"upwardcall" wrote in message
...
We purchased a hundred year old house in NE Missouri a few years ago.
There is a ridge in the kitchen floor. Under that floor is a concrete
cellar that is about 6 feet tall. The rest of the foundation is
probably only 3 feet tall. We've been told the rest of the foundation
has probably sunk but, of course, the cellar portion has sunk a lot
less - leaving us with the ridge.

Any suggestions? If we were to take the drastic choice to raise the
house and put in a new foundation, we aren't sure the house would go
back to its original state intact anyway (as a matter of fact, most
contractors have told us to level and start over instead). Some have
told us to put in several jacks and slowly lift the house. Others
have suggested we just make the kitchen level with the cellar side
(but I'm pretty sure that would mean a step into our living room). We
also thought we could take extreme measures to cut out the concrete
and lower that portion. What would you do?

As a side note we are considering putting an addition on the side of
the house.

Thanks!


I would make a water level and crawl under with a couple of jacks and
blocking. Then I would start jacking up the low areas and blocking the
house up until it was level. Cheap and easy. If it doesn't work you can
always go back to tear it down and start over. I would give careful
consideration to your floor plan before investing much money in the existing
structure. You probably have tiny bedrooms with no closets. A tiny
bathroom added on in a weird location. Inadequate wiring. You also my have
balloon framing which creates a significant fire hazard. Unless you can fix
all these items you probably should not invest much additional money.
Unless the location is perfect you may be money ahead to sell and buy a more
modern house.