What would you do?

[wedge40]

Bored.. Stuck in a hotel and nothing better to do. So I thought I'd start a thread about one of my problems with my house.

The guy who built it (Not me) cut corners every where he could. He managed to dig a trench 300' from the house to the septic tank, but could not put one more row of block around the crawl space. So my crawl space on ONE BLOCK high. and this is where my heating supply lines are along with phone.

I'd like to make the crawl space bigger, at least 24" maybe even a basement. What would be the best way to got about doing this and does anybody know the costs associated with having it done?

I figure I could have someone come in and excavate under the house and shore up and put a few block down, or I could have someone come in and pick up move the house to a new foundation right behind the current house, or just pick the house.

Wedge

 

[cowboy73]

That's gonna be a big project! How big is your house? How deep is the foundation. The guy that built the house likely backfilled inside the foundation so he wouldn't have to dispose of the dirt. You can probably dig it out and get 24" It would be alot of work, but it is doable. The footing should be at least 36" down.

 

[ddawg16]

Cowboy has a point.....it might just be backfill....dig down in one area and see how far the block goes....

If it is just one block sitting on top of a footing....then your options are limited.....you do not want to excavate below the footing.....if you go too far, then you loose the support for your footing.

If this is your case, then dig trenches to the areas you need to go under your house.

 

[wedge40]

I've dug around on the outside of the house. I've got one block above the ground and two below. The whole foundation (if you wanna call it that) will need to be removed and replaced.

I'd really like to know what it cost to just jack a house up, support it and redo the foundation to 4 or 5 blocks deep.


Wedge

 

[cowboy73]

Oh ok. You are probably talking about 15-20,000 bucks for a new foundation maybe more depending on the size and shape of the house.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Sell and move.

Lifting is not that big of a problem assuming you have a good foundation.

All you have is 2 blocks below grade and no footer ? Lifting the house, removing what is there, pouring a proper footing and then building up 4 to 5 blocks will cost big bucks ! A lot of the cost will depend on the square footage and if it is a simple rectangle/square or some other shape.

 

[PittsS1]

I lifted my house to add some courses of block (was a low height basement, so only lifted 3 feet). Lifted it, set it on cribbing, did the work, and had it lowered. The bill from the house lifting company was around $6k. Block work was an additional $6k. So, for $12k, I added enough height that I had a usable, 1450 square foot basement with daylight windows. Pretty cheap if you ask me! I'd do it again in a heartbeat- 8'8" ceillings in the basement are great! Even with ductwork and some I-beams I added, the clear height is still around 7'10 in those areas.

The biggest part of the work was to disconnect all the utilities, and to take out a chimney (didn't want to pay extra to lift it and it was in the way). This meant water, electrical, ductwork, venting (water heater/furnace), etc. You may not even have to deal with these things if it's built over a crawl and things are fastened to joists.

Have a co-worker who did the same thing to an old farmhouse built over a crawl. He added a full basement. The bill to lift, hold, excavate basement was in the $9k range. He did all the foundation work himself (footings, lots of block). Beams spanned the house and sat on cribbing outside the footprint of the basement, so they still only had to lift a few feet.

These prices are within the last couple years near Minneapolis. I found that prices varied WIDELY between companies. I had one quote of $18k just to lift and set down. The house lifting company took about 3/4 of a day to lift, and another 3/4 to set down. Not a lot to it...

Finally, the cost of the job went up exponentially if ANY moving was added. To lift and hold is not so big a deal- to start rolling the house onto dollies and moving it was a ton of extra work/cost.

 

[Kevin54]

Go back 30 or 40 feet, dig a big hole, add some concrete walls, hire a house moving company and slide the house back onto the new foundation.

 

[Red05GT]

Option # 1, jack up house and lay additional courses of block and reset house, cheapest
option.

Option # 2, Dig new crawl space or basement behind existing foundation and have a
modular home company roll set the house over on to the new foundation.

 

[wedge40]

Ok More info. I OWN the house so I'm not going to sell and move. It's in the middle of 11 acres of woods. The house is only 32'x40' Someone posted and estimate of 6K to lift the house. Way less then what I thought.. If I could get something done for around $30K I'd be very happy.

Wedge

 

[Tucko]

Ok More info. I OWN the house so I'm not going to sell and move. It's in the middle of 11 acres of woods. The house is only 32'x40' Someone posted and estimate of 6K to lift the house. Way less then what I thought.. If I could get something done for around $30K I'd be very happy.

Wedge

OK, I'm confused here. You're sitting on 11 acres, and you're complaining about no crawl space? Why would you want to go through all the headache and expense? Why don't you just build a new outbuilding?

 

[John in OH]

Can't offer anything really useful except encouragement ...
In 1925 my grandfather decided that he wanted a basement under his farmhouse in Ohio rather than the small root cellar that was dug in the 1800's. So, he and a hired hand began digging with shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, horse and dump-scoop. Dug a footer and layed up used, hand-cut, sandstone foundation stones that he recovered from somewhere. Hand mixed and poured the concrete floor by the batch. The ceiling height is not what one would want now ... it's probably no more than 7' max., but it's a full basement, works just fine, and I still live in the house when I'm in Ohio.

No idea what the cost was, or how long it took, or how he lifted and supported the house, as this all occurred long before I was born. But if two guys could do it in 1925 using only hand tools, it sure is doable today! I'm always impressed by the work that the "old folks" were able to accomplish with limited resources!!

 

[John Timmins]

I would advise that you only talk to somebody that can afford an expensive ad in the Yellow Pages. Look for words like "In Business Since 1968. " of "Specializing in moving buildings".

These people are pros, do it regularly, and make it look easy. Hire them even if they're 100 miles away. Don't hire losers.

Another thing you might consider: Professional dynomiters shore up buildings and blast the dirt out from under them. The house is sitting up in the air on beams. A slab is poured and block walls are built up to the house. Don't laugh...you're hiring pros that do this all the time.

 

[Al Bundy]

Build a new house with a proper basement. Live in the old one while it's being done. When it's finished use the old house as a garage.

Next time your stuck in a hotel room watch ****. It's a lot cheaper.

 

[PAToyota]

Well, you could turn it into a hobby like this guy did...

But it is actually a bit more common to lift a house and dig out a basement than it is to move a house.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6FnqCBvn5Z4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[camarotoolman]

if it has a good footer, I would jack it up with big bottle or railroad jacks. Lift 9" add a row of blocks, re crib the jacks, add a row , etc. till your up 8" Side the block wall to match or contrast what you have. Learn to lay block, if you don't know how, then you could do it all yourself, stay in the house, All that added sq. footage for the cost of a wall, some windows, doors etc. I would put a garage door in so you could work on your car with heat and air. Basement garages are great imo.

 

[c39er]

Watch this video of a guy getting his house raised for a real basement. Exactly what you would like to do. 30 plus vids too so you won't be so bored

 

[sublimate]

The guy who built it (Not me) cut corners every where he could.

Given that, I wouldn't sink more money into it. You'll continually find things he did wrong for the rest of your life.

 

[383 240z]

its about 10K to lift a average house in my area. You then have 30-45 days to have a new foundation built, they then come back and lower the house. I am looking into having this done on my 1817 house to replace the limestone foundation. Keith

 

[KELLHAMMER]

Wedge
Does the current footing even go to frost depth? Simply raising the whole house on a foundation not built to frost is not a good idea. Additional backfill against house should be considered

 

[tomroblee]

In the Bloomington Indiana area my first concern would be the depth of the bedrock. As others have said, it may not be too expensive to raise the house and add another course or two of block. Digging a basement under the house is a whole different ballgame if you hit the limestone bedrock two or three feet down. Your shallow foundation may be due to having bedrock close to the surface rather than the contractor cutting corners.

 

[Slednut]

I haven't much knowledge of how to do it but here's a pic of my friends house receiving a new foundation. They lived in it while it was being done.

 

[Kevin54]

In my old house, I had a guy dig a basement out underneath. All I had previously was a stone foundation that was falling apart and just one small area dug out for a furnace. The rest was dirt up to the joist. The dirt was hard as concrete. It cost me $13,000 back in '84 to have it done. He used what basically looked like the "telepost" that you see in basements as a support post, but his were way beefier. Luckily the house was on a hill and he went in through the side using an older crawler with a bucket on front. Once he had two walls dug out, he had another guy pour the footers and lay the block. Once that was all completed, he then dug out for the other two walls and small addition. I think it took around 4 weeks to complete.

 

[NUTTSGT]

How old is your home, and is building a new home on the property even a consideration ?