Quote:
Originally Posted by Rolie
We have a cottage in Meredith with a crawl space that is less than usable because of dampness. We have been thinking about having it jacked up about 5 or 6 feet to make the front of the house more level with the street and to level and cement the floor to make the basement usable.
There is a concrete foundation in place now and I'm thinking that a concrete block wall in the front part of the house and a framed knee wall to the existing foundation under the rest of the house.
Anybody out there have any experience with this type of project who may be able to provide some guidence and some do's and don't's?
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I have been involved, by involved I mean a friend of the one doing it and being apart of the labor, in this type of project just on a house (bigger scale) not a cottage. First things first, find out why it is so damp and what precautions, i.e. sub-pumps, high water table, soil type, will need to be taken to keep it dry, those costs might not make it worth it. Also don't forget you will have to extend all your plumbing and possibly your electrical service to allow for the extra height on the cottage.
I recived a price to have someone put a 4 foot crawl space basement in a cottage in Laconia and price was just $35,000 doing it the right way (18x22 structure). I have a water table under my place of less than 6 feet. we are right on the water, the killer was the hoisting of the cottag up 5 feet and having it sit there on metal pilings while all the work was done underneath it. Plus it was a couple of weeks of work. NOt to mentiont he interior wall damage and ceiling damage that could come of it do to the stress, and my is just sits on blocks and pilings for now. I was basically told it would cost half as much as if I were to just tear down and start from scratch without out incurring hte cost of hoisting what is already there.
Good Luck