foundation replacement
 

Who does one call to get quotes on replacing a home foundation? I've called foundation repair places and they don't (or won't) do complete foundation replacements. New home builders won't do it unless it's new construction. General contractors don't seem too interested (they never return calls) and house movers/lifters don't do referrals. I know there are companies or people that do this, but who?!

Long story short, I've got an old house that currently has a brick foundation (with crawlspace) that is crumbling and it desperately needs replaced. It is past the stage of repointing and really past the point of repair. The house is 2" lower in the rear than the front and one section is pushed out far enough that the sill board doesn't rest on the foundation anymore. This all caused from 100 years of bad drainage and neglect.

Ideally I want to replace it with concrete block which I could do myself once the house is lifted but I'm at that point that I'd prefer to just hire it out just to get it done. I don't really want to deal with tearing the old foundation out and digging it out for footings. I know it won't be cheap but first I need to know who will do it. Surely this can't be that uncommon?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1530314187.jpg

Yikes, brick foundation. I know, I know, its 100 years old. We don't have to many of those around but the one I have come across was a really well built Greene and Greene. I spent lots of time on doing the remod. I am not sure about block, just because its isn't done all that much around here. Keep calling remodeling contractors. Lots of guye don't want the job is because its a PITA. They can do much better build new because they have full control of the build and not have to worry making it the end product looking like it was there from day one. Lift the house, pour in place foundation and let the house back down, and deal with all interior damages like plaster walls and out of plumb cabinets, doors and windows. Most foundation contractors should or would love to have that one out here.

Be careful with foundation guys, they are only interested in installation a new foundation, then you will have to find another guy to finish up or repair the inside.

I''m guessing they would poke some big steel I-beams out both ends, on blocks perpendicular to the joists, to first stabilize it.
Then they'd use a backhoe to dig out walls, re-pour and/or stack, and back fill.

It may cost $20-150k depending I'd guess. Hopefully on the lower side.

That wall looks dangerous.
Not only are the bricks leaning and breaking...they are stacked vertically.

I'm in the unique situation of having to do this more than once..

25years or so ago my brother and I went all in on a shack in rural Vermont, 200' of lakefront slice of heaven... The cabin used to be part of a summer camp.. built to the lowest standards....One corner and wall was on a foundation of tree stumps.. and given the Vermont freeze thaw cycles.. the house moved...

You will need a contractor to support and lift the house... then a contractor to demo and build a foundation..

Its discouraging to hear that the guys who lift houses in your area wont refer a sub to you... You may have to play GC in his case, which I've done..

And then Sandy rolled though here a few years ago and took some house clean off their foundations...

Jack me up baby..

I have pics of the process that we went though on my house in Vermont.. and this is a typical scene where I live since that **** Sandy came through...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1530316673.jpg

You can sort of see the cribbing, holding the house up..

Also be advised, you may be out of your house for up to a year (or more)

WOW, what a beautiful home..

Nice house!! Did you add a 2nd floor under the house (lift it a story) or was that already there and you just replaced it?

And I'm lucky that the house that needs the new foundation isn't my primary residence. It's also gutted down to the studs. It's also small and rectangular (22' x 36' 1.5 story) so it shouldn't be difficult or a big project. It's not like I'm adding a basement or adding a second story to it. That's what baffles me though is that it's going to be in the 10's of thousands of dollars to do (in just labor) yet the GC's that I talk to don't want to mess with these 'little jobs'.

Times are good and everyone's out to make easy money. Lifting a smaller, gutted house like yours is very easy and that can be a great money maker for them. Hill side?

Someone added a floor to a cool old house near my work. Looked just like what they did to tim's place above.

The house in the pic isn't mine, its across the lagoon/canal from me, they added a dormer a few years ago, but what the picture shows is that the house was jacked almost 10' and supported, while a standard 8' (i think) basement was formed and poured. The people doing this are getting federal aide from Sandy relief, and I'm hearing the costs are in the 50-80,000 range,

Sort of a scam, the contractors know how much aid is forthcoming and adjust there fees accordingly....

My house is over 100+ years old and has weathered some nasty events.. so I'm rolling the dice and leaving it be..

Not sure what sort of permitting you need where you are, but in my County/Town (Nassau County/ Town of Hempstead) the process if onerous costly and time comsuming,, its like they gang up to prevent you from improving your home..

Funny, a lot of the house raising contractors here are from the midwest..

foundation replacement
 

Not sure what you mean about the house lifters not doing referrals.

If you’re so inclined, you could GC it yourself.

You need a house lifter to jack it up, a demo company to remove the old foundation, concrete contractor to put in the new. House lifter comes back to put it down.


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You'd think that'd be the case but I'm finding it difficult.

And yes, hillside. The problem is the house is downhill from a 5 acre estate that unfortunately all drains down the hill and right into the side of this house. It's the natural lay of the land so the city can't mandate the uphill neighbor has to do anything about said runoff so we've done what we can to deal with it (built a ditch at the bottom of the hill along the entire length of the property that will need to be dug out every few years as the hill erodes into it).

You sound like you are in the country or semi-rural area, so code isn't as a pita as it is out here. My architect shakes both his hands and head when it comes to larger hillside remodels. I am currently finishing a foundation replacement on a hill side home. That's only the front section. Yep, water intrusion damage.

I am shocked at some of these guys who doean't want the work. Its an easy 50-70 K job.

Do you have enough room to lift the house and then move it off the foundation location? Forward or back?

Lift the house and move it off the existing foundation. This way you can get a basement guy to dig and construct you a new basement. Or do it yourself.

By doing it this way you don't have the problem of your house falling into the hole as it's being dug. Happens much more than you would think. It's very hard for a legit contractor to get insurance for this type job. Also working under a house that's up on stilts can be much more expensive than doing a open hole construction.

Also depending on your soil conditions you may be required to install piles or ground hogs (depending on what the engineer requires) before you can build your footing.

Infill houses next door were required to go down 24' from the 10' deep basement hole they had dug for a total depth of 34" from grade with ground hogs. It would have been the same with belled concrete piles at a higher cost so they went with the ground hogs which were welded directly to the footing steel.

If I was you and planning on doing my own basement I would look at using Foam Block forms. Guy across the back lane did it and he said it was simpler than he thought using them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hw-u0PaPtg

I would see if superior walls are available in your location. Pre-cast concrete walls. Installs in half a day. I worked a new construction site and they used them for 250 homes. Even guaranteed to be waterproof. I would use them for my house.

I'm pretty sure you need to start with an engineer or architect that can assess the soil and work up from there.

Once you have drawings you can find a contractor.

I’ve lifted bridges.

That looks like an interesting project for sure. I’m amazed there are no contractors willing to take it on. You’ll need an engineer fir sure.

When I did mine I cribbed from inside and used hrydolic jacks on those cribs to lift and then block it so that I could work on sections using a small backhoe from the outside.

I built a 8 foot tall, 6" thick wooden foundation (following code using preserved plywood and for extra peace of mind, a barrier layer before backfilling with sand and drainage pipe).

At the base I poured footings to build the wall on. I also insulated the cavity of the 6" thick wall using blue styrofoam.

If your digging a trench, be careful about working in it.

You could try calling the local concrete supplier and asking them, they should know the locals that do that type of work, at least for the foundation part.

I have seen locally where they bring in a crane and just lift the house out of the way, do the work and place it back.

I would call,the permitting office. They have to know everyone with this skill in their wheelhouse.

It’s axmatter of having the tools I think. Beams, jacks and dunnage.

This. Great advice

Very common in my area to put new foundations under homes. In my area assuming you need to hire two subs maybe three. A house mover to lift the house. A mason to tear out the old foundation dig and pour the footer and lay the new block. Depending on soil you may need to drive pilings before they pour the footer. A good mason should be able to GC the job.

Unless things have changed they’re not interested in in a job like this because they can’t easily modify their walls to existing conditions suck as the existing house not being square.

At least that was the story when I talked to them about my house.


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Agree - if I were ever approached with something like this the first thing I’d do would be to do an on-site evaluation with a geotechnical engineering sub-consultant, then develop a scope of work according to the findings. Likely they’ll need soils reports and possibly some testing first.

IN lots of the country manufactured homes are common , they do or have done exactly what you need. They might know of folks for the job.

Cheers Richard

Have any Mennonites or Amish nearby? It might be worth a half a day to go talk to some of them about the problem . They dominate the market for that kind of work around here.

The geotechnical advice is probably good. Those guys could be able to recommend contractors as well.

We have dealt with foundation subsidence /repair here with our customers a few times. I am a fan of micropiles for substandard soil issues.

Assuming that you don't have a soil issue I would see your problem as pretty straightforward.

When I was in my young teens my father, brothers and I did essentially the same thing on three different structures - an old farmhouse (pointed loose stone foundation in a flood zone), the adjacent barn (substandard "concrete" footers in the same flood zone) and a vacation cottage (the cottage was on footers, Dad wanted a basement).

Our process was strictly farm engineering. We either jacked the structure with lolly columns or with bottle jacks and timbers, we excavated (by hand) 4' - 8' sections for footers and we formed and poured concrete walls. We did the whole cottage section by section with a total of 10 or so pours. The farmhouse we did one whole wall and a staircase and we encase the other walls. The barn we did one corner and another section of wall.

This process was a ton of hard manual labor. We didn't know any better. None of those buildings have subsided since.

Interesting stuff.

^thats what I was thinking. You can make things as complicated s you want, I usually go for the simplest. You could shore up the existing, jack the house then add a top plate/shim until level. Add a little more security with a footer behind the existing, shore up the existing, build a block wall and tie it into the existing.

Given the appearance of that loose brick I am doubting that there is any other footer. Absent an existing, intact and stable footer I would clear the brick out, Pour a footer below the frost line then put in the new foundation wall.

I wouldn't want to do block in a confined space but I suppose that would be OK. So long as you can form concrete that is relatively easy. My brother and I had a form blow out but we were just doing the "farmer" thing. We didn't screw that up again.

I'm thinking that shoring and jacking the house would be the toughest part. It looks like there are substantial beams under there which would make it easier. If you need to jack on joists you will need beams or timbers to span under them.

I think you need to go watch some 'Holmes on Homes' episodes. Sometimes he's a pain in the ass and goes over the top which annoys me to no end.

With a foundation I think you want to err on the side of caution, like he does.

Yeah, no footing and only a center beam that was added sometime in the 50's. Another part of the problem is that the foundation does not go to the frost line. It's 42" here but the foundation only goes down about 24" (12" below crawlspace grade).

I would love to go simple on this but the brick is crap brick that's turned fragile. You poke it with a screwdriver and it turns to dust. Because of that, a total replacement is really my only option.

Call a house mover and tell them you want to move the house. Move it just far enough to build a new foundation first, and move the house to it. Hopefully you have enough land to move the hose and be in a good location. Maybe build a man cave in the place where the house is.

I am good at spending lots of your money!

I've stayed out of this for now. But now I'll add my take. Moving the house is unnecessary. Raise it in place, it's easier to lay out the forms while the house is directly above. Gives a lot of info about plumbing, etc., which will be a factor.

No need to slide steel beams in from the sides, that's for when the moving platform is slid under the house and its lowered onto that. Raise the house from under with numerous jacks. The ones controlled by a single panel and have gauges on each for level would be the best. Keep the perimeter free of such equipment so that you can excavate the required depth and place your concrete with rebar. Build your stem walls in whatever manor is typical for your area and let that sucker down.

I've raised a corner of a house just enough to get concrete right up to where the new sill plate needs to be with a shim here and there, and let the house back down to level. All you need is a 1/4" if you know what you are doing.

How big is the house? Single Story?

Zeke is correct. Find the guy who has those jacks and the rest is easy.

I only have personal experience doing it with small jacks and lolly columns, and then only levelling part of the structure. Lifting the whole house requires a lot of jacking.

I have helped engineer the process on industrial buildings and homes with sinkhole subsidence (hence my fondness for micro-piles). Around here the Mennonite house movers are the guys with all the jacks and beams, so they are the guys brought in to do the lifting. They will need to do some prep to set the jacks but that should be relatively simple.

22' x 36' 1.5 story (single story with full height attic). Straight walls with no bay windows or dormers. There's one 6"x 6"x 36' beam that runs down the center of the house but the joists are full length and go from outside wall to outside wall. Lot is 60 x 70 with retaining walls on 3 sides so that negates moving it in any direction and keeping it on the lot it's on.

No need to shift it at all. Pick it up a couple inches above the sill height and you are good to work.

When we diy'd it we spanned several joists with a timber, just far enough back from the wall to leave room to dig the footer and lifted with lolley columns. Those need to be fixed top and bottom.

If I was DIY'ing that job I would lift one long wall, then the opposite wall, then fill the ends. That way the house doesn't shift - that's how we did it.

A pro will put two beams under near the joist ends and jack on those and the center beam - he will lift and level the whole house at once. That is easier and quicker when you have a crew and an
excavator They can excavate and pour the footer in one shot then stack or pour the foundation.

You/they will need to deal with the plumbing, but the foundation itself isn't that big a deal to do with the house on jacks.

Thousands of houses along the coast were jacked up after Sandy - like 3' - 12'.

If the foundation looks like that are you sure the house is not a teardown?