*
Seems kind of impossible to give a bid like this without
seeing it. No, I don’t think you’v given enough
information.
Dog
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Fine Homebuilding's editorial director has some fun news to share.
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
Seems kind of impossible to give a bid like this without
seeing it. No, I don't think you'v given enough
information.
Dog
*
Yeah Mad Dog. He don't even got his electrical or floor finishes picked out yet.
You biddin' too?
*You may find yourself in an interesting waltz with your building inspector....Be careful.Brian
*I was wondern'if 10X10's spiked up to the joists would float that sucker to higher ground when Gert hits at the end of the week. Is that what they mean by a "floating slab" ?
*All concernedRead "Mosquito Coast" by Paul Theroux, and lay on the tar. . ..i "Look out Moses there's a white house comin up the river"(apologies to Neil)-pm
*Harv,Go to your local masonary supply yard and ask them for referals to contractors who do this type of work. This is a rather specialized field, but the results can be well worth the expense.John
*Don't mean to be cruel but asking for prices on a professionals' BB can turn contractors off. Your question involves many technical issues and even more issues about liability. Few will stick their necks out on this for obvious reasons.Raising a foundation on a flood plain would be throwing good money after bad. Foundations are dams and therefore tend to wash out when innundated by large volumes of running water. Raising the house will not avoid this risk. Piers of reinforced concrete or wooden piles will stand up much better to the risks you face if you keep your house in this location. Since you have a crawl space, a full basement may not be important to you -- so why not switch to liting the house onto a peirs. It will be less expensive to make this transition as well. Otherwise, bring in the fill, create your own high ground and set the place on a slab.
*Harv's a good guy, he's been on the board in the past. Others are correct, though, in that it is near-impossible to give an estimate without more info. And the info we need cannot really be passed through a forum like this. What prices out for the boys in Canada vs Australia vs Portland vs here in CT will most certainly not even bo close to your area. Your best bet will be to contact a few local firms to give estimates. The construction materials you describe makes it even more difficult for us to help out. One of those cases where it has to be seen to be solved.How, by the way, are your building plans that you wrote about a while back coming along?Best of luck in your search for a better place to hang your hat...Mongo
*
Hey Mongo - where in CT do you "practice"?
Just curious - my old stomping groung was south central - Old Saybrook area, etc.
*
Patrick Man,
You read mosquito coast too?
Great book.
If you still think about it sometimes you're very weird.
JonC
*I bid 16 million plus you'll have to fly me home on the weekend.
*SHACK!
*The other posts are correct about getting profesionals to lift your house. It is actually not the lift that will be expensive. We did several like this after hurricane Hugo. The electrical, plumbing and foundation were the expensive part. Do not plan on bringing in a lot of fill. It could flood your neighbors yards and create a liability. If you are going up, go up about 8' and create a raised basement. Pour a slab and you get good storage and "guy" space. Women hate these spaces if you dont finish them.-Rick Tuk
*
Speak for yourself, Boyo! A place I could exile men, kids, pets, and other sticky critters?! That I don't have to clean?! Twist my arm!
Actually, you are right in raising the house fully being the best sollution to living in a flood plain. BTW, there are flood plains and FLOOD plains... Used to be nobody worried about the 500 year plain, or much about the 100 year plain. Now with global warming and weather weirdness, who knows...maybe Arizona will get some beach front yet...
*
I just wanted to say thanks. A fast try for the long shot does not hurt. Plus the good people here never seem too busy to read a plea for help. The information given was well worth it. I was given avenues of where I can get the help I need. Thanks again.
About building the House of my dreams. My wife and I have changed and compromised what we were reaching for. She has goals that I would have compromised if I went and built from scratch. So now I am looking at adding on. Or purchasing one closer to what I had planed.
AKA HARV
*How would you like that? 10's or 20's :) AKA HARV
*The electrical and plumbing are old need to be replaced.All my neighbors' yards are higher. I have my own little green valley. I was just thinking of evening it up some. This by the way was the second time water was ever that high in 30 years. All other times' ground water never rises much in my crawlspace. I just want to be up a little. Now I guess it might not be worth it huh? Hmmm a guy space. No thanks I want to be with my best friend. But thanks for the ideal about extra storage space. Thanks The Harv
*What do you mean. What pit falls should I look out for AKA Harv
*Good point. thanks AKA harv
*I am not that close to water like that. Turning contractors off. Well I hope that was not the case. I thought if they have the time to read and reply then I might get some good input. Thank You for your time! AKA Harv
*I am just a little flood plain. Now low and dry again. Thanks AKA HARV
*Where are you loving it at in western maryland, this is my stomping ground.
*Hi JonThe bit about turning your house into a boat tweaked my memory, but my personal quest has always beeni in search of weirdness.I'm about done in southern Ontario. . . there ain't much weirdness around here anymore, just a lot of dumb shit. Gettin time soon to pack up the wife 'n kids and head out. . .there's gotta be better weirdness elsewhere. . . maybe Oz-tralia. or Gnu-zealund.-pm
*MongoWould that be Caddy or Eddie??-pm
*
SHACK???????
Isn't that near Lebanon??
*Oakland area (Deep Creek)Mountain Lake Park to be precise
*
Tefrd,
SHACK!!! As in "I shacked the target with my bomb. It blew to smithereens. And it was good."
Pete, don't get too excited, we're talking "shack" and not "shag".
Look up "SHACK!!!" in a thesaurus and you'll find "zactly", "You's friggin nailed it", and "I'm near saybrook, too."
*Lisa-Then it works well both ways! My wife says she would like to keep me in a closet and just ring a bell when she needs something. I agreed, as long as when she rings the bell she can tell me what she wants.-your average cave man,Rick Tuk
*
Cool!
Intellegent Remodelers in CT still!
Maybe I even know you.
*
Need some advice on a project. I have a ranch house that is to low to the ground and would like to jack it up two or three feet. The house 24 by 60 wood frame on a block foundation (crawlspace is three feet deep and in two sections due to an add on). Located in South Jersey, land is clay, and it's a flood zone. Yes Hurricane Floyd had water at my subfloor.
The addition is of poor craftsmanship what I mean is the previous owner use drift wood, old circus billboards, and any other scrape like that. My neighbors filled me in on all of his shenanigans. One was of the seven layers of shingles he tact on the roof. All is not bad. The owner between me and the drift wood dude. Had new beams put in under the add on.
I hope I gave you enough information for you to bless me with your knowledge. I like to know what you would charge for this project. My ultimate goal is to redo the 24 by 30 add on and make it 40 by 40 with a second floor. First I want to get what I have up from the elements. Thoughts, pointers, must-reads are welcome! Oh yah! Try and price the task for me even a range of 3000 difference would be great!
*Sorry to hear of your misfortune. I would be pissed too.Better days to come I bet.Would you like that bid itemized?Can you wait a week or so? I've got a couple (from one of the other forumns) ahead of yours. I would like to be as accurate as possible.
*
I would suggest that what ever you do, you have all the soil around your new foundation backfilled with compacted gravel to within one or two feet of grade. The reason I say this is because in my are as well as yours, clay is a very destructuive force,it swells when wet and will retain water for long periods, causing undue stress against your foundation.