Foundation help!

[drm]

jhb,

Glad you are considering this route. Just be sure to get qualified contractor with lots of experience. As you have probably figured out it is not rocket science but does require some specific experience and knowledge.

Good luck and let us know how things work out.

...Derek

 

[jhb]

How would you go about locating such a contractor. I think this is a specialty kind of job, anyone can pour a foundation, doing it with an old house on top I would think was a little more tricky.

At the same time, I may excavate under the house and repair old rotted beams.

 

[BigAl]

We have done many foundation retrofits in older homes through the years . Can you pour a footing or footer (as it is called depending on your location ) under the expose area ? If you can, than lay a roll of concrete blocks on the new steel reinforced concrete footing, leaving the temporary screw jack supported part exposed for now . After the Concrete Blocks have been grouted and cured for a few days . Go ahead and lift the house and resupport the house on new section . Then fill in the remaining open area where the jack support was. It will make the job go much easier if the remaining opening ,where the temporary support was is on 16" multibles. (IE: 16"-32"-48" -64" etc. ) as that is the lenght of Concrete block and you won't end up needing to cut the block to fill in the last part . You will pay around $1 a piece for the Block and the Pre -mix Concrete footing material can be mixed in the wheelbarrow from #90 pound sacks of "concrete mix" which should cost about $3 a bag or so . Place two bars of 1/2 " rebar in the footing horizontaly and one vertical bar of 1/2 " every 16" on center to tie in the block to the footing .
allen

 

[Egon]

In our area I have seen one old house renovated. The entire house had large beams placed under it and it was then jacked up. A new foundation poured and the house was set back down.

Contactor wise perhaps just keep looking and calling. There may be an association in your area to which they all belong.

If you do have some rotten beams this would be a good time to be able to inspect all and replace. It would sound like a job for more than one person.

Egon

 

[Junkman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( How would you go about locating such a contractor.)</font>

Call WGBH in Boston and ask them for a recommendation. They have done this before and will pull up at least one or more names for you. If you were lucky, you might even get them to do a episode and do the repair for you. Just don't hold your breath waiting.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[drm]

Some good recommendations have been made about This Old House (or possibly Ask This Old House). Otherwise just start calling contractors. Ask for jobs they have done and any specific experience. If the one you call is not qualified ask if they can refer you to someone with experience. A lot of leg work will pay off in reducing frustration with a poor job from inexperience.

You may also find an engineer who may be able to recommend a contractor but this is less likely.

Good luck...Derek

 

[jhb]

Pictures: I decided to support the corner myself. It only took about 1/2 hour. You can not really see the support post, but you can see the rock wall sloping under the house. I cut a slot in the slope uner the corner of the house and put a steel adjustable post under it and cranked it up. Worked like a charm! Everything back to level!

 

[jhb]

another

 

[jhb]

one more