Jack up house new foundation
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Coolhandluke406
- Just Arrived
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Jack up house new foundation
Hi all, so I have a field stone foundation no footer crawl space stones are collaping inward . I would like to dig old out replace new footer and block walls or solid wall the part of my house where the craw space and Field stone is two story about 18 foot by 18 foot i want to do this myself where to start help thinks sorry for bad grammar spelling. also the middle part of my house is basement and two story
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phil
- Has many leather bound books
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- Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
- Location: Near Vancouver BC
Re: Jack up house new foundation
around here they do that a lot , usually to gain full height basements.
Its a big project, the house movers can jack up your house , leave it sitting on huge beams and blocking , then you can get a bobcat underneath to dig out to hardpan and make forms for the new foundation, then the house is set back down on it's new foundation.
You definitely need engineers involved and a plan for the city to approve.
If you are way out in the country , it may be different and you can dig and replace sections. I guess the first question is do you want to meet building codes? If you do you are in for some expense.
I just spoke to a friend that did it in his house, he said about 170K and he's a carpenter , He did hire out the lift and the foundation pour, If he wasn't a carpenter and let the whole thing out maybe 200K
not cheap but then the house can usually have a suite and it rents for 1500 to 2000/month or so so takes 10 years to pay off , about.
Its also possible to dig a big hole and make a new foundation and do that in sections leaving the house where it is. sure it is entirely possible to shore it up in spots without going to such huge expense.
some old houses are sitting on blocks and need to be leveled and a better foundation put in.
then you can consider if it's level now or if it's twisted. If you twist the house back to straight sometimes this can crack your plaster or drywall up. you might have to make some decisions if it's not level and often drywall and finishing is done in un-level house, creating a mess or at least a situation where you need to make a decision which way to go. a difference between straightening and leveling.
often it's cheaper to rip houses down than the restorations they do around here. they will strip it to the studs and basicly rebuild the whole house. it's more expensive than building a new house but then they can call it a restoration rather than a teardown/ rebuild and so the setbacks can be the existing ones. new houses require further setbacks making back yards smaller.
out in the country , away from the inspectors and rules then you can often get away with doing more and I'm not saying it isn't possible to fix your foundation in place. a lot will depend on the ground. Nowadays we have machines to dig big holes and set foundations in but back when things were done by hand sometimes they build on less solid ground than they will let us build on today.
in the city you need to conform to codes, If it's on a farm or something that might be entirely different.
lots of old houses are sitting on crooked foundations and have settled in place and they aren't dangerous or going anywhere and it's possible to shore them up and make adjustments without going to such extent.
so it depends how big you go with the project. it might vary from digging with a shovel to make a new section of foundation to bringing in a machine to move a lot more earth in a short time. maybe it's best to consult with a contractor and get his opinion, someone who does house lifting could give you a better overview of what decisions to make and if it's something you can tackle. If you can do some digging and make forms calling in the concrete truck is pretty easy. you might have to support things while you do it in sections. if you start moving the house from where it is the fireplace can also be a concern. they often remove them and make more space in the house but of course we hate loosing fireplaces and things if they are usable.
Its a big project, the house movers can jack up your house , leave it sitting on huge beams and blocking , then you can get a bobcat underneath to dig out to hardpan and make forms for the new foundation, then the house is set back down on it's new foundation.
You definitely need engineers involved and a plan for the city to approve.
If you are way out in the country , it may be different and you can dig and replace sections. I guess the first question is do you want to meet building codes? If you do you are in for some expense.
I just spoke to a friend that did it in his house, he said about 170K and he's a carpenter , He did hire out the lift and the foundation pour, If he wasn't a carpenter and let the whole thing out maybe 200K
not cheap but then the house can usually have a suite and it rents for 1500 to 2000/month or so so takes 10 years to pay off , about.
Its also possible to dig a big hole and make a new foundation and do that in sections leaving the house where it is. sure it is entirely possible to shore it up in spots without going to such huge expense.
some old houses are sitting on blocks and need to be leveled and a better foundation put in.
then you can consider if it's level now or if it's twisted. If you twist the house back to straight sometimes this can crack your plaster or drywall up. you might have to make some decisions if it's not level and often drywall and finishing is done in un-level house, creating a mess or at least a situation where you need to make a decision which way to go. a difference between straightening and leveling.
often it's cheaper to rip houses down than the restorations they do around here. they will strip it to the studs and basicly rebuild the whole house. it's more expensive than building a new house but then they can call it a restoration rather than a teardown/ rebuild and so the setbacks can be the existing ones. new houses require further setbacks making back yards smaller.
out in the country , away from the inspectors and rules then you can often get away with doing more and I'm not saying it isn't possible to fix your foundation in place. a lot will depend on the ground. Nowadays we have machines to dig big holes and set foundations in but back when things were done by hand sometimes they build on less solid ground than they will let us build on today.
in the city you need to conform to codes, If it's on a farm or something that might be entirely different.
lots of old houses are sitting on crooked foundations and have settled in place and they aren't dangerous or going anywhere and it's possible to shore them up and make adjustments without going to such extent.
so it depends how big you go with the project. it might vary from digging with a shovel to make a new section of foundation to bringing in a machine to move a lot more earth in a short time. maybe it's best to consult with a contractor and get his opinion, someone who does house lifting could give you a better overview of what decisions to make and if it's something you can tackle. If you can do some digging and make forms calling in the concrete truck is pretty easy. you might have to support things while you do it in sections. if you start moving the house from where it is the fireplace can also be a concern. they often remove them and make more space in the house but of course we hate loosing fireplaces and things if they are usable.