Help me feel better about the fortune I just spent ...

[kelt65]

I just dropped a money bomb on the most boring, unsexy house work ever, the foundation. 25 new joists installed and sistered to current termite damaged existing ones, about 50' of rotten or termite eaten sill replaced, much DIY foundation goofiness removed and redone, some repointing, installed about 10 additional piers underneath the house and finally: levelled the house. In some places it was raised over 4". The levelling damage was not so bad, definitely glad I took care of it first. The roof damage was pretty bad even though they cut the chimneys out cleanly. Another 5K for that, but some of it was existing that I did not know about. The cinder block piers they installed are fugly but are superior to the existing brick piers, which need repointing every so often. In any case the new ones are under the center of the house so they're not visible.

Twenty five joists. Damn, I had no idea it was so bad down there. No wonder the floor was sagging under my feet in places. It feels nice and solid everywhere now, so there's that. I thought it was the floorboards but it was the joists no longer able to do their job. I used a rather pricey contractor as I wanted it done right and I think they did a very fine job and got it done in a week with about a dozen workers. I also no longer feel the tug of gravity when I walk around the house. Not a good sign, you know?

It was so expensive, more than almost anything else I'll be doing. The only good feeling I have is that I feel like I'm the only responsible person to have ever owned this house. In addition to undoing some dicey, crummy work, I just did four rounds of 25 year maintenance that was never done, all at once. This made it much more expensive than if the previous owners had done their job and had the house levelled every so often. It's very difficult and damaging to raise a house 4-5"! A half inch is a LOT easier. There was at least on person in its history that did some real crap DIY work on things he had no business working on. Who the hell DIY's their foundation, anyway? You should have seen the mess of 2x4's and shims under there in places, all because you were too cheap to buy 2x8's? Sheesh! And don't get me started on the loft which needed extra support but didn't have it and caused the middle of the house to sink, or the wood burning firebox extension which also had no support (built right over the old concrete hearth pad!) and thankfully did not fall off the chimney when the house was raised. Who is it that spends a lot of money on a loft addition and remodel and doesn't fix the foundation??!? Who does that?

The existing termite damage was far worse than the building and termite inspectors led me to believe. About a quarter of the joists were falling apart and you could push a finger through them in places. I should have gone under the house myself that day. I'm pretty peeved at home inspectors at this point.

[shazapple]

Everything has a lifespan, even foundations! Just think of this expense as keeping the house in livable condition for another 100 years

[Powermuffin]

Thank goodness your could do this work. Your house thanks you and now all other projects will be based on a solid foundation. The pain in your pocketbook should be slight compared to your pride in the work.
Diane

[matchbookhouse]

Wow, you have more guts than I do! I had about 10K worth of foundation work done last year, but I let the house still slant. The proposal I had to replace all the joists would have cracked all the walls and trim work, so I had an independent structural engineer inspect the foundation. I resupported the cracked main beam with additional piers, added bracing between the joists, and extra support to several areas of the joists. Only had a few cracks from 1/2" of jacking. I don't mind the slant and everything feels much more solid. My reasoning was that the house is still exposed to tremendous blasts of energy from the Naval base when they fire the Electromagnetic Rail Gun, which shakes the house down to the foundation. There's no way in heck I'd ever be able to maintain a totally level house even if I got if that way. Kudos to you for putting all that hard, unsexy work into yours, though - you know it's done and solid for decades to come. YAY! You are creating a legacy!

[kelt65]

Wow, you have more guts than I do! I had about 10K worth of foundation work done last year, but I let the house still slant. The proposal I had to replace all the joists would have cracked all the walls and trim work, so I had an independent structural engineer inspect the foundation. I resupported the cracked main beam with additional piers, added bracing between the joists, and extra support to several areas of the joists. Only had a few cracks from 1/2" of jacking. I don't mind the slant and everything feels much more solid. My reasoning was that the house is still exposed to tremendous blasts of energy from the Naval base when they fire the Electromagnetic Rail Gun, which shakes the house down to the foundation. There's no way in heck I'd ever be able to maintain a totally level house even if I got if that way. Kudos to you for putting all that hard, unsexy work into yours, though - you know it's done and solid for decades to come. YAY! You are creating a legacy!

Thanks. Well, since I am about to have all the walls redone (skimmed and all) I guess I didn't care about the cracking much. I was worried about the ceiling though, as I don't want to put much money in them and they seemed just fine. Fortunately there is minimal ceiling damage. The contractor was very good about minimizing the damage. The plaster actually fared better than the drywall. It mostly brought out some of the old cracks which were simply taped over. The plaster cracks are easy enough to fix but I don't like doing the ceiling, it's such a pain. Of course a lot of corners need to be retaped and almost every drywall joint does too.

I lost a tiled fireplace surround but it was falling apart anyway, and many of the tiles were cracked, even though it looked acceptable. Oh well, I can make new ones. THAT I think I can DIY with some practice. The new mantel that's going to go there is much more attractive and architecturally correct to the house, and covers everything right up to the firebox grate so there's won't be room for a surround anyway. But that still leaves five other fireplaces I can doll up with tiles.

[kelt65]

My reasoning was that the house is still exposed to tremendous blasts of energy from the Naval base when they fire the Electromagnetic Rail Gun, which shakes the house down to the foundation.

What on earth is that like?

[matchbookhouse]

The Rail Gun, or the whole house shaking? Well, the Rail Gun is the Navy's newest weapon that fires projectiles (currently) solely by electrical powered electromagnetic forces, but will eventually use only kinetic charges. If you google Railgun you will see an actual photo of a test shot from the Navy base 2 blocks away. The shock wavy is tremendous due to the huge amount of kinetic energy needed to fire the projectile, and since my house is so close to the base, it gets the full brunt. On firing days, I move to the sunroom, which is over the original front porch. If I'm in the living room I can feel the main beam shake, much worse than when they used to fire the 16 in. guns (and THEY were huge!). The force literally travels down the structure into the ground, much like a reverse earthquake.

[Nicholas]

If it will make you feel better, now I am wondering if I didn't do enough, that is, didn't go a little further as you did. I guess I am in Matchbook's situation, minus the rail gun.

I had posted what I had done in my bragbook, I only had to go up 2", but things started creaking cracking and walking, so they stopped, leaving about 3/4 inch to go on the one side. There is still a lot of DIY under the house, but there are no creaking sounds, seems solid. I will be under there inspecting from time to time, as there is still some T mite damage here and there. To do the total job would have cost 28k.

But the locals that live in these old homes have a word for their houses that have the bits of tilt and sags...that word is character....and this town has a lot of it, so I guess it fits.

Anyway, there is nothing like what they call in real estate terms "good bones", and now you have them.

[Gothichome]

Kellitim, the work is done and the home will remain standing long after you have paid the bill. And with out a strong foundation every thing you do above will always give you grief.

[Wackyshack]

I still have to do the same thing. the entire sil to the back of the house was a DIY project by the house flipper. My house is held up with 4 2x4's and lally columns on stone foundation. That is inside the basement because the house was added on to. I know I am also looking at big bucks for hidden but necessary work. Our main support beam is cracked (but stable) due to the cutting into it when they put in radiators over 100 years ago. Not looking forward to it, but I have about as much work to do as you did. It is worth it in the end, to know the house is safe and sound.