On Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:06:24 -0500, "J.A. Michel"
wrote:

Excellent advice. We were in the same place not long ago. There was no
easy way to add on to our house, so it was either a second story or add a
basement. (the house had neither)
Adding a second story was out of the question, not only from a cost
standpoint, but the footings would not have handled the extra load. We
seriously looked into putting a basement under it. We almost did it, but
the housemover wanted $12,000 to lift the house 36" and set it back down AND
I had to do all the work. Work meaning get everything ready for the lift -
he only lifts the house and nothing more.

In the end, it was less hassle to build a new house with basement - which is
what we ended up doing.

If you make the second story bigger than the lower one, you can
support it on posts that are completely independant of the
first floor foundations. This will not, of course, look
like any other house in the neighborhood, so it takes
a fair amount of self-confidence.