Basement rental conversion in Washington DC (dig-out)

[Ricardo James]

I'm looking to convert my Brookland DC row house basement to a legal rental unit , I was wondering if anyone has done this, what was the cost?

My ceiling height is 6'2 in the front and 7'5 in the back of the house, so I know I'll need to do a dig-out.   Any input, suggestions or recommendations (Architect, Contractor, etc.) that the BP forum may have for me moving forward with my basement conversion project would be great for me and anyone else with the same question here on the forum. 

Please feel free to inbox me with contacts 

Thanks

Ricardo

[Peter Sanchez]

DC will require you to have 2 egresses, so you will need another door, or larger windows (with no bars).  If it's a row-house, you will need to notify your neighbors and get sign off, and I think you need at least 7 feet to make it a legal rental.  

With the underpinning, make sure you get someone whose done it before and has a lot of insurance.  And make sure they only do dig 2 feet wide at a time, even though 4 feet is allowed. These really old houses don't have cement between the bricks, it's lime and sand mortar, so it's not very secure when you dig under it. I'm sure you've seen some of these news reports with underpinning where they dug too much at one time and the wall collapsed and damaged a party wall damaging two houses. 

If you plan on living there a while, an extra living space would be great, but if you plan on selling it soon, I don't think it's a great investment of your time and money.