Costs of foundation leveling - perimeter beam and internal piers

[Todd Burch]

I just bought a small fixer-upper. The foundation in the rear of the house is sagging a bit. Haven't measured the droop yet.

If it was the front of the house, I'd ignore it for a while, but I plan on adding a 180 sq ft addition to the rear of the house.

Had a guy come out yesterday evening to look at it. Been repairing for 23 years. He said it needed 14 piers, 6-7 feet apart, across the rear 50.2' and down either side (2 on the left and 3 on the right).

$300 to dig per hole, and then $1600 to level the house. Total $5800. "L" shaped house is ~1400 sq ft including the attached 1 car garage. Back of the house is straight all the way across.

Does this sound right? Back in circa 2000, I had 3 sides of a 2 car garage raised (slab on grade), 10 piers @ $250/each, $2500 total.

Have prices gone up this much?

[Jay Jolliffe]

How is the foundation sagging?.....I've never heard of a cement foundation sag.....Stone one's yes but not cement.....I guess the footings were not thick enough...

[Dave Sheldrake]

Exponential Todd,

Based simply on US inflation figures for the years between 2000 and 2014 the price would rise to $3,387.02 add in the retail price index increases for the building and construction trade and you are up to just over $4,526, now add on the extra 4 piers at $300 ($1,200) and you are up to $5,700.

cheers

Dave

[Jeff Bartley]

Todd,
I think Dave is probably right about prices going up but before you attempt to fix anything you need to answer this question: why did the foundation sag?

[Todd Burch]

As I said, I just bought the house. I don't know it's 53 year history. Foundation guy said it was due to the drought we had back in 2011, but he's never looked at this house before either.

Most of south east Texas has a good share of highly expansive soil.

Dave, can you do that calculation for the wages I've been earning? ;) Wages may be the only thing not going up exponentially, eh? ;)

[Dave Sheldrake]

Dave, can you do that calculation for the wages I've been earning? ;) Wages may be the only thing not going up exponentially, eh? ;)

I could but it wouldn't be good news unless you get a annual increase above inflation ;)

cheers

Dave

[Jim Rimmer]

It Sounds high to me. I live south of Houston. I had seven piers put under one corner of my house where the Live Oak had sucked all the water out of the soil and caused the slab to droop. I don't remember the exact cost but I know I paid $1400 for 2 root barriers between that Live Oak and another one and it was more than the foundation work.

[Dave Sheldrake]

You're lucky Todd, the place I just purchased was built in 1562 and needs a "little" work :)

cheers

Dave

[Ken Fitzgerald]

You're lucky Todd, the place I just purchased was built in 1562 and needs a "little" work :)

cheers

Dave


Is this where the misunderstanding of "exponential" comes into play Dave?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Amen Ken :)

It's a great place but has been empty for some time, 30 inch thick stone walls and all sorts of strange staircases,probably got 9 months to put into it and $200k in updates :(

Famous last words "ahh that's not too bad , we can manage that" ;)

cheers

Dave

[Todd Burch]

That project would be a blast Dave! Too bad I'm not your neighbor. I have "tools"! lol

Are going to keep a blog?

Todd

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Todd,

I have to ask the obvious question.

Have you thought about get 2nd and 3rd bids on this?

[Todd Burch]

Yes Ken, thanks. I just got off the phone scheduling bid #2, and I'm even considering hiring an engineer that will also provide a repair order specific to the faults the foundation has. (That way, the repair companies will have a defined scope of work). I'e already asked one firm, who does inspections, but they don't write repair orders.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Todd,

Buying a "fixer-upper" can be a bit of a pain at times. A friend/coworker bought one in central Washington and then years later transferred here. He received a offer on his house there but it required an inspection. The inspector discovered that the house wasn't attached to the foundation. Researching county records, the house had been moved there from somewhere else. It cost my friend a little over $5,000 for a structural engineer to design an approved method of attachment and for the materials. The guy and his Dad did the actual work and of course, it had to be inspected. My friend had hired an inspector when he bought the house but the defect was not caught at that time and there was no legal recourse. He hired a lawyer and found out he couldn't hold his inspector responsible.

[Chuck Wintle]

I just bought a small fixer-upper. The foundation in the rear of the house is sagging a bit. Haven't measured the droop yet.

If it was the front of the house, I'd ignore it for a while, but I plan on adding a 180 sq ft addition to the rear of the house.

Had a guy come out yesterday evening to look at it. Been repairing for 23 years. He said it needed 14 piers, 6-7 feet apart, across the rear 50.2' and down either side (2 on the left and 3 on the right).

$300 to dig per hole, and then $1600 to level the house. Total $5800. "L" shaped house is ~1400 sq ft including the attached 1 car garage. Back of the house is straight all the way across.

Does this sound right? Back in circa 2000, I had 3 sides of a 2 car garage raised (slab on grade), 10 piers @ $250/each, $2500 total.

Have prices gone up this much?
What type of foundation is the house on? slab on grade or dug out with walls and footings?

[Dave Sheldrake]

That project would be a blast Dave! Too bad I'm not your neighbor. I have "tools"! lol

Are going to keep a blog?

Todd

Depends how much time I get really :( I'm moving the factory as well so things are going to be hectic :)

Lovely views over the valleys to the mountains though so worth it in the end.

cheers

Dave

[Todd Burch]

Todd,

Buying a "fixer-upper" can be a bit of a pain at times. A friend/coworker bought one in central Washington and then years later transferred here. He received a offer on his house there but it required an inspection. The inspector discovered that the house wasn't attached to the foundation. Researching county records, the house had been moved there from somewhere else. It cost my friend a little over $5,000 for a structural engineer to design an approved method of attachment and for the materials. The guy and his Dad did the actual work and of course, it had to be inspected. My friend had hired an inspector when he bought the house but the defect was not caught at that time and there was no legal recourse. He hired a lawyer and found out he couldn't hold his inspector responsible.

Ah, the old "the inspector didn't do his job" scenario. Wasted money on an inspector AND a lawyer.

I avoided that, and didn't hire an inspector to buy this place. I was planning on doing so much to it, I figured most things he would inspect (which is only visible items) were either nonexistent (like the range, and an HVAC system) or were getting replaced anyways.

It needs a lot of work. It's a project that will keep me busy for 2-3 months, but should be pretty nice when done. And, hopefully, I'll start a trend on my street to get others interested in improvements. (Perhaps naive hoping, but I can dream...)

[Todd Burch]

I got a cost I am comfortable with, from a local reputable company. $2640. They can do it in one day. No piers required, just jacking and shimming.

[James Conrad]

What's stopping this from happening again?

[Todd Burch]

Do you mean me starting another thread? ;)

Here's my plan for regrading the yard. 10' all around the house, I'll regrade it so that at 10' out, it's 6" lower than at the beam. Might have to do some terracing or build a wall in back. The top right corner in the image is the highest elevation of the lot, which is probably 6' higher. The back left of of the house is the lowest spot in the back yard, and in the zillow picture, you can even see standing water against the beam.

If anyone is interested, this is the house. It's a project. Tomorrow, I'll spend ~14 hours tearing the interior out.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1703-Morgan-St-Brenham-TX-77833/90588352_zpid/

Todd.

[James Conrad]

Hopefully that will address the problem from coming back. Just would hate to see you throw money at a problem and it not be a long term cure. Looks like you will have your hands full inside, that's the fun part anyway, look forward to seeing the end result! Good luck!