Moving big equipment out of a basement...

[woodchucker]

not ever even having a basement I don't get this. A heavy insulated bulkhead is opening up to the elements? I for sure wouldn't be putting some flimsy thing on there, and for that matter an outside door then a door even with the wall of the basement would seem like the ticket, but of course I don't know nuthin'.

yea, these doors are leaky, insulation is just a help, not a resolution.
Even a walkout, with better doors is an area of leakage.

A wall with EARTH around it is far better at insulating than any hole with insulation.

 

[davidpbest]

I don’t get this. I put an insulated exterior double door with an R value of 15 in the basement wall that seals off the concrete bulkhead cavity. Same heat/humidity gain/loss as the main entry door package to the front of the house.

 

[rabler]

Everything I've seen on putting in a heated slab says you need to insulate under it to avoid losing heat into the ground. I know in Duluth, insulating basement walls was an interesting topic. The reason not to was to keep the ground from freezing deep and cracking the walls, but at the cost of heat loss. Obviously drainage matters. A quick google check comes up with R 0.25 - 1.0 for soil depending on type and water content. Sure, you have quite a few feet, but the heating all that thermal mass gets challenging.

I suspect the general feeling in Canada was that a walk-in basement risked freezing under the footings?

 

[whitmore]

In the summer of 1966, I worked for Tektronix. One of the unique things about the buildings was that Mr. Vollum insist that a whole wall could be open so that whole machinery could be moved inside without taking it apart. You don't have to go as far as Mr. Vollum, but big doors sure are nice.

And one state north, there's another company that likes their doors wide... 300 feet.
The assembly building in Everett

 

[Harry Knutz]

Last year I bought most of the machines from a guy's basement machine shop. I also agreed to clear his basement of all machines, by taking them up the stairs. I thought I'd post a few highlights of that move, and answer questions about moving heavy equipment...

These are the machines I moved:

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Leblond 15X60, 3400+ lbs

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BP clone 2400 lbs

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heat treat furnace 500 lbs

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surface grinder, 2000 lbs

and 7 or 8 other machines under 500 lbs...

The mill and the lathe were completely broken down to components and moved as parts. the Surface grinder had to be moved intact.
I used both a gantry crane and a joist crane to break down machines and prep them for moving. One mistake I made was that my gantry crane couldn't move from one side of the basement to the other, as the support beam was 5" too low for it. I had to make a new top beam and change the geometry slightly to allow it to move under the beam!

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The modified gantry crane





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using the joist hoist to raise the 900 lb bed up and out the window. The wooden cradle is there to allow it to be moved in several steps.

That was quite an undertaking! Good job my friend!

I want a surface grinder so bad I can taste it!

 

[Dabbler]

I didn't buy that surface grinder. Mine is a Brown and Sharpe 6X12 manual.

 

[OTmachine]

Basement shop works good for me. Climate control is cheaper than running a dehumidifier. Small machines downstairs. Large machines upstairs

 

[Gnpenning]

Did you get everything up and running??

Have you sold the items you wanted/needed to?

Great story and planning the move.


I find the whole basement no basement discussion interesting. I grew up in a home with a basement and I've owned and built homes in 2 western states that have cold winters. All but one had a basement. The one with no basement the water table was to high for basements in that area. I had a couple other homes with in 5 miles and they didn't have the same water table issue. The last house I built here in Montana I did basically a walk out basement with ICF and radiant heat . Loved it and by far the cheapest house I've owned to heat and cool also the most comfortable temperature wise out of any. It was my 2nd radiant heat home I had built for myself but the first ICF home. It had a couple steps going down to the basement with double doors and I used it as a wood shop. I was able to put everything down there by myself. I had help getting everything out. Must be getting older. My next place I build will be just a few hundred yards from the last one. It will have no basement except for a small root cellar. That is in part of me getting older and not wanting stairs and making everything handicap accessible if I ever need it. It will be radiant heat and ICF as well. Love that combo.

I found heating and cooling basements much cheaper than the same space above ground.

 

[Dabbler]

Did you get everything up and running??

Have you sold the items you wanted/needed to?

Great story and planning the move.

Thank you for the compliment.

Actually, no. The lathe is assembled, but there were some issues that required new parts and refurbishment. However the volume of machines overwhelmed my poor organization, and now there is almost no room to work. Ad to that a tool and die shop folded and I was gifted many boxes of 'one in a lifetime' things. Then a friend needed to sell off his shop, and he made me deals that were nearly free. I did not resist the temptation. I'm swamped!...

I'm slowly pickling away at the mess right now.

 

[rabler]

I find the whole basement no basement discussion interesting.

I could go either way. But I'd never go with another house above a crawl space. I'm too much of a DIY'er to want to hire people to work on things, but FFS crawling around in a dirty damp space with 24" of clearance to fix plumbing, heating ducts, wiring, etc, is really frustrating. I'm seriously considering building a new house on our property because of this and a few other issues, but floor space and layout are not factors.