
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Cut what? The other walls? Quoted:
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I want to do the same in my shop the concrete said we would have to cut. Cut what? The other walls? Probably cut into slab and do a deeper footing. There aren't a lot of slab basements around here, though. Usually it's a crawlspace or slab with no basement. |
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Quoted:
Call up a local residential structural engineer with knowledge of local soil issues and building practices and see what they say. Or do lots of mspaint and ask again here. You didn't give much detail. Quoted:
Quoted:
Current gun room in the basement consists of two cement walls and two regular framed walls. I am considering taking the two framed walls down and replacing them with cement. Has anyone else added cement walls in their basement? Is this possible? Would I have to go with cinder blocks instead? Call up a local residential structural engineer with knowledge of local soil issues and building practices and see what they say. Or do lots of mspaint and ask again here. You didn't give much detail. I really don't know what detail I should give? |
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Quoted:
How difficult is that? To pour new walls inside a basement? Quoted:
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The best would be poured walls or cinder blocks, but either would require new footings to be done correctly. How difficult is that? To pour new walls inside a basement? depends. It's something that people do. |
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Quoted:
Call up a local residential structural engineer with knowledge of local soil issues and building practices and see what they say. Or do lots of mspaint and ask again here. You didn't give much detail. ETA- of course it is possible. It just might be very expensive. Quoted:
Quoted:
Current gun room in the basement consists of two cement walls and two regular framed walls. I am considering taking the two framed walls down and replacing them with cement. Has anyone else added cement walls in their basement? Is this possible? Would I have to go with cinder blocks instead? Call up a local residential structural engineer with knowledge of local soil issues and building practices and see what they say. Or do lots of mspaint and ask again here. You didn't give much detail. ETA- of course it is possible. It just might be very expensive. My knowledge base on construction and building is...let's call it incomplete. I'll try to find someone as you suggested and go from there. |
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I really don't know what detail I should give? Quoted:
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Current gun room in the basement consists of two cement walls and two regular framed walls. I am considering taking the two framed walls down and replacing them with cement. Has anyone else added cement walls in their basement? Is this possible? Would I have to go with cinder blocks instead? Call up a local residential structural engineer with knowledge of local soil issues and building practices and see what they say. Or do lots of mspaint and ask again here. You didn't give much detail. I really don't know what detail I should give? Description/ pics of the structure. Are you trying to replace load bearing walls or make a cement lockbox? Where are the walls you want to replace located? How old is the structure? Where is the structure? That would be a start. We don't know if you have 3 stories over the basement or one. We don't know about soil/frost issues. We don't know if your basement has a thick tension slab or a rat trap. Etc |
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Probably cut into slab and do a deeper footing. There aren't a lot of slab basements around here, though. Usually it's a crawlspace or slab with no basement. Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I want to do the same in my shop the concrete said we would have to cut. Cut what? The other walls? Probably cut into slab and do a deeper footing. There aren't a lot of slab basements around here, though. Usually it's a crawlspace or slab with no basement. The slab in the shop is floating putting that weight on the corner will bust it . He said we will have to look at what's under the slab and go from there. |
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Description/ pics of the structure. Are you trying to replace load bearing walls or make a cement lockbox? Where are the walls you want to replace located? How old is the structure? Where is the structure? That would be a start. We don't know if you have 3 stories over the basement or one. We don't know about soil/frost issues. We don't know if your basement has a thick tension slab or a rat trap. Etc The walls that are currently there, at least the 2x4 walls with drywall are not load bearing. I want a cement lockbox as you put it with a vault door. House was built in 1997. We're in Georgia and have limited issues with soil and frost. The cement walls of the basement consist of three walls, one north facing wall and then east and west, with the south wall being wood framed. The gunroom is on the north west corner of two cement walls. The other, tension slab or rat trap, I couldn't answer. All I can say is that it is concrete flooring. Helpful, right? I've got a guy coming to check it out later this week. This is not my area of expertise. Is there anything in particular I should ask? I'd be fine with a block wall, but I'm sure that isn't stronger than a poured wall and would like to explore my options. |
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You can add rebar and grout the CMU (concrete masonry unit aka "cinder block") wall solid so it is very similar to a poured in place concrete wall. It is easier to do this in place than trying to erect form work and fill it to the top to make a concrete wall. I would guess you have a 3-4" slab, so you would probably need to cut the slab beneath the new walls, excavate slightly to form a strip footer, add some rebar, and pour the concrete footer for the CMU or concrete wall to sit on. This will keep your slab from cracking and settling due to the weight.
Another less disruptive option that will slow an intruder is to line the inside of the wall with expanded wire lath or mesh, and then cover that with drywall. It won't stop a dedicated attacker with an axe, but it will slow them down. Conversely if you wanted to use your vault as a safe room, it doesn't help much there. |
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You can add rebar and grout the CMU (concrete masonry unit aka "cinder block") wall solid so it is very similar to a poured in place concrete wall. It is easier to do this in place than trying to erect form work and fill it to the top to make a concrete wall. I would guess you have a 3-4" slab, so you would probably need to cut the slab beneath the new walls, excavate slightly to form a strip footer, add some rebar, and pour the concrete footer for the CMU or concrete wall to sit on. This will keep your slab from cracking and settling due to the weight. Another less disruptive option that will slow an intruder is to line the inside of the wall with expanded wire lath or mesh, and then cover that with drywall. It won't stop a dedicated attacker with an axe, but it will slow them down. Conversely if you wanted to use your vault as a safe room, it doesn't help much there. This man is on the path of what you seek. Adding concrete/block walls, properly, will be very cost ineffective. You would be much better off taking the two walls down to studs. Add studs in between existing studs, lace the studs with rebar every 1-2 feet with sections of rebar, and then add a pipe around the rebar. Add security mesh steel, 3/4" plywood, then drywall. You'll come out on top money-wise, and have a good solid wall. Now some things to consider, what is above the room? Doesn't do much good if you spend 10 grand on walls and doors, when they just have to use a Sawzall and cut through the floor on the level above. Another thing to consider, is your collection/items stored in this room, really worth the price it's going to cost to do all this work? If you have just a couple ARs and handguns, you might want to consider getting a safe, and I don't mean a RSC. If you have multiple MGs, high even scopes, NVG, gold bars, etc etc, then I would definitely suggest a real safe, along with upgrading the walls and figuring out something with the ceiling (in which you'll be extremely limited in). |
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Is your basement walk out? Do you have a large door?
If so, you can consider getting rather the steel walk in vaults or look at shipping containers provided you have the space to maneuver one in. You can go for the block walls and pour them, but you'll need footers which needs to be cut and dug into the existing concrete floor. There really is no easy way to do it right, no cheap way either. I think I would much rather go with the shipping container vaults or the steel modular vault systems out there. |
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just read through this thread for the first time.
Made me wonder, what will be above? After you pour the concrete walls are you going to have a ceiling which is the subfloor to the floor above? Will it be all wood? Seems a reciprocal saw and 5 minutes and i'm in your vault from the floor above? |
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Quoted: just read through this thread for the first time. Made me wonder, what will be above? After you pour the concrete walls are you going to have a ceiling which is the subfloor to the floor above? Will it be all wood? Seems a reciprocal saw and 5 minutes and i'm in your vault from the floor above? I am in the same situation. Due to the low ceiling in my basement, I took 1/4" steel plate and bolted it to angle iron in the walls to make a ceiling. I had it sheared into 2' wide sections so its easier to handle. At the seams, I welded 1/4x4" flat bar to one side and bolted it to the other. I used 5/16" self taping bolts so it cant be taken apart from the outside. |
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