(old) wood floor vs concrete
 

We have a home that was built in stages. Part of the house is built on a
raised wooden skirt with wooden floors and nothing below except earth. The
newer part of the house was built on a poured concrete slab. We are wanting
the entire house to be on a concrete foundation.

From what I have been told, the older part of the house basically needs to
be gutted (all interior walls and existing flooring removed) and then the
new foundation gets poured. Then the walls go back up.

We've gotten quotes ranging up to $40k to do this.

My attitude is to nuke the site from orbit and start over again by building
a new house in place of the old one.

Has anyone ever gone through anything like this before?

Thanks.

(old) wood floor vs concrete
 

"Jason Wagner" wrote in message
...
From what I have been told, the older part of the house basically needs to
be gutted (all interior walls and existing flooring removed) and then the
new foundation gets poured. Then the walls go back up.

A good friend recently added not just new foundations, but an entire
basement under his house with less trouble than that. Basically the process
was to construct some shallow footings outboard of the house, then jack up
the house until it was bearing solely on the temporary footings. Then, a
loader excavated completely under the house, new basement foundations &
walls were installed, and the house was lowered back down to bear on the new
construction. Frankly, I didn't believe it was going to work, but he's very
happy with the result.

FWIW,
Joe F.

(old) wood floor vs concrete
 

"Jason Wagner" wrote in message
...
We have a home that was built in stages. Part of the house is built on a
raised wooden skirt with wooden floors and nothing below except earth.
The
newer part of the house was built on a poured concrete slab. We are
wanting
the entire house to be on a concrete foundation.

From what I have been told, the older part of the house basically needs to
be gutted (all interior walls and existing flooring removed) and then the
new foundation gets poured. Then the walls go back up.

We've gotten quotes ranging up to $40k to do this.

My attitude is to nuke the site from orbit and start over again by
building
a new house in place of the old one.

Has anyone ever gone through anything like this before?

When you say 'raised wooden skirt', do you mean a pier house, like is common
down south? (think entire house is basically an enclosed front porch). Or do
you mean a 'sleeper' foundation, where house is built on what are basically
huge railroad ties laying on ground?
As to the question about having gone through that- well, sort of- I
participated in a house moving once, which is basically the same thing,
except the house isn't in the way while you build the new foundation. Get
professional advice- is there enough left of the original wing of house to
be worth gutting and rebuilding from inside out, versus demo and rebuilding
new wing on same footprint? (with modern insulation and utilities, and nice
and square, etc.) Is the old wing constructed in such a way that it can't be
jacked by a house mover and new crawlspace foundation added underneath
(preferable to slab in many cases)?

You need professional help to chart out all the viable options and cost them
out. Don't forget the sell and move option. Any harebrained scheme can be
done if you throw enough money at it, but if it costs you more than
replacement cost of house, it is seldom worth it, other than maybe like they
do with historical houses. 'Nuke from orbit' is sometimes the logical
choice.

aem sends....