I have in laws that never touch a thing on their house. Everything is just done for them etc. They are those types of people and there are many. I don’t get it? But they exist lol
Ikr…. Did they not have the place inspected before they bought the property? If they did…. Did the inspector just miss this entire room? Is it not on the plans either… which should be filed with the county? Im so confused.
Tom ..... as a homeowner of a 120 year old 3 brick thick 3 story with full basement and 10foot attic..... 2 basement rooms with dirt floors the other 4 concrete finished.... For goodness sake finish his basement floor while you have easy access to it thru the garage!!! it will be usable space even if just storage.
Yep thinking the same the easy access it's now or never. Owner probably freaking on the added cost on everything but a couple of yrs from now he won't regret it imo.
Good point. Crawl-spaces, and basement areas without poured floors should be illegal. It just causes future problems. Rodents getting in being one of them.
That was an excellent example for needing a contract with the clause, "Contractor is not responsible for hidden situation". I can't tell you how many times that clause has saved my bacon. Great video Tom thumbs up. Merry Christmas to all of your crew and your family.
I find it hard to believe the homeowners didn't know about this room. Two vents going thru a cinder block wall and a sheet of plywood with vents on it.
when we bought our house, the previous owner had a micro kitchen in a small part of the house built. The vent for the stove was in the wall rather then above the stove. We never thought to look behind it because it's just a vent, we figured it just piped up and out to the side. well, when we decided to get rid of the kitchen and turn it into a laundry room, we found that behind the vent were the old plumbing for what used to be a laundry room before LOL. this whole time we were dreading having to get a plumber to do new piping and when the vent cover was popped it blew everyone away, including the plumbers. You get so preoccupied with everything else in the house that is right in your face that sometimes, even if you are good on maintenance, you just wait to deal with it when you need to.
You guys never falter quality for quantity. You mentioned you had to go back to Engineering, well done. The homeowner should be very appreciative that you guys will do everything like it should have been done originally. Well done Team Haus’!
Probably already been said, but would be an excellent place for a tornado shelter/ safe room. I would have definitely poured the floor while they had great access without having to go through the house. If nothing else, great storage.
And DON'T TELL THE WIFE. Just say "it got complicated", and they need to do something in the basement, then pour that basement floor, fix the air handling, add a pit with a removable cover, add a bunch of electric, a kegerator or two, a 90" TV and build yourself a man cave with access to the underbody of a car in one of the bays.
@@gordonblank6845 exactly, by the looks of the home, it seems they probably could afford to do it, doesn’t seem smart not to, who wants a pump hose running through their house later, people don’t realize what a mess that can be.
I found a slat window in my wall next to front door. It explains the rattle in the wall when the front door is closed. And I found a wallet with $600 in the garage.
@@mickwolf1077 not found any cash myself unfortunately, but I did find a big 1x1m block of concrete when I was under the floorboards. Turned out to be a big safe with access under a bedroom floorboard stamped year 1681! (It's a big old house here in the UK, think double cavity all brick and stone with 0.5m slates on the roof!)
@@breadturbo I'm restoring an 1880s house in the Scottish Highlands. It has a blocked up window in the back wall that is lower than the rest of the ground floor windows. It lines up with the side of the staircase in the hall so I'm half convinced the house has a celler with steps going down from the hall. I'll find out when I lift the floorboards....
@@farmerbill6855 Your right there, They need an Cival Engineer on the job to check those 2 beams running across the width of the 2 bays of the garage, The post supports holding up the Beams and the foundations under these posts, The center pier between the 2 Garage Doors and the outerpiers have to be checked to insure they can carry the load from above, I see 2 "I" Beams running from the back wall to the front of the house above the Garage Doors which are likely holding up the floors aand the Roof of this house, Stop the work and talk to the owner before doing any more work, otherwise you will be responsible for a long list of items which you dont need, Just a bit of advice fromm a retired Construction Superintend and Building Inspector.
Anybody that thinks concrete work is just forms, rebar and concrete should be shown this video. Your crew is beyond exceptional.I’ll be looking forward to the next round. Merry Christmas to your whole crew.
My mom's parents had a similar type of floor in their garage, with the laundry room directly under it. Once they started noticing water runoff from cars seeping through, they quit parking in the garage and left it mostly empty. I don't know if there were structural defects as serious as these in the video, but it obviously wasn't quite right.
8:20 it astounds me that people can live in a house and not explore every nook and cranny. Maybe it's because I'm in the UK and the small houses here (900sqft average modern size) it would be hard to miss something this big. 😂 Looking forward to see how it turns out. 👍
As a contractor, these are the jobs I have actual nightmares about! Add in a tight schedule and you have the recipe for a nervous breakdown. Good on you for handling it like a true professional!
That’s a grow room, would almost guarantee it. Short of the massive outlets required, heat from parked vehicles would mask a great deal of the IR signature.
Yes that is definitely a grow room. I'm sure we're not teaching anybody anything. The floor above the room is been to radiate the heat above. And the garage, I hope they never parked a car in there, is meant to be an airspace above that grow. And the roof of the garage conceals it all.
Lacks sufficient HVAC/electrical/plumbing for a proper grow room op… likely a custom built home - not being a drug user, my immediate thought was that it was laid out as future garage expansion should the then initial home owner decide to add storage capacity within the same footprint - most people I know that have a few vehicle toys instead build the garage 18’ and install tandem auto lifts to double up their parking capacity… home was probably built in 2000 or there about, the current hone-ready hydraulic parking lift tech wasn’t really a thing back then - what I don’t understand is assuming the current owners aren’t the original owners, how could they buy it w/out seeing the local tax authority bldg specs!? The local bldg inspection process would note constructed space be it finished or unfinished… something ain’t right here…. Just sayin
The homeowners should be counting their blessings that they have you and your crew on this job. I can only imagine how horrible it could have been for them if they had the wrong contractor working on this. You guys do amazing work. I love watching what you do. Merry Christmas to all. Dave
best owner's solurtion? . . . concrete slab floor in the lower room (call a plumber about draining the space?) . . . new garage floor . . . stairway to below? . . . too much space to just waste. [ and get the air hooked up to keep the space dry and to prevent the room from becoming a deathtrap if the air goes bad! ]
Oh my Tom!!! There is not a better qualified crew to deal with a problem like this. Merry Christmas to you and all your gang. Thanks for doing the good work.
That was a big surprise. More expensive but you have to admit, that is a cool room that you could do a lot with. Good to see no one got hurt. Dropping one of those machines through the floor could have really hurt someone.
Saw your appearance on Outdoors with the Morgans and could not wait to see what you found. What a find== looks like it could have been a bomb shelter or survival room but was not finnished. Now with your find and expert eye could turn this into a plus for your customer.
Neat find. I saw something similar to this when I worked for a plumbing contractor years ago. Went to an unassuming rambler to deliver some parts to the plumber on site. He was workin down in the basement and said I wouldn't believe what was down there. Sure enough it turned out there was a swimming pool underneath the garage floor. You'd never suspect it by standing in the garage.
Wow, you definitely opened a can of worms on this job! The homeowner is lucky he contracted with you and crew to rehab his garage floor. Can't wait to see how this project goes. Happy Holidays to you all!!
I have a room just like that under my 2.5 car garage. The builder put a full door opening into it. It is my hobby room/tornado shelter. My favorite room in the house!
Wow, that is insane. I am always surprised when a homeowner doesn't know something "important" like this about their house, but you showed a lot of patience adapting to it. I suspect a tap test on the floor would have revealed that it was a poured deck, but I never would have thought to check for that.
@@RayleighCriterion This happens ALL the time. One guy even lived in a secret section of a house for years before the daughter heard a guy snoring on the other side of her wall! They caught the guy for tresspasing and found out he was a previous owner himself who fell on some hard times so he had the time to set it perfectly, out of sight out of mind.
@@RayleighCriterion That is part of what bothers me, they should know about stuff like this. Especially since there was one of those el-cheapo fire-hazard dehumidifiers down there plugged into an outlet. That probably hasn't worked for years.
@@Lumber_Jack at least that's pretty close to a fire proof room. Only thing to burn is the plastic sheeting, but with the lack of ventilation, it may put itself out before it gets going enough to burn through the plywood door.
Amazes me that the homeowners were not aware of this or was not disclosed from prior owner. I also get surprised how in-curious some folks are and not thoroughly explore what they have bought. Not a old house either. Over my ownership, I have either been into or looked into every cranny in my house and still get surprised when I open up a wall (100yr old house).
I think I told you this story before, but I worked on a job where the homeowner heard a noise in the middle of the night and went to investigate. To his surprise when he walked through the door to his garage, he dropped about 8 feet and landed beside his car and 2 motorcycles. He got a little banged up but ended up more shocked than anything. Turns out who ever put in the suspended slab had used old mobile home trailer beams for the supports and they eventually rusted and failed. The nice part was that we didn't have to haul out the old concrete and we filled it in and poured a new floor.
This was used as cannibis plantation perhaps. In a nearby neirborhood, the contractors stalled the project for a year....he was growing weed in those houses for a year and then finished the houses
Wow. I mean wow. Who would have ever expected that. This is a big job. Looking forward to seeing the next chapter. Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas.
True professionals with integrity like Tom & crew do exactly what Tom said; Band together, figure out a solution, keep the homeowner informed & move forward. They don't take advantage of the homeowner on the added costs. They need to charge for the additional costs plus their normal profit & overhead. Been in predicaments of major cost overruns b/4, usually most clients have to take the most cost effective solution. Like in this case. If $ were not as much a concern, a set of enclosed stairs going down into this room from the least used bay as it would have taken about 4' from depth of garage & of course pouring the floor below would have given a ton of uses for the space. I would agree that in the not to distant future, they will be kicking themselves for not biting the bullet. Most home owners that I dealt with would never have known about the space either. A good buyers inspection may have found this room though. The building officials would have ok'd the structural construction of this, so its not a liability of the original builder. Looks like he did it right except for the leaky floor drains. "Just sayin"..... From a retired contractor of 35+ years. Lastly.. Another great job by Tom & crew! Merry Christmas to all!!!
My cousin new house was like this as well. The garage floor had a 4ft space under it. The garage floor actually collapsed about 2 months after they moved in, totalling there car. Luckily it was at night when they were sleeping, and not in the garage when it happened
Unbelievable! I wonder how many years the homeowner lived there and had no idea the room was there! Obviously, a previous occupant did since there was a dehumidifier in that room. Great job helping that homeowner work through this surprise!
I worked in a new home like 20 years ago and it had something quite similar. I figured they were gonna use it as a panic room of some sorts. The concrete was finished and the walls were poured and thicker than normal. The basement was deeper than any I had ever seen also. twenty plus steps from the floor above. I do tile by trade and was a helper at the time and had to go in the basement to get water for the job.
WOW. A safe crew is a happy crew. Good job preparing the support walls in the room so you can get your demo done. That was one irresponsible contractor that put that basement room in. Great content. Stay safe.
Very professional tradesmen. If that were my house, my curious nature would have led me to investigate that panel blanking off the entrance to the hidden room as soon as I moved in. It appears the builders did everything right including encapsulating the floor.
That is so 'Twlight Zone' finding an unknown room underneath the garage. Maybe that was intended as a panic-room to hide in, with that thin concrete it would be useless for using as a fall-out shelter (from an atomic attack). However, need to hide from someone that room might be rather useful. I don't see how a basement below the garage would even be in line with code compliance. Your Crew totally ROCK's!
WOW what a nightmare for the homeowner. I hope that they appreciate having called the right crew for the job. Great video Tom, as always. Happy Holidays to you, family and crew!
you would think a void under the garage would need to be mentioned in the home ownership papers because if that floor was to fail the car would go with it in this case your machine and people this is something where i would think the original builder would need to fess up for and explain this being kept from even the original home owner. Also i would think this could raise their home owners insurance as well as car insurance cause look where your parking lol.
They way we demo bridge decks is hammer 4 holes in the slab. Run cables though and hook it up to the hoe and saw cut it and lift it out in chunks. May come in handy next time you run into this. great video
being dutch i know a bit about cannabis and it looks to me that it could have verry well been used as an indoor grow room for weed a space of about 1,40 meter by 1,40 meter can hold about 25 plants under a 600 watt grow lamp wish with the style of indoor growing they use here would be making about 4000 euro in buds per 6 to 7 weeks per 1.4 by 1,40 meter , now do this times the space you have there staggering the grow and bloom cycle to spread the workload (planting growing cutting drying trimming the buds) and using all the space under there wouldve earned them enough money to live pretty comfortable if under the fear of getting caught and going to jail might still be able to find some proof of that if you start looking for stuff like 5 finger leaves in the dirt , maibe rockwool blocks where they grow the plants in or , flowerpots , black mulch soil with perlite in it , bits of fishing line or other wire that they use to hold the plants up , pieces of electric wire hanging from the ceiling after they took off the lights , one inch black plastic waterline , spraypens , pond foil , or electric fans carbon filters extraction fans submersable pumps timers .... depending on how mush of a hurry they where or if they didnt minded leaving traces of their illegal hobby
Thank goodness that you did not fall through and nobody was seriously hurt. Totally shocked that there was something like this built and was up to code. If I found out my house had that I would want an oil change bay. But that is just me. Take advantage of the room to ease working on cars.
Great channel. So glad Mike Morgan recommended it when you were about to do his shop. Last week, when you said watch your next episode on his channel, I didn’t expect this. WOW!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, your family and the crew. God Bless and best wishes on the future of your Channel.
Suspended garages aren’t uncommon, but I can’t say this was done correctly. Here in the PNW we generally do 4” reinforcement concrete over plastic, over 1 1/8” marine decking over 2x12 PT joists. Cool find though.
I'm really wondering if with that sort of a structure, if one was standing on the garage floor when a vehicle entered it, would one feel structural flexion such as that on a bridge or if the structure of that floor was so rigid that it didn't flex at all even as a vehicle entered the garage. If it did exhibit some play, that would certainly have been a dead giveaway to the owner that the concrete wasn't resting flat on the ground but that it was above a void space and supported by some sort of structural beams. I know it would have caused one of my eyebrows to raise if I ever felt that sort of thing in a garage.
Damn I'd KILL to find a room like that under my house to suddenly use for storage. That homeowner is lucky. Also if it were my house I'd make an entrance through the garage floor down to that room if code allows.
Wow!! At least you didn't go thru the floor before you found that room under it!! Glad to see the home owner keeping it, maybe next year they will have you come back and pour a floor down there!! Merry Christmas from West Virginia!!
Wow! What a surprise! So nice to see your professional crew handle it so well! I'm completely baffled though as to why the original builder would have gone to the trouble to build the space then never finish it or apparently use it for anything. A significant cost for no apparent reason.
(I work in demolition for a commercial gc) similar thing happened to us. Saturday work, OT, supposed to be a chill day. small building in the back of a warehouse. they wanted us to break around one of the columns, expose/dig down to the bottom of the footing. just exploratory work for now. well once we got a score cut, we started hammering away with a bobcat. i noticed the pieces were disappearing. eventually a big enough piece broke off into the void where I stopped the operator so we can see what was going on, and sure enough same situation here, except they were spancrete panels, with maybe an extra 4" of concrete, with what seemed to be post tensioned cables running through the cores. there was about a foot of water at the bottom. mind you we had a full sized bobcat in here along with about 4 scissor lifts doing misc. demo. after a few months they ended up filling the entire thing with concrete and moved on with the rest of the work. fun stuff!😵💫
I've seen this before, under the old library building of my local community college. A water main had cracked years, possibly decades, before, and there was a massive cavern underneath the foundation. It was really down to the over-engineering with the thickness of the concrete that it held together. The pipe was repaired and the cavern was filled in. The building is now used for classrooms.
Tom, without going into specific numbers I'm curious of the difference in cost between filling it in or keeping the room. Filling it in wouldn't have been cheap either, but would it have been 1/3 the cost of keeping it or 1/2 the cost? I would have wanted to keep it too, hard to imagine that this room wasn't in the sellers disclosure. Also hard to imagine that there wasn't a full size door to that room unless the original owner wanted it to be a secret room. Hope you and all the crew have a happy and safe holiday.
Rooms like that are built and blocked off from inspector view. We did several in Jersey over the years. Had that one been done correctly; it could have served as a doomsday shelter.
Wow, what a find. I found two sealed off spaces large enough to be small rooms/ large closets (one at each end of the house) when replacing a ceiling. Their purpose was to prevent any slanted ceilings upstairs despite the rear of the second floor being one big dormer, but I had absolutely no idea they were there until the ceiling came out. Pretty good carpentry for a crew of concrete guys btw!
Wow, what a nightmare to deal with. Y'all handled it with grace! I can't wait to see the finished project. I sure wish you were in TN!!! I've never seen any concrete workmanship like yours. Thank you for sharing! Merry Christmas to you, your family and your crew!
I can only imagine a lesser company would have just patched over the mess and called it good. You do quality work and I hope your reputation in that community is well known.
If I didn't know what was happening already I would have been suspicious with how easily thats concrete was breaking apart. That was very thin concrete.
@Concrete with the Hauses The only thing I'd say from this video is I'm not sure the wood framing was adequate enough to hold the equipment. But What you saw is pretty normal for these crawlspaces under garages. Almost never enough support and always has drainage issues. I'll leave the concrete replacement up to your expertise. I will say you might want to have the customer call their local Basement Systems dealer to properly encapsulate that crawlspace. It's missing a lot of important elements. I would also recommend at least 2 more full length rows of metal support columns/jacks to support that garage slab after you are done. The jacks they have under there now are too far apart and not strong enough to hold the weight of the concrete+cars
Good Lord that was lucky! I'm thankful no one was hurt as well. That's insane. We were doing a basement dig out in Philly and under a few inches of dirt we found a leather bag the size of a cannon ball. The building owner told me they were coins from George Washington time or as I say Pilgrims times.
What a surprise you think the homeowner would of known about that. But you do have an amazing crew! But what a project. Any way you and your family and along with your work family have a Merry Christmas!!
After pouring a concrete floor complete with Piers I would fix the holes and make a proper access. Great place for many things. I would suggest working from the back wall toward the doors.
The Rite Crew for the job 😉 !!!! I already know it's gunna look real nice when finished !!! Merry Christmas to all y'all and to all the Crew !!! Charles from Vicksburg , Ms. :)
Hey when my mother bought the house I'm currently living in, I had similar situation. I had a questions to something she said, she had some plumbing issues and she said a plumber and he got down in the crawl space to fix the issue... We had some small covers to remove along a wall but they were only like a 6" gap and I'm like how did they get down in that small space, thinking she was confused... A few years later I realized the floor that we had walked over a million times was was hinged... But it wasn't just hinged with normal hinge, They had actually glued the carpet to the floor and used the carpet for a hinge, When you shut the floor back down the carpet all blended together, literally a secret hatch... 😳 oh, and not just a crawl space under there, But steps under the bathroom area of the house basically a small seller. Probably 6' high ceilings 8' by 8' room, My mother had owned the house for several years before I even knew this was there.
I agree. It's odd that they didn't suspect something at least. I guess they just didn't notice, but I think they should have noticed that every time they dropped a hammer or something on the floor it sounded like standing on a huge drum. It would be noticeable. I have a cistern under my garage and that's what it sounds like - full or dry. There's concrete columns supporting my garage floor and the floor is like 8" thick too. This floor most definitely would resonate more than my floor.
My guess is, it wasn't meant to be found. A room, with fresh air in, and an exhaust vent out. I seen the pluming, so probable fresh water source, and power. Looks like someone had a garden of sorts. Maybe some kind of tree farm.
@@toptester301 🪴 😶🌫️ 🤣 Trust me that thought has crossed my mind about my secret seller... 🤑 It cash crop... lol No my guess is it was a normal basement... However the garage probably wasn't always a garage... It was probably remodeled into a garage, originally was probably a family room or something. But I like your suggestion... 🤣😂🤣 My neighbors did the exact opposite of their house... Got rid of the garage added living space then built a new detached garage...
Very cool find. I have a partial basement that is built just like that. The house is on a slab foundation and concrete over the basement. I've had contractors tell me this is unusual for this part of the country. West TN. Basement has 8ft finished ceilings, but in closets you can see the steel decking above.
I bet the original home builder thought it would be neat to have extra basement space under the garage and then eventually an inspector said there's no way you can have an occupied space under that and it got forgotten ever after.
I would add access (trap door) from garage. It could also be way to add concrete floor below at a later date. It would be no extra cost now but could be convenient.
Wow holycats what a surprise. I have a garage under my main garage it is awesome but the biggest thing is I did not put any floor drains in the main. Water always finds it way around the outside of the plastic drain. My floor has a 2” drop from front to back. When my house in 2007 a lot of the builders started doing it and put drains in and they all leak around drains all 4 houses that they did.My main floor has an epoxy with the paint chips in it. And I also have a drain outside both garage doors
The heat vent and return made the room a 'conditioned space' because it would have airflow. Well, it probably should've have a proper concrete floor, not just a plastic bag. It probably was bringing musty smells into the home through the return vent, and some genius decided a dehumidifier would work. But that didn't provide any air flow. Probably the dehumidifier took a dump at some point in time, and nobody cared. That probably exacerbated the rust.
I'm baffled that there are people who see a mysterious panel/door in there basement and don't bother to investigate what's on the other side.
I have in laws that never touch a thing on their house. Everything is just done for them etc. They are those types of people and there are many. I don’t get it? But they exist lol
Ikr…. Did they not have the place inspected before they bought the property? If they did…. Did the inspector just miss this entire room? Is it not on the plans either… which should be filed with the county? Im so confused.
Looks like the floride in the water is working. As a contractor, first question. Where are the prints.. Nice werk!!!
When someone doesn't even clear out the garage in which they have new concrete done, that should give you a hint.
Tom ..... as a homeowner of a 120 year old 3 brick thick 3 story with full basement and 10foot attic..... 2 basement rooms with dirt floors the other 4 concrete finished.... For goodness sake finish his basement floor while you have easy access to it thru the garage!!! it will be usable space even if just storage.
I agree with you 💯 on that
Yep thinking the same the easy access it's now or never. Owner probably freaking on the added cost on everything but a couple of yrs from now he won't regret it imo.
@@luish777 Exactly!!!
Good point
Good point. Crawl-spaces, and basement areas without poured floors should be illegal. It just causes future problems. Rodents getting in being one of them.
That was an excellent example for needing a contract with the clause, "Contractor is not responsible for hidden situation". I can't tell you how many times that clause has saved my bacon. Great video Tom thumbs up. Merry Christmas to all of your crew and your family.
I find it hard to believe the homeowners didn't know about this room. Two vents going thru a cinder block wall and a sheet of plywood with vents on it.
when we bought our house, the previous owner had a micro kitchen in a small part of the house built. The vent for the stove was in the wall rather then above the stove. We never thought to look behind it because it's just a vent, we figured it just piped up and out to the side. well, when we decided to get rid of the kitchen and turn it into a laundry room, we found that behind the vent were the old plumbing for what used to be a laundry room before LOL. this whole time we were dreading having to get a plumber to do new piping and when the vent cover was popped it blew everyone away, including the plumbers.
You get so preoccupied with everything else in the house that is right in your face that sometimes, even if you are good on maintenance, you just wait to deal with it when you need to.
You guys never falter quality for quantity. You mentioned you had to go back to Engineering, well done. The homeowner should be very appreciative that you guys will do everything like it should have been done originally. Well done Team Haus’!
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Iove the way you settle in and figure out what to do. Thanks!!
Probably already been said, but would be an excellent place for a tornado shelter/ safe room. I would have definitely poured the floor while they had great access without having to go through the house. If nothing else, great storage.
For sure
And DON'T TELL THE WIFE. Just say "it got complicated", and they need to do something in the basement, then pour that basement floor, fix the air handling, add a pit with a removable cover, add a bunch of electric, a kegerator or two, a 90" TV and build yourself a man cave with access to the underbody of a car in one of the bays.
Should of poured that floor. Cheapest way to add square footage. HVAC was already in place.
@@gordonblank6845 exactly, by the looks of the home, it seems they probably could afford to do it, doesn’t seem smart not to, who wants a pump hose running through their house later, people don’t realize what a mess that can be.
@@mundanestuff I like where you are going with this.
How the heck do people miss this? I've explored every square cm of space in my house looking for random stuff!
Some people do zero maintenance on their own home. Sad state of things, really.
I found a slat window in my wall next to front door. It explains the rattle in the wall when the front door is closed.
And I found a wallet with $600 in the garage.
@@mickwolf1077 not found any cash myself unfortunately, but I did find a big 1x1m block of concrete when I was under the floorboards. Turned out to be a big safe with access under a bedroom floorboard stamped year 1681! (It's a big old house here in the UK, think double cavity all brick and stone with 0.5m slates on the roof!)
@@breadturbo I'm restoring an 1880s house in the Scottish Highlands. It has a blocked up window in the back wall that is lower than the rest of the ground floor windows. It lines up with the side of the staircase in the hall so I'm half convinced the house has a celler with steps going down from the hall. I'll find out when I lift the floorboards....
This falls into the Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot category. Your handling of it and your crew are shining stars. Good luck with the resolution.
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You are not only concrete craftsman- you are carpenters and steel workers. Fortunate for the homeowner you are on the job! Merry Christmas.
Thank you very much merry Christmas
Ha, they are certainly NOT carpenters. Did you even look at those walls? Great flat work guys but nope, not carpenters.
@@farmerbill6855 Your right there, They need an Cival Engineer on the job to check those 2 beams running across the width of the 2 bays of the garage, The post supports holding up the Beams and the foundations under these posts, The center pier between the 2 Garage Doors and the outerpiers have to be checked to insure they can carry the load from above, I see 2 "I" Beams running from the back wall to the front of the house above the Garage Doors which are likely holding up the floors aand the Roof of this house,
Stop the work and talk to the owner before doing any more work, otherwise you will be responsible for a long list of items which you dont need,
Just a bit of advice fromm a retired Construction Superintend and Building Inspector.
Anybody that thinks concrete work is just forms, rebar and concrete should be shown this video. Your crew is beyond exceptional.I’ll be looking forward to the next round. Merry Christmas to your whole crew.
Thanks Merry Christmas
Now that was a surprise! Good thing the pros are on the job! Can’t wait to see this project progress to the finish line. Merry Christmas.
Thanks Merry Christmas
Can you imagine one day you drove into your garage and all of a sudden you're in a basement you didn't know about.
That was close to happening
My mom's parents had a similar type of floor in their garage, with the laundry room directly under it. Once they started noticing water runoff from cars seeping through, they quit parking in the garage and left it mostly empty. I don't know if there were structural defects as serious as these in the video, but it obviously wasn't quite right.
8:20 it astounds me that people can live in a house and not explore every nook and cranny. Maybe it's because I'm in the UK and the small houses here (900sqft average modern size) it would be hard to miss something this big. 😂
Looking forward to see how it turns out. 👍
As a contractor, these are the jobs I have actual nightmares about! Add in a tight schedule and you have the recipe for a nervous breakdown. Good on you for handling it like a true professional!
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Makes you appreciate "war planning", maybe as contractors you could make it a future exercise for your crews?
Why do you care though? Arent you gonna get paid more for more work? This is residential not commercial.
Mercy!! The homeowner is truly fortunate they hired you and your awesome team!!
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That’s a grow room, would almost guarantee it. Short of the massive outlets required, heat from parked vehicles would mask a great deal of the IR signature.
Yes that is definitely a grow room. I'm sure we're not teaching anybody anything.
The floor above the room is been to radiate the heat above. And the garage, I hope they never parked a car in there, is meant to be an airspace above that grow.
And the roof of the garage conceals it all.
If not that a interrogation room for sure XD.
Lacks sufficient HVAC/electrical/plumbing for a proper grow room op… likely a custom built home - not being a drug user, my immediate thought was that it was laid out as future garage expansion should the then initial home owner decide to add storage capacity within the same footprint - most people I know that have a few vehicle toys instead build the garage 18’ and install tandem auto lifts to double up their parking capacity… home was probably built in 2000 or there about, the current hone-ready hydraulic parking lift tech wasn’t really a thing back then - what I don’t understand is assuming the current owners aren’t the original owners, how could they buy it w/out seeing the local tax authority bldg specs!? The local bldg inspection process would note constructed space be it finished or unfinished… something ain’t right here…. Just sayin
@@Padoinky I think you missed all the piping
The homeowners should be counting their blessings that they have you and your crew on this job. I can only imagine how horrible it could have been for them if they had the wrong contractor working on this. You guys do amazing work. I love watching what you do. Merry Christmas to all. Dave
Thanks Merry Christmas
best owner's solurtion? . . . concrete slab floor in the lower room (call a plumber about draining the space?) . . . new garage floor . . . stairway to below? . . . too much space to just waste.
[ and get the air hooked up to keep the space dry and to prevent the room from becoming a deathtrap if the air goes bad! ]
Dang! I’ve had some tough challenges but that is crazy! Good job handling it. I know you must have been stressed. I know I would have been! 👍
Thanks man! Hope you and your crew have a merry Christmas!
Thank you, you as well.
Thanks
Hey Ryan , thanks for watching the video and commenting merry Christmas
No problem, I regularly watch your videos. You guys do great work.
Oh my Tom!!! There is not a better qualified crew to deal with a problem like this. Merry Christmas to you and all your gang. Thanks for doing the good work.
Thanks Merry Christmas
What a bonus to find out you had more basement square footage in your home.
If ceiling is not high enough if does not count. most likely why they boarded it up. plus the moisture problem.
@@idodata9191 the floor was dirt. They could have easily added a few feet. I can't believe they filled the room with 2x4s
The lucky ones are the homeowners! They pick the best and it shows. It could have been a disaster. You are the best! Merry Christmas to all!
Thanks Merry Christmas
I don’t know what I would’ve done if I ran into that. The way you handled this speaks to your experience. Thanks for the video, Merry Christmas!
Thanks Merry Christmas
Love the way you look at your employees. Hire good people, take good care of them, reward good behavior. That's the "secret" to success.
Tom. This.... Is An Amazing Find.This Haus team is extraordinary in the work you all do. Wow. Just WOW!!!😊
Thanks
That was a big surprise. More expensive but you have to admit, that is a cool room that you could do a lot with.
Good to see no one got hurt. Dropping one of those machines through the floor could have really hurt someone.
That was a huge concern through the whole project
BONUS ROOM! i'd be stoked and filling it with preps by now...
Saw your appearance on Outdoors with the Morgans and could not wait to see what you found. What a find== looks like it could have been a bomb shelter or survival room but was not finnished. Now with your find and expert eye could turn this into a plus for your customer.
Secret mancave wrap the poles in copper and add a bar.
wow now that was something new and interesting! I would love to see the whole process to this, and even a finished room. What a cool find.
Thanks 2 days
Neat find. I saw something similar to this when I worked for a plumbing contractor years ago. Went to an unassuming rambler to deliver some parts to the plumber on site. He was workin down in the basement and said I wouldn't believe what was down there. Sure enough it turned out there was a swimming pool underneath the garage floor. You'd never suspect it by standing in the garage.
That’s crazy
Wow, you definitely opened a can of worms on this job! The homeowner is lucky he contracted with you and crew to rehab his garage floor. Can't wait to see how this project goes. Happy Holidays to you all!!
Thanks
I have a room just like that under my 2.5 car garage. The builder put a full door opening into it. It is my hobby room/tornado shelter. My favorite room in the house!
Wow, that is insane. I am always surprised when a homeowner doesn't know something "important" like this about their house, but you showed a lot of patience adapting to it. I suspect a tap test on the floor would have revealed that it was a poured deck, but I never would have thought to check for that.
They might not be the first owner of the home, so they were probably never informed about this particular _feature_ of the garage floor.
@@RayleighCriterion This happens ALL the time. One guy even lived in a secret section of a house for years before the daughter heard a guy snoring on the other side of her wall! They caught the guy for tresspasing and found out he was a previous owner himself who fell on some hard times so he had the time to set it perfectly, out of sight out of mind.
@@RayleighCriterion That is part of what bothers me, they should know about stuff like this. Especially since there was one of those el-cheapo fire-hazard dehumidifiers down there plugged into an outlet. That probably hasn't worked for years.
@@Lumber_Jack at least that's pretty close to a fire proof room. Only thing to burn is the plastic sheeting, but with the lack of ventilation, it may put itself out before it gets going enough to burn through the plywood door.
@@scottywills124 Someone could put together a nice straight-to-video movie based on that story.
Amazes me that the homeowners were not aware of this or was not disclosed from prior owner. I also get surprised how in-curious some folks are and not thoroughly explore what they have bought. Not a old house either. Over my ownership, I have either been into or looked into every cranny in my house and still get surprised when I open up a wall (100yr old house).
I think I told you this story before, but I worked on a job where the homeowner heard a noise in the middle of the night and went to investigate. To his surprise when he walked through the door to his garage, he dropped about 8 feet and landed beside his car and 2 motorcycles. He got a little banged up but ended up more shocked than anything. Turns out who ever put in the suspended slab had used old mobile home trailer beams for the supports and they eventually rusted and failed.
The nice part was that we didn't have to haul out the old concrete and we filled it in and poured a new floor.
That would be easier
This was used as cannibis plantation perhaps. In a nearby neirborhood, the contractors stalled the project for a year....he was growing weed in those houses for a year and then finished the houses
Wow. I mean wow. Who would have ever expected that. This is a big job. Looking forward to seeing the next chapter. Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas.
Thanks Merry Christmas
True professionals with integrity like Tom & crew do exactly what Tom said; Band together, figure out a solution, keep the homeowner informed & move forward.
They don't take advantage of the homeowner on the added costs. They need to charge for the additional costs plus their normal profit & overhead.
Been in predicaments of major cost overruns b/4, usually most clients have to take the most cost effective solution. Like in this case.
If $ were not as much a concern, a set of enclosed stairs going down into this room from the least used bay as it would have taken about 4' from depth of garage & of course pouring the floor below would have given a ton of uses for the space.
I would agree that in the not to distant future, they will be kicking themselves for not biting the bullet.
Most home owners that I dealt with would never have known about the space either. A good buyers inspection may have found this room though.
The building officials would have ok'd the structural construction of this, so its not a liability of the original builder. Looks like he did it right except for the leaky floor drains.
"Just sayin"..... From a retired contractor of 35+ years.
Lastly.. Another great job by Tom & crew!
Merry Christmas to all!!!
Thanks Merry Christmas
My cousin new house was like this as well. The garage floor had a 4ft space under it. The garage floor actually collapsed about 2 months after they moved in, totalling there car. Luckily it was at night when they were sleeping, and not in the garage when it happened
Wow, that’s crazy. I hope insurance or builder picked it up.
Unbelievable! I wonder how many years the homeowner lived there and had no idea the room was there! Obviously, a previous occupant did since there was a dehumidifier in that room. Great job helping that homeowner work through this surprise!
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I worked in a new home like 20 years ago and it had something quite similar. I figured they were gonna use it as a panic room of some sorts. The concrete was finished and the walls were poured and thicker than normal. The basement was deeper than any I had ever seen also. twenty plus steps from the floor above.
I do tile by trade and was a helper at the time and had to go in the basement to get water for the job.
Tom, I could not believe how you and your team solved this horrific problem. Unbelievable. Fantastic work.
Thank you very much. Have a great crew.
WOW. A safe crew is a happy crew. Good job preparing the support walls in the room so you can get your demo done. That was one irresponsible contractor that put that basement room in. Great content. Stay safe.
Very professional tradesmen. If that were my house, my curious nature would have led me to investigate that panel blanking off the entrance to the hidden room as soon as I moved in. It appears the builders did everything right including encapsulating the floor.
If h/o is keeping the room why not pour a floor down there before garage floor
That is so 'Twlight Zone' finding an unknown room underneath the garage. Maybe that was intended as a panic-room to hide in, with that thin concrete it would be useless for using as a fall-out shelter (from an atomic attack). However, need to hide from someone that room might be rather useful. I don't see how a basement below the garage would even be in line with code compliance. Your Crew totally ROCK's!
WOW what a nightmare for the homeowner. I hope that they appreciate having called the right crew for the job. Great video Tom, as always. Happy Holidays to you, family and crew!
Thanks
Oh my goodness! What a mess. Great job getting this cleaned up and being construction workers at the same time.
Thanks
you would think a void under the garage would need to be mentioned in the home ownership papers because if that floor was to fail the car would go with it in this case your machine and people this is something where i would think the original builder would need to fess up for and explain this being kept from even the original home owner. Also i would think this could raise their home owners insurance as well as car insurance cause look where your parking lol.
They way we demo bridge decks is hammer 4 holes in the slab. Run cables though and hook it up to the hoe and saw cut it and lift it out in chunks. May come in handy next time you run into this. great video
being dutch i know a bit about cannabis and it looks to me that it could have verry well been used as an indoor grow room for weed
a space of about 1,40 meter by 1,40 meter can hold about 25 plants under a 600 watt grow lamp wish with the style of indoor growing they use here would be making about 4000 euro in buds per 6 to 7 weeks per 1.4 by 1,40 meter , now do this times the space you have there
staggering the grow and bloom cycle to spread the workload (planting growing cutting drying trimming the buds) and using all the space under there wouldve earned them enough money to live pretty comfortable if under the fear of getting caught and going to jail
might still be able to find some proof of that if you start looking for stuff like 5 finger leaves in the dirt , maibe rockwool blocks where they grow the plants in or , flowerpots , black mulch soil with perlite in it , bits of fishing line or other wire that they use to hold the plants up , pieces of electric wire hanging from the ceiling after they took off the lights , one inch black plastic waterline , spraypens , pond foil , or electric fans carbon filters extraction fans submersable pumps timers .... depending on how mush of a hurry they where or if they didnt minded leaving traces of their illegal hobby
Loading the lumber into the basement via the hole was hilarious and brilliant!
Thank goodness that you did not fall through and nobody was seriously hurt. Totally shocked that there was something like this built and was up to code. If I found out my house had that I would want an oil change bay. But that is just me. Take advantage of the room to ease working on cars.
You’re right it would be nice to use it for something
Tom I want to wish you, your family and crew a Merry Christmas. I always enjoy watching you and your guys doing a great job.
Thanks Merry Christmas
AMAZING the things you find when you tear into someone else's work!!! Looking forward to "the rest of the story" ... Thank you Paul Harvey.
Thank you, Paul
I think your tongue in cheek may have been wasted...
Great channel. So glad Mike Morgan recommended it when you were about to do his shop.
Last week, when you said watch your next episode on his channel, I didn’t expect this.
WOW!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, your family and the crew.
God Bless and best wishes on the future of your Channel.
More to come
Suspended garages aren’t uncommon, but I can’t say this was done correctly. Here in the PNW we generally do 4” reinforcement concrete over plastic, over 1 1/8” marine decking over 2x12 PT joists. Cool find though.
We always use steel decking
@@Concretewiththehauses different strokes for different folks I guess eh?
I'm really wondering if with that sort of a structure, if one was standing on the garage floor when a vehicle entered it, would one feel structural flexion such as that on a bridge or if the structure of that floor was so rigid that it didn't flex at all even as a vehicle entered the garage.
If it did exhibit some play, that would certainly have been a dead giveaway to the owner that the concrete wasn't resting flat on the ground but that it was above a void space and supported by some sort of structural beams. I know it would have caused one of my eyebrows to raise if I ever felt that sort of thing in a garage.
WOW, sure hope you post more of this rebuild. Amazing what you find some times. Thumbs Up! I await the next chapter...
I am so impressed how you and your crew go the extra mile. You don’t see that much these days.
Thanks
The sign of a great crew is to be able to adapt and overcome. You do have a great crew.
They are the best
Damn I'd KILL to find a room like that under my house to suddenly use for storage. That homeowner is lucky. Also if it were my house I'd make an entrance through the garage floor down to that room if code allows.
That was what I thought they were doing when the studs showed up.
Not the time to worry about Code!
Absolutely.
Wow!! At least you didn't go thru the floor before you found that room under it!! Glad to see the home owner keeping it, maybe next year they will have you come back and pour a floor down there!! Merry Christmas from West Virginia!!
Thanks Merry Christmas
Wow! What a surprise! So nice to see your professional crew handle it so well! I'm completely baffled though as to why the original builder would have gone to the trouble to build the space then never finish it or apparently use it for anything. A significant cost for no apparent reason.
(I work in demolition for a commercial gc) similar thing happened to us. Saturday work, OT, supposed to be a chill day. small building in the back of a warehouse. they wanted us to break around one of the columns, expose/dig down to the bottom of the footing. just exploratory work for now. well once we got a score cut, we started hammering away with a bobcat. i noticed the pieces were disappearing. eventually a big enough piece broke off into the void where I stopped the operator so we can see what was going on, and sure enough same situation here, except they were spancrete panels, with maybe an extra 4" of concrete, with what seemed to be post tensioned cables running through the cores. there was about a foot of water at the bottom. mind you we had a full sized bobcat in here along with about 4 scissor lifts doing misc. demo. after a few months they ended up filling the entire thing with concrete and moved on with the rest of the work. fun stuff!😵💫
Like you said fun stuff
Thanks for the work you do. I enjoy these a lot.
Thanks
Merry Christmas to you and your wonderful family and all of the people watching your channel! God Bless you all!
Thank you same to you
That's one sure way to throw a wrench in the schedule!! Looking forward to part 2
Thanks
I've seen this before, under the old library building of my local community college. A water main had cracked years, possibly decades, before, and there was a massive cavern underneath the foundation. It was really down to the over-engineering with the thickness of the concrete that it held together.
The pipe was repaired and the cavern was filled in. The building is now used for classrooms.
Tom, without going into specific numbers I'm curious of the difference in cost between filling it in or keeping the room. Filling it in wouldn't have been cheap either, but would it have been 1/3 the cost of keeping it or 1/2 the cost? I would have wanted to keep it too, hard to imagine that this room wasn't in the sellers disclosure. Also hard to imagine that there wasn't a full size door to that room unless the original owner wanted it to be a secret room. Hope you and all the crew have a happy and safe holiday.
About even
Happy holidays
Rooms like that are built and blocked off from inspector view. We did several in Jersey over the years. Had that one been done correctly; it could have served as a doomsday shelter.
Wow, what a find. I found two sealed off spaces large enough to be small rooms/ large closets (one at each end of the house) when replacing a ceiling. Their purpose was to prevent any slanted ceilings upstairs despite the rear of the second floor being one big dormer, but I had absolutely no idea they were there until the ceiling came out.
Pretty good carpentry for a crew of concrete guys btw!
It’s amazing what we fine thank you very much
Wow, what a nightmare to deal with. Y'all handled it with grace! I can't wait to see the finished project. I sure wish you were in TN!!! I've never seen any concrete workmanship like yours. Thank you for sharing! Merry Christmas to you, your family and your crew!
Thank you very much merry Christmas. Happy holidays to you.
Wonder if the homeowner handled the bill with grace.
Would be a great place to have a machine shop down there, and build cars in the garage
I can only imagine a lesser company would have just patched over the mess and called it good. You do quality work and I hope your reputation in that community is well known.
Thank you very much
congrats on the success of this video
I want another room that big under my garage. I’m jelly.
I want a secret agent style vault room/man cave
That was one your best videos ever !! Adapt and perceive!!
How much more did all that extra work add to the original quote? You definitely went above and beyond with storing their stuff for them also.
About double
I wouldn't want to find that situation on my home. You have a excellent crew. That's easy to see. Good people seem to come together.
Thanks
If I didn't know what was happening already I would have been suspicious with how easily thats concrete was breaking apart. That was very thin concrete.
I worked as a foundation specialist at a repair company. We found these all the time down here in Memphis and Arkansas
How did we do on the correction
@Concrete with the Hauses The only thing I'd say from this video is I'm not sure the wood framing was adequate enough to hold the equipment. But What you saw is pretty normal for these crawlspaces under garages. Almost never enough support and always has drainage issues. I'll leave the concrete replacement up to your expertise. I will say you might want to have the customer call their local Basement Systems dealer to properly encapsulate that crawlspace. It's missing a lot of important elements. I would also recommend at least 2 more full length rows of metal support columns/jacks to support that garage slab after you are done. The jacks they have under there now are too far apart and not strong enough to hold the weight of the concrete+cars
Good Lord that was lucky! I'm thankful no one was hurt as well. That's insane. We were doing a basement dig out in Philly and under a few inches of dirt we found a leather bag the size of a cannon ball. The building owner told me they were coins from George Washington time or as I say Pilgrims times.
That would be awesome
What a surprise you think the homeowner would of known about that. But you do have an amazing crew! But what a project. Any way you and your family and along with your work family have a Merry Christmas!!
Thank you very much merry Christmas to you
How could you not know it was hollow under the concrete by the sound
Great video!! Our house was done the same way but flex core was used instead of steel.
That’s a crazy find but an excellent resolution.
Thanks
After pouring a concrete floor complete with Piers I would fix the holes and make a proper access. Great place for many things. I would suggest working from the back wall toward the doors.
That would have been a new storage area for me!
The Rite Crew for the job 😉 !!!! I already know it's gunna look real nice when finished !!! Merry Christmas to all y'all and to all the Crew !!! Charles from Vicksburg , Ms. :)
Thanks Merry Christmas
That's why you hire home inspectors before you buy a house! 💰 💰 💰
How could a new homeowner miss this? Unreal.
Boy I’m glad you Caught that when you did. Talk about a situation where things could’ve gone way worse I’m glad everybody’s OK
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How did the home owner not know there was a huge room under their garage? 😂
Hey when my mother bought the house I'm currently living in, I had similar situation. I had a questions to something she said, she had some plumbing issues and she said a plumber and he got down in the crawl space to fix the issue... We had some small covers to remove along a wall but they were only like a 6" gap and I'm like how did they get down in that small space, thinking she was confused... A few years later I realized the floor that we had walked over a million times was was hinged... But it wasn't just hinged with normal hinge, They had actually glued the carpet to the floor and used the carpet for a hinge, When you shut the floor back down the carpet all blended together, literally a secret hatch... 😳 oh, and not just a crawl space under there, But steps under the bathroom area of the house basically a small seller. Probably 6' high ceilings 8' by 8' room, My mother had owned the house for several years before I even knew this was there.
I agree. It's odd that they didn't suspect something at least. I guess they just didn't notice, but I think they should have noticed that every time they dropped a hammer or something on the floor it sounded like standing on a huge drum. It would be noticeable. I have a cistern under my garage and that's what it sounds like - full or dry. There's concrete columns supporting my garage floor and the floor is like 8" thick too. This floor most definitely would resonate more than my floor.
The fact he’s having someone demo it, may speak to the notion that he doesn’t use hammers very often…. 😂😂😂
My guess is, it wasn't meant to be found. A room, with fresh air in, and an exhaust vent out. I seen the pluming, so probable fresh water source, and power. Looks like someone had a garden of sorts. Maybe some kind of tree farm.
@@toptester301 🪴 😶🌫️ 🤣 Trust me that thought has crossed my mind about my secret seller... 🤑 It cash crop... lol
No my guess is it was a normal basement... However the garage probably wasn't always a garage... It was probably remodeled into a garage, originally was probably a family room or something. But I like your suggestion... 🤣😂🤣
My neighbors did the exact opposite of their house... Got rid of the garage added living space then built a new detached garage...
In case you may have forgotten, you have the best crew ever. God has blessed you in more ways that can be counted
I agree
I wouldve turned that into a hidden room for sure, obviously it works they never knew about it haha
Very cool find. I have a partial basement that is built just like that. The house is on a slab foundation and concrete over the basement. I've had contractors tell me this is unusual for this part of the country. West TN. Basement has 8ft finished ceilings, but in closets you can see the steel decking above.
There are some odd things everywhere. Thanks for watching.
I bet the original home builder thought it would be neat to have extra basement space under the garage and then eventually an inspector said there's no way you can have an occupied space under that and it got forgotten ever after.
I would add access (trap door) from garage. It could also be way to add concrete floor below at a later date. It would be no extra cost now but could be convenient.
Wow holycats what a surprise. I have a garage under my main garage it is awesome but the biggest thing is I did not put any floor drains in the main. Water always finds it way around the outside of the plastic drain. My floor has a 2” drop from front to back. When my house in 2007 a lot of the builders started doing it and put drains in and they all leak around drains all 4 houses that they did.My main floor has an epoxy with the paint chips in it. And I also have a drain outside both garage doors
Check out what we did with the floor drains maybe that will help you coming up soon
The heat vent and return made the room a 'conditioned space' because it would have airflow. Well, it probably should've have a proper concrete floor, not just a plastic bag. It probably was bringing musty smells into the home through the return vent, and some genius decided a dehumidifier would work. But that didn't provide any air flow. Probably the dehumidifier took a dump at some point in time, and nobody cared. That probably exacerbated the rust.