Underpinning vs. Bench Footings: What Toronto Homeowners Should know before lowering a basement
If you’re a homeowner in Toronto or the GTA, chances are you’ve heard ther term underpinning. Whether you’re planning to finish your basement, increase ceiling height, or stabilize you’re aging foundation, underpinning has become one of the most populat structural upgrades for older Toronto homes. Now you are deciding to underpin you’re home and after research have come across a underpinning method called bench footing? How do you know which option is right for your property?
In this guide, we’ll break down the differences between underpinning and bench footings, and explain why more Toronto homeowners are choosing professional basement lowering and underpinning to maximize their home’s livable space and property value.
Bench Footings VS Underpinning: The Differences
Bench footings and underpinning are both a method of lowering you’re home’s basement floor, however bench footings are sometimes seen as more affordable when compared to underpinning. Instead of digging below your foundation, bench footing involves digging around the basement’s interior walls and pouring new concrete footings next to the existing foundation. Even though bench footings create extra height, the bench footing method creates a visible lip that sticks out around the area of the basement and reducing overall floor space.
Underpinning however, is a full structural solution that involves excavating in controlled stages underneath the home’s existing footings and then pouring new and deeper foundations, lowering the basement floor and not taking up any floor space at the end as there is no ledge sticking out as compared to bench footings, therefore we can say that underpinning is the only option that meets both maximized ceiling height and structural support while not compromising floor space.
The difference in price between bench footing and underpinning maybe a couple thousand of dollars, but in the long run, underpinning offers more value, more space and far greater return on investment. When you consider that a properly underpinning and finished basement in Toronto can add tens of thousands of dollars to your home’s resale value, or generate rental income, its clear that underpinning isn’t just a construction project, is a significant property upgrade.
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