Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Started taking off the floor from the oldest part of the house which was built back about 1900. Over the years new owners added more flooring and eventually jacked up the house and put in a block basement. Some of the block still looks in good shape after decades. Trying to rip off the layers for handy fire wood was nearly impossible. Too many nails and not enough rotted wood. Floor was 4 inches think so I had to cut out sections. Looks like I'll have enough fire wood this winter for the greenhouse. Only problem is who is going to cut it all up!

I'm hoping to have the entire basement emptied out in about i or 2 weeks. Then we'll have to decide what to do with the resulting hole in the ground. For sure 2/3 thirds of the basement will get filled in to the surrounding surface level. A 2 car garage will eventually go on top of that, MAYBE in 2 years.

If we go with a 14' x30' by 7' feet deep pit and a hoop house on top of that, then the question is how best to use the depth below the surface?

One thought of a pit style greenhouse was a multi level approach kind of like what "Grow Power" implemented.

BTW if you look closely back in picture P1040469.jpg you will see a "little black square" in the corner of the basement a couple of feet below the surface. That is where we brought in hot water from the outside wood burning furnace to heat the old house. I'm thinking I can use that feature some how to heat "some kind of" greenhouse.

Or maybe just fill in the entire basement and just build something on the resulting surface. Only problem with filling it in is, where am I going to get the fill and how much will it cost?

We do have a small hill on the property (some 800 feet a way) I could dig up with the aid of the tractor and bucket. But man o man that's a lot of tractor fuel, wear and tear, and time. Maybe I could hire a contractor with a dump truck and front end loader (??$).

How best to use the total 3 dimensional space of the basement hoop house? Or what ever?

DD made one suggestion for this project. Anyone else?

Any and all ideas and comments are needed. We will make a final decision in about 2 weeks.

Fill dirt can often be found for free on Craig's list. I actually had to pay to do something with my dirt. I did place an add, but I really got tired of waiting for someone to take my dirt. There are usually a few adds for it for free.

Thanks Ronmaggi,

Nothing like free dirt. There is plenty of it around like you said. But the cost of getting it here is the rub.

I have a small hill about 800 feet from the basement. To day I just got a quote from contractor for machine time if we use my hill. We are looking at about $1500 of machine time. That includes putting an additional 150 yards of fill in our 40' x 80' pole barn to level it off. He said he could do both the pole barn and the basement all in one day.

I don't know where I'm going to find $1500. I may have to rob my 401K in July or August

Then there is fish to buy, gravel bed material and other aquaponic stuff

The $1500 will come. It is only money. Then again, holes that deep are expensive to dig in the first place. Perhaps you can use it's depth to your advantage.

Thanks for the encouragement Ron.

I'm going to go ahead with using 14' x 30' of the old basement for a green house.

We'll have to wait and see about the rest of the basement, I guess. I do have some fencing material I can put around the hole to keep little people safe. That will have to do for the short term.

Hey Ron,

I got to thinking about what you said "making use" of the space.

Maybe between now and when I can find the money to fill it in, why not do some kind of gardening in that space.

Maybe some seasonal barrel wicking beds? Hmmm

Who knows, maybe the idea may "grow " on my better half

Undoing a dug out and walled up area does seem a little counterproductive. If AP things got really big down the road, it would be nice to have a basement downstairs with fish tanks to keep a more consistent temperature and a greenhouse above to catch sun. Maybe even do some composting in the basement to keep warmer in the winter?

That is what I was thinking. Build a deck of some sort above the hole. Put your growbeds up there, and put a large fishtank below, utilizing the temperature stability that hole gives you. In the meantime fence it off. We are doing this for our little ones, we want to keep them safe.

Thanks Ron and Jimbo for the ideas.
I'd love to run out of space and " just have to" build a platform above a big fish tank(s)

Really like the idea of composting. I need to figure out how to save my back in the process. Some where I've read about pushing air up thru a pile so the microbes do all the composting work. Then maybe use that stuff for wicking beds?

Maybe the more I make it visually appealing, maybe the idea might grow on MBH

I guess I'll "just have to start considering" some kind of patio incorporating a 3 season oriental water garden, water features and such.

Going to need more space, me thinks

Here's another crazy thought. Big a** liner. Make the whole basement a pond. Then stock it to match the amount of grow beds you can build around it. Like I said-crazy.

By the time you get all the liner set up, you might as well render the whole space in ferro-cement, and paint with fish safe pond paint.

Don't worry Bob, we have the whole thing planed out for you

Woke up this morning and old mother nature said to take a few days off. O nuts, now I have to work on the honey do list.