foundation 2 inches from level over 38′
user-182026
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I just excavated for an addition on my house. I’ve torn off an existing porch 7 ft wide by 38 ft long and am going to infill and pour a foundation. I put the laser bubble to work and determined that I’m out of level over the length by over 2 inches! Yikes what are my options? The addition will involve tearing down the wall between the two to make a continuous floor. How much do house jacker uppers charge to raise a house off it’s foundation? GEA
Replies
Are you saying that your EXISTING foundation of your house is 2" out of level over 38'? And that you want to build you addition to abut this same foundation?
If so, then how that would imply your house itself "tilts" downward 2" which I assume they somehow fixed, otherwise you'd have noticed a 2" downward tilt.
Yes, the existing foundation. I'll be adding new floor joists to extend the floor 9 feet. So one end of the new joists will be on the new found. and the other end will be attached with joist hangers, at the point where the old sill sits on the out of level foundation. The old joists are notched over the sill. G
Edited 7/29/2005 10:47 pm ET by Giorgio
The last interior I did for an upscale GC here was out 8" in 40'. I dropped off the kitchen and was asked where I wanted the 38" counter height to be. Took me a minute to get it. Could only happen in one place with a level counter. Fortunately we'd planned unusually high toe kicks. The line of tops extended nearly 25', so we broke the line at a hall to keep it from getting silly.
House was lovely and the buyers have enjoyed living in it. Don't know if they practice putting inside. The only excuse I heard was "lousy transit".
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Tom,
Was that in a new house?
New, it was. Very nice subdivision, double lot, and easily twice the median price for our area. Designed by one of the principals.
I was working for some interesting guys. Pretty sure I never got the real explanation, but the foreman occasionally had substance abuse problems. Great carp, not a bad foreman, most of the time. Only time I've ever been asked where I wanted the correct counter height to be. Maybe it gave the house character.
Not a family member of yours living there is it?PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
VaTom,
Anyone I would be familiar with????
How are you doing?? Hope you are doing. Tried calling you a while back, but I must have copied down the wrong number, 'cuase the person I talked certainly wasnt you. Please e-mail me at [email protected], Id love to talk to you.......would love to go out and see your place.
m2akita
Anyone I would be familiar with????
With apologies for a hihack....
Probably not the owners, in Waverly subdivision toward White Hall, unless you know a lot of UVA docs. Pediatrics, IIRC. The company's still around, but with only one principal. You'd certainly know of the departed one, a major C'vlle real estate player.
Matt, I'll call you. Getting busy shortly. New driveway up Beaver Creek Mountain, back of Crozet. Want any boulders? If I can pick them up there's a pile to disperse. I was WAGing 5-6 tons, but my client thinks more. Certainly some are. I'll know this week. Bring your pickup? <G> Then concrete retaining walls for a GC doing major work on E Jefferson, if the city will finally give approval. That's been in the works for a yr now. Just about zero chance of getting my machinery in there. I like him, dislike working in C'ville.
Surya said nice things about you. Haven't heard from them for a very long time. If you're looking, Smith and Robertson have a very interesting house almost framed for a friend out here. They're looking for help. Exquisite site and if you got friendly with the client, there's no better place for your pooches to run (with his). Shoot, stick around and eventually I may be building an indoor, underground, pool there. Rick got excited when I outlined it for him last week.
Gotta have fun, right? PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Are the joists all notched the same depth?? They may have compensated for the out of level foundation by changing the notch depth on the joists. I learned to check that the hard way, just recently in fact..........such fun..
-m2akita
2"/38' is 0.4% slope.
Probably wouldn't even see that with a 4' level. Definately would not be able to "notice" it without the laser level.
Giorgio, I wouldn't worry about it. Build to fit.
Samt
Go dot to dot, straight line.
All winter, I have been adding a 26 x 24 plus bump out to a house that is 30 x 50 and is out 1.5" along the 30' side, about the same pitch you have. It is barely noticeable. We built level and made sure it was right at the door where the tie-in happens.
Two years ago, I added to one that was off two inches in 24'. The floors rolled a bit, but all the walls were plumb, same as the one I am now finishing. The addition on that one followed the existing pitch. The only place it is critical is a kitchen. Appliances must be leveled and cabs have only so much room for shimming...
my last one before this had about a 9" roll in the floors. now that one did need some jacking, but she took two hundred years to settle in that much...
The biggest proiblem I have had was one that was about 28' x 68' and three stories tall. It had settled 5" in the 28' direction and had some leaning walls. We jacked what we could - about 3" and shimmed in the rest where necessary.
Point of all this - there is sometimes a need to jack, sometimes to shim, and sometimes to tear it down, but from what I hear of yours, sometimes there ia a time to live and let live. I would want to try and asses why it is 2" off, say water underground, and indian burial ground, or a poor job to start with, to get an idea if it is likely to continue getting worse, or has already stabilized long ago. Then i would probably just build to it.
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