# Pouring a foundation under an old house?



## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Hey, all. I'm considering buying an old house- it's a damn good deal, but it needs a hellava makeover. I like it because, despite it's faults (mostly cosmetic), it's a great house, in a great spot, about a half-mile out of my hometown. Basically, perfect. 

The major drawback is that it needs a foundation- desperately. Not a basement- We don't do those out here. It's early 1900's/late 1800's, all wood. The house is in the north Bay Area, out in the country, just north of San Francisco, California. It's on a hill- no flooding, and the area gets no snow. Like, maybe an inch every century. 

I'm just looking around to see if I can find some educated guesses and other points to be proven before I call about getting quotes- I wanna know what I'm looking for.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

It really depends on what the company that you interview, that comes out to give you an estimate, how much it will cost to raise up and place Cribbing under it. Also depends on how sound the floor joists are, the structure if there is brick on the outside, that will factor into what the costs will be, for them to raise the structure, and either roll it out of the way while the footings and walls are put in place, then roll the structure back in place, when the new foundation is ready for the home to go back on top of it, or get lowered down.

No one on here can really give you numbers, but we all can tell you that you are taking some huge risks in your hands, due to who knows how sound the structure is. Has there been any dry rot, is there any insect damage, has the building been maintained over the years, that it will stay standing while the company is raising it with jacks, to place cribbing under it.

Last thing is, is a bank going to give you the money to pay for the costs, to have a house moving company come in and raise or move the structure, so that you can place a proper foundation under it, and also in turn give you enough to cover the costs of rehabbing it, so that it is a modern home after you are done with all of the work.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

It's pretty structurally sound, no brick (earthquake country), no insect damage, but I really don't know about dry-rot. The house had been maintained in a very red-neck way- Bandaids, not solutions. 

The bank won't give me money- Im an 18 year old who's got her father to co-sign on a lease-with-option agreement with people who used to be our neighbors! I am good with saving, tho- no rent, or car payments, and scholarships for broke students like me are easy to come by. 
But, besides some plumbing work, the foundation is the only thing that I would be hiring people to do- I'm a country kid; I do my own work. This house would be a project, something to turn into a home slowly, with many years of work. I'm fine living in a dump, with the knowledge that I'm working on making it better.

Basically, I want to know just what I'm considering getting myself into- What the overhead cost breaks down into? What the risks are? What things did you not realize this entailed until you were half-way thru?


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

What makes you think that it is a great house, and what is wrong with the foundation?

Why can't you have a basement?


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

cleveman said:


> What makes you think that it is a great house, and what is wrong with the foundation?
> 
> Why can't you have a basement?


They probably did not do the basement, because it is probably an old Farm house out there. Plus you have the issue of fault lines in that area, so that comes down to the fact that they are dealing with an engineering nightmare.

Most older homes in California, especially if you get into the Wine country, they have some great bones, and appeal for those wanting to get out of the city.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Yes- the house simply doesn't have a foundation in the first place. Most old houses out here don't. I'm not sure why most people don't have basements- It's uncommon in the area. No need, I figure. Also, some areas flood heavily, so basements would get flooded.. and the way I see it, pouring a full basement is more expensive than four concrete walls and a few-foot crawl space. 

It is on the edges of Wine Country- west marin, if you're familiar with the area. Besides the lack of foundation, it's a well-built house.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

They had no basements, because of the fact that is how they built homes back in the days. Most had a Root Cellar for storing stuff. But you have to remember again, there are a lot of fault lines throughout that area, and that will determine if you will be able to get the permits, and how much it will cost for this project.

As for flooding, flooding is caused by the fact that any ground cover is burned away, so nothing is there holding the dirt together, to keep mudslides from happening. That with the fact that developers these days tend to just throw a dart at a map and build without thinking of the long term consequences.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Actually, since we are less than 30 miles from the San Andeas fault, we can't have root cellars- they cave in during earthquakes, and that makes the house drop. 

We don't have many mudslides, but we've got Tidal creeks, so when it rains at high-tide, we're stranded.


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## eharri3 (Jul 31, 2013)

Jannineish said:


> It's pretty structurally sound, no brick (earthquake country), no insect damage, but I really don't know about dry-rot. The house had been maintained in a very red-neck way- Bandaids, not solutions.


Have you had an invasive/destructive home inspection? If not, I don't understand how you can be so certain that it is structurally sound with no insect damage.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

A lot of the homes like the one being described were built from old growth clear heart redwood. It is very rot resistant, insect resistant, and fairly fire resistant. I am not saying you can't have problems along those lines, just it takes a lot to get the problem going. 

They are quite different from homes built of lessor wood species, including second growth redwood.


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

Jannineish said:


> Yes- the house simply doesn't have a foundation in the first place. Most old houses out here don't. I'm not sure why most people don't have basements- It's uncommon in the area. No need, I figure. Also, some areas flood heavily, so basements would get flooded.. and the way I see it, pouring a full basement is more expensive than four concrete walls and a few-foot crawl space.
> 
> It is on the edges of Wine Country- west marin, if you're familiar with the area. Besides the lack of foundation, it's a well-built house.


How close to San Rafael are you?

There must be some kind of foundation under it,even if it's rubble I don't think it was just built on top of dirt??


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## Daniel Holzman (Mar 10, 2009)

If I understand your post, you are considering purchasing, or maybe lease to purchase, the house. And you are interested in determining approximately how much it would cost, and how difficult it would be, to install a foundation.

Certainly it would be effectively impossible for anyone on this forum to estimate cost to construct a foundation. It is not an uncommon operation, but it is a specialty skill, and generally requires either temporary relocation of the house, construction of the foundation, and relocation of the house on top of the foundation. Or, if that is not possible, the house can be jacked up, place on temporary cribbing, and then reinstalled over the new foundation. Either way, a relatively difficult job.

You certainly should get the house inspected by a professional with experience in foundations. This is not a $300 inspection by a home inspector, rather this requires possibly a structural engineer, an architect, or a contractor with foundation experience. If you select someone with estimating experience, they should be able to give you a ballpark figure for the cost of the project, but you won't know for sure until you get plans and specs developed for the project, pull a permit, and put the job out to bid.

I would think long and hard before I purchased a house with foundation issues. And absolutely spend the money to get it professionally inspected first. You wouldn't buy a $200,000 used car without a professional inspection, certainly a house deserves similar treatment.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Canarywood1 said:


> How close to San Rafael are you?
> 
> There must be some kind of foundation under it,even if it's rubble I don't think it was just built on top of dirt??


It's about an hour+ out in the country- in an old farming town. About 50% of the houses in this town are simply sitting on dirt. My grandma's, my aunt's, my uncle's.. It's actually quite common in rural areas.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Daniel Holzman said:


> If I understand your post, you are considering purchasing, or maybe lease to purchase, the house. And you are interested in determining approximately how much it would cost, and how difficult it would be, to install a foundation.
> 
> Certainly it would be effectively impossible for anyone on this forum to estimate cost to construct a foundation. It is not an uncommon operation, but it is a specialty skill, and generally requires either temporary relocation of the house, construction of the foundation, and relocation of the house on top of the foundation. Or, if that is not possible, the house can be jacked up, place on temporary cribbing, and then reinstalled over the new foundation. Either way, a relatively difficult job.
> 
> ...


If I get more serious, I will absolutely have it inspected- I'm just trying to get a feel for how big-deal this is. In this situation (the entire house being built, sitting on nothing, therefore easily picked up), would it be placed on cribs, or moved? Do you know? And I'd like to know risks involved, of course. Things to that effect. 

I came here because upon googling the question, I found many similar threads on this fourm, asking the same question, but saying since each house varied, others with the question ought to begin a new thread specific to their situation. 

Also, this house is not worth 200,000- not by a long shot. It's small, old, and needs quite a bit of TLC- mostly cosmetic (ie, a new coat of paint, re-flooring, a very thorough cleaning, sanding of handrails, ect.), but also needs to be re-plumbed- currently on the hot water runs. If I buy, I'd prefer about 100,000. The current owners don't want to have a thing to do with it, and would be willing to sell for very cheap.


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

If the house is sitting directly on the ground with no crawl space or basement that make it more difficult to pick up. Now you need to tunnel under to pull in lifting beams.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

I believe the is a dug crawl-space under the middle area- that's the norm, at least.


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## Sureshot (Sep 14, 2013)

Why does it need a foundation? 
It has been sitting on dirt for over 100yrs. Maybe you could lift and support one side at a time, or even one quarter and get enough of a "foundation" to fix the problems.
If you start this are you opening a can of worms regarding codes etc?


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

its certainly possible to do what you wish but is it economically feasible ? i once did our home ( 1864 - no bsmt & laid-up stone fnd ) BUT friends loaned beams & helped w/cribbing/hydraulic jacks & manifold/conc forms/etc,,, as i look back, in relation to their free help, i mostly bought coffee/donuts/pizza/beer + paid their loaned people more than anything else :laughing: it was winter in upstate ny so they had no work at that time,,, i ran the bobcat as we excavated,,, back in those days, we didn't have as much ' manuel labor ' as avail today,,, not an inexpensive project :no:


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## Daniel Holzman (Mar 10, 2009)

If you want to get reasonable information on your project, you need to post some photos, and includes the dimensions of the house, and provide accurate information about the foundation (if any) the house is on. The house may be on sill beams sitting on earth, or on rocks. There may be a crawlspace. Whatever there is, you need to describe it carefully and accurately.

My brother relocated a tobacco barn in North Carolina. This involved jacking the old barn up, putting it on a truck, driving it some 10 miles to the new location, lowering it onto a foundation custom built for the barn. The barn was about 800 square feet. So it can be done, and is done frequently, but the cost and difficulty are dependent on specific conditions, which you have not discussed.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

itsreallyconc said:


> its certainly possible to do what you wish but is it economically feasible ? i once did our home ( 1864 - no bsmt & laid-up stone fnd ) BUT friends loaned beams & helped w/cribbing/hydraulic jacks & manifold/conc forms/etc,,, as i look back, in relation to their free help, i mostly bought coffee/donuts/pizza/beer + paid their loaned people more than anything else :laughing: it was winter in upstate ny so they had no work at that time,,, i ran the bobcat as we excavated,,, back in those days, we didn't have as much ' manuel labor ' as avail today,,, not an inexpensive project :no:


See, I'm from a small hick town. That is exactly what would happen- the guy who built my mom's house would insist on helping, as would my grandfather (a stairbuilder) and my friends dad (contractor/construction)- and likely the neighborhood engineer. I grew up in tiny, hands-on town- most these people have know me since I was born, and considering all, my costs would be getting professionals to either jack up or move the house, and paying the cement truck. That's why I'm looking for a break-down of expenses- I can get quotes on the small bits individually, and know that what I'm paying is a fraction of what someone who lacked my connections would pay. 

Lucky me, Eh?


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Sureshot said:


> Why does it need a foundation?
> It has been sitting on dirt for over 100yrs. Maybe you could lift and support one side at a time, or even one quarter and get enough of a "foundation" to fix the problems.
> If you start this are you opening a can of worms regarding codes etc?


Code-wise, I'd actually be saving my arse. Here in marin, if something happens to an old house (not noted as a historical building) due to not being up-to-date with code, it becomes an insurance hassle. If I put a foundation that follows code, and then we get a big earthquake, Im much better off than if such happens while I'm foundation-less.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Daniel Holzman said:


> If you want to get reasonable information on your project, you need to post some photos, and includes the dimensions of the house, and provide accurate information about the foundation (if any) the house is on. The house may be on sill beams sitting on earth, or on rocks. There may be a crawlspace. Whatever there is, you need to describe it carefully and accurately.
> 
> My brother relocated a tobacco barn in North Carolina. This involved jacking the old barn up, putting it on a truck, driving it some 10 miles to the new location, lowering it onto a foundation custom built for the barn. The barn was about 800 square feet. So it can be done, and is done frequently, but the cost and difficulty are dependent on specific conditions, which you have not discussed.


Ok, then- I'll work on getting the info. Since this is such a laied-back deal of a house sale, everything's slow in motion. Of course, the owners living hours away and knowing next to nothing hinders the process even further..


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## Mort (Nov 26, 2008)

Is everybody glossing over the fact that she's 18 years old, types with proper spelling and grammar, and seems to have her s**t together? Kinda gives me hope for the future of humanity.

That's all I have. Back to your discussion.


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## Marqed97 (Mar 19, 2011)

I've been following this thread and that was my first thought, Mort. All I can say is, good for her. There are a lot of pipe-dreamers and just plain ol unrealistic ideas out there...sounds like she's got an idea, the start of a plan, and some experienced support behind her. Hey, I wish I could say the same, and I've got 13 years on her. 

Andy


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

How much land would be coming with this house ?
Is it currently a parcel, or would it need to be split from a larger parcel ?


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## Sureshot (Sep 14, 2013)

Mort said:


> Is everybody glossing over the fact that she's 18 years old, types with proper spelling and grammar, and seems to have her s**t together? Kinda gives me hope for the future of humanity.
> 
> That's all I have. Back to your discussion.


I agree and now she ended a sentence with "Eh". Doesn't get any better from a Hoser's POV:thumbsup:. I might even do the 1k trip and help for all that is worth.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Mort said:


> Is everybody glossing over the fact that she's 18 years old, types with proper spelling and grammar, and seems to have her s**t together? Kinda gives me hope for the future of humanity.
> 
> That's all I have. Back to your discussion.


Aww, thanks! But seeing as I'm going into a Linguistics major.. I ought to hope I have decent grammar!


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Marqed97 said:


> I've been following this thread and that was my first thought, Mort. All I can say is, good for her. There are a lot of pipe-dreamers and just plain ol unrealistic ideas out there...sounds like she's got an idea, the start of a plan, and some experienced support behind her. Hey, I wish I could say the same, and I've got 13 years on her.
> 
> Andy


To be fair, I've been dreaming of owning my own house since I was 14...


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Oso954 said:


> How much land would be coming with this house ?
> Is it currently a parcel, or would it need to be split from a larger parcel ?


It's currently a parcel of it's own- around a few acres, I believe. Bigger than my Dad's lot, but not as big as alot of the properties around. Basically, I could have a large garden and some extra land.

Edit- If your wondering if it would be viable to place the house, if moved, on the same land, the answer is no- but my aunt owns an empty lot that it will fit on, less than a mile away.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

NO, just seen problems out that way with multiple houses on the same parcel, or trying to split too small of a house parcel off of a big ranch property. Sometimes, they work out to be non-splitable, for various reasons. Just wanted to give a heads up, if needed.
But seems it's not an issue.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Ah, yes- I know how that goes. Thankfully, it's not an issue!


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## Mort (Nov 26, 2008)

Jannineish said:


> Aww, thanks! But seeing as I'm going into a Linguistics major.. I ought to hope I have decent grammar!


I was a journalism major for a year in college. It still makes me cringe to read internet shorthand. 

I suppose I should add that you may want to consider some big picture sort of stuff before taking on a project this large. Afterall, you're not exactly remodeling a bathroom. 

Is this house somewhere you see yourself in 15-20 years? Is it big enough to raise a family in? Will your career take you somewhere that the commute will be overwhelming? How are the schools? Neighbors? From personal experience I can tell you that some things that seem small initially can prove unbearable in the long term.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Yes to the first two- The second, no. Schools in-district are crap- I studied here till 5th grade- but good ones are a hop, skip and jump- a drive I've made 5 days a week since I left the district. There are no right-next-door neighbors, and I love the townspeople. 

No matter If I choose to buy this house or not is silly in that regard- I'm looking for a house in the immediate area. And the only one I won't buy no matter what is the one across the street from my dad. But, considering a family, I like that its on 2.8 acres- chickens, bees, maybe a horse. Cats. Its also really close to town- like a few blocks from my dad's- for a house on a bit of land, which is very nice.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

the more modern houses. what kind of foundations do they have ?


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

theres not much to this job but to call the house movers. they will jack up the house to get it on crib supports, then you level the ground all the way around, we used a pick and shovel. do not fill in. you must dig down til its level all the way around. then set your forms for concrete. digging is self explanatory and setting forms can be tricky but there are detailed instructions on the internet. it helps to have someone thats done it before. we used a pump truck to fill the forms but thats expensive. five people with wheel barrows might be able to carry one yard at a time to fill the forms. then set the house back down again. seems like the house movers do most of the uncertainties. you could do it with 4 or 6 20 ton jacks but i would not want to be under there. (the cribbing prevents the house from falling on anyone) but the house movers are so much faster. and when they need to shoot support beams under the house, they will show you where they need a hole made. so i would call the house movers first to find out what they would charge to lift it then set it down again.


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## Mort (Nov 26, 2008)

Regarding Shane's concrete placement methods, if a mixer can't get to the foundation with his chutes, get a pump. Wheeling concrete sucks, and is rarely done on foundations. It's not even really possible for the stem walls, because they're too tall for the wheelbarrow to dump into. 

Pumps are expensive, but worth the money.


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

we did all our foundations like that. your right it sucked. but we just did the footings and it was done in under an hour. we layed blocks on top of that so the only pouring we had to do was on our bond beams. (vertical and horizontal pours to hold the blocks together). and we used an on site mixer for those. pump trucks are awesome but we only used those where it was impossible to get a wheel barrow around the house. I forget what that pump truck cost but it was super expensive. i think we raised the house, poured the footings, layed the block and lowered the house for about 4,000 dollars. and the block work was only done because we were raising it too. i think a person could raise and lower the house for about 1500 if that was all they had to do. i think the pump truck was 1000 dollars additional. what does 5 men with 5 wheel barrows cost? 25 dollars each without the finish work. cleanup etc. my dad was cheap. we saved money on everything,in exchange for backbreaking labor. hauling that hose was harder than pushing the wheelbarrow, but we did not have a choice.


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## Daniel Holzman (Mar 10, 2009)

Shayne, I get that you live in Alaska, where men are men etc., but a yard of concrete weighs about 4000 lbs. If there is a man in Alaska who can wheel 4000 lbs about in a wheelbarrow, why they should be in the World's Strongest Man competition. As to getting five men to wheel a wheelbarrow, that seems to be beyond physics, but maybe you have some unusual concrete wheelbarrows up there.

More realistically, one man could wheel perhaps 200 lbs of concrete in a barrow, which means 20 wheelbarrow loads per yard. Unless you have a lot of people and a lot of wheelbarrows, and they manage to stay out of each other's way, you are going to run out of time for the truck, and you will end up wasting most of the load. Unless you plan to mix your own concrete.

The cost figures you presented seem amazing. I mean, raise and lower a house for $1500? I have been involved in half a dozen operations where houses or other structures were lifted and moved. The lowest cost operation was well over $20,000. But I guess things are different in Alaska. As for doing this work as a DIY project, I simply cannot recommend it. Too many opportunities to get killed, destroy the house, or both. Especially if the person in charge lacks appropriate experience.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Shaynecalkins said:


> theres not much to this job but to call the house movers. they will jack up the house to get it on crib supports, then you level the ground all the way around, we used a pick and shovel. do not fill in. you must dig down til its level all the way around. then set your forms for concrete. digging is self explanatory and setting forms can be tricky but there are detailed instructions on the internet. it helps to have someone thats done it before. we used a pump truck to fill the forms but thats expensive. five people with wheel barrows might be able to carry one yard at a time to fill the forms. then set the house back down again. seems like the house movers do most of the uncertainties. you could do it with 4 or 6 20 ton jacks but i would not want to be under there. (the cribbing prevents the house from falling on anyone) but the house movers are so much faster. and when they need to shoot support beams under the house, they will show you where they need a hole made. so i would call the house movers first to find out what they would charge to lift it then set it down again.



Ok, thanks! Of course, the person I hope to get to do the digging has a backhoe, and has laid foundation forms before, including the ones in my childhood home. That's no biggie. He also recommends cement trucks- and it's much faster, therefore worth it. 

Would cribbing work, with a backhoe digging the foundation? Or would it be more logical to move the house? At this point, I think thats my main question- the actual doing of the foundation is covered, in my head.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Mort said:


> Regarding Shane's concrete placement methods, if a mixer can't get to the foundation with his chutes, get a pump. Wheeling concrete sucks, and is rarely done on foundations. It's not even really possible for the stem walls, because they're too tall for the wheelbarrow to dump into.
> 
> Pumps are expensive, but worth the money.


I'm counting on it- I helped my grandpa do mixed-ourselved and wheelbarrowed in foundation for his greenhouse, and doing that for a full-sized home seems like lunacy!


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Daniel Holzman said:


> Shayne, I get that you live in Alaska, where men are men etc., but a yard of concrete weighs about 4000 lbs. If there is a man in Alaska who can wheel 4000 lbs about in a wheelbarrow, why they should be in the World's Strongest Man competition. As to getting five men to wheel a wheelbarrow, that seems to be beyond physics, but maybe you have some unusual concrete wheelbarrows up there.
> 
> More realistically, one man could wheel perhaps 200 lbs of concrete in a barrow, which means 20 wheelbarrow loads per yard. Unless you have a lot of people and a lot of wheelbarrows, and they manage to stay out of each other's way, you are going to run out of time for the truck, and you will end up wasting most of the load. Unless you plan to mix your own concrete.
> 
> The cost figures you presented seem amazing. I mean, raise and lower a house for $1500? I have been involved in half a dozen operations where houses or other structures were lifted and moved. The lowest cost operation was well over $20,000. But I guess things are different in Alaska. As for doing this work as a DIY project, I simply cannot recommend it. Too many opportunities to get killed, destroy the house, or both. Especially if the person in charge lacks appropriate experience.



Ha! I was wondering.. Thanks for the explanation and clarification!


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

yards, feet,inches..... try to google how many yards in a barrow and you will get any thing from 4 to 20. is it liquid or solid? dirt or water? does it matter? we used big contracter wheel barrows and moved every drop, every time, and never had a shortage of volunteers. i was doing it since 14 years old and i could move more than my own weight with a fair amount of ease. it sucked. it was alot of work but we made the truck move whenever possible and his chute would get you half way there. and sometimes you could shoot it straight into the forms. in this case the truck would either have to drive around the house or barrow it. we never had any truck on the site more than two hours. when we poured the forms for the house lift, we did not have to move the house. just lift it and set it down again. you can move a house trailer for 500 and skirt and level it for another 500. pulling the temporary support beams under the house was the hard part. cuz the house was sitting on the ground. we trenched under it and used a winch to pull them thru. this is not a house move, simply a lift and set it down. you could do it with hydraulic jacks but to many things can go wrong. finding something strong enuff to jack on being the least of them. this is not the type of job to cut your teeth on but the first step would be to call a house mover and see what they need and what they might charge to just lift and set back down again.


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## Mort (Nov 26, 2008)

For clarification, your standard Jackson wheelbarrow is 4 cubic feet. Since concrete weighs approximately 150lb/ft3 +/- that would be 600lbs if you piled it up. Most people like it about the 200lb mark, so like Daniel suggested, you're at about 16-20 wheelbarrows per yard. If it's a big house, you could be at 20-30yards on the footing alone, which would suck and cost you truck time and cold joints. Get the pump.


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

i dont know why concret numbers are so jumbled up. some folks say 1 cubic yard is 2000 lbs at 200 lbs per barrow thats 10 loads. all i know is we moved 7 yards in 32 minutes. That was for one COMPLETE footing. so i dont quite speak the language. If we can move the truck we do. if we can barrow it we do. if it can be dug with a shovel...we dig it. Ive removed sewer tanks with a pick and shovel. Fuel tanks are easier. Im just the grunt. They point, i dig. The pump cost more than the concrete but if someone else is paying.... I called for confirmation on the lift and drop. We had a friend that was a house mover so we got a good price. But i imagine it has allot to do with how to get the beams under the house. Theres no shortcuts and its a pain. I think it took us a week.on a side note the internet says you get 10 minutes to move a yard we were only allowed 7. truck time. more confusion,i dont get it.i always wondered what the hurry was, nobody told me the truck was timing us. I know we went over a couple times(its alaska)its cold. And they told us when we went over. i thought they charged by the hour. 2 dollars a minute sounds fair. i would have paid the 20 dollars if they would have given us another 10 minutes but the boss was very unreasonable.


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/staffpicks/media/Animated_GIFs/OhCrap.gif.html?sort=3&o=393


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

Before you go to far down the road with your plans, you need to get a good foundation man or a civil engineer under that house to see what you have. Some of those houses are too fragile and so expensive to lift, that you are better off tearing them down and starting over. It can be less expensive in the long run. Others are relatively easy to do.

Don't count on any backhoe digging under the house before it is lifted. Consider it all hand work. Then anything done with the hoe is saving you money, not costing you extra for hand digging.

No one can tell you what the foundation is going to look like until someone has been under it. You can't assume a standard perimeter foundation. It may need more of a post and beam approach.

What is the current floor height above ground level ? How much higher are you willing to have that floor in the future ?

By the way, is it two story ? Any brick chimneys ?

I would be just as concerned about the design of earthquake tiedowns for this structure as for the foundation design. If there is no beef to the structure, there is nothing much to tie to. So you may need a lot of hardware in addition to additional support.

Earlier you said that you are about 30 miles from the San Andreas Fault. That may be how far you drive to see traces of it on land. If you are in the town I think you are (General store has a German sounding name), the town is about 3.5 miles from the fault as the crow flies. 

The good news is that most of the guys are talking about deeper foundations than you will need. They do them that way because of cold weather and frost heave. You don't need them that deep. So IF you can use a perimeter foundation, you would probably need about 1/2 the quantity of concrete.


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

yeah... what he said!!!! you cant lift a house with a brick chimney. i incorractly assumed it was cabin style. we get those all the time. but if you need the foundation to get financing you going to need hurricane straps and earthquake ties to bring it up to code. sewer needs to be redone electrical etc. if inspections are required, permits are 500 to 1000. and as soon as they see the electrical then they want the whole house done. we did cabins outside the city no problem but inside... forget it. it was cheaper to move the house onto a new piece of property. some houses barely survived the move. new property 15,000.moving the house 15,000,connecting to active sewer water and electric 15,000. Nice houses though.but we barely got our money back. so really you have to look and see whats touching the ground. if its the four sides, its not too hard, but if its touching anywhere in the middle, you need pads. which means a higher lift, and more money, and harder digging. you have to be under the house to dig. i assumed a perimeter lift but thats not always the case. brick chimneys must be destroyed. a house mover would tell you if you need an engineering plan. which will double the cost of the lift. i think our plans were 1500, inspections 500 three times,1500 to connect to utillities. we did several moves and lifts. if it had to be moved through the city we had to pay someone to cut and restore utillities(too high)so everything has to be mapped out to the smallest detail. jobs like this can bankrupt a person.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Well, you sound very tough- but I'm from wine country- where no-one likes physical work. We simply don't have an abundance of people like you.


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

Shaynecalkins said:


> http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/staffpicks/media/Animated_GIFs/OhCrap.gif.html?sort=3&o=393


 
That usually doesn't happen with a seasoned worker,but it can.

In the Midwest they routinely used 6 cu.ft. wheelbarrows,and would fill to just below the rim if on a reasonably flat surface,which meant 4.5 cu.ft.,so 6 to a cubic yd.


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## Mort (Nov 26, 2008)

Shayne, to give you some background, I worked for 6 years at a concrete plant, as a mixer driver and quality control technician, and I can say with absolute certainty that concrete, depending on the mix, weighs between 3800-4000lbs per yard. 

Sorry for the thread hijack.


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

i guessed by your photo mort that you knew waaaaaay more about concrete that i did. i just pushed a barrow. my dad never told me why. but every member of the crew was 250 lbs and i was 100. so i was determined to try to keep up. i did good but i didn't know that my dad was cheap. Pump trucks are in short supply. Very expensive. and anchorage is basically built into the side of a mountain. so we could get the chute to half the footing. i guess that earned us surplus time. so we were able to barrow the other half in the time allowed. we had ramps and stuff, but it was a supreme effort for me. i think my dad would have been better off getting a real man to take my place. it was probably my fault when we fell behind. He didn't tell me we were being charged by the minute. i thought we had an hour on the truck. so i learned something from this thread and i think everyone who read it did too, that's what this forum is about isn't it? thank you jannineish for dispelling the mystery for me. i think you helped me more than i helped you. i had to make some calls and do some googling. i think i know more now than when you started this thread.


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

what kind of wine janninesh?


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## Shaynecalkins (Jan 17, 2013)

we have blackberry wine,and rasberry and blueberry. and honey made from fireweed. im sorry i meant, what brand? will i see it at the store. or do they sell product to the wine makers?I dont want to get too far off topic. i just want to learn EVERYTHING about everything. is it good wine? I make beer but its not awesome.


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## Jannineish (Sep 25, 2013)

Shaynecalkins said:


> we have blackberry wine,and rasberry and blueberry. and honey made from fireweed. im sorry i meant, what brand? will i see it at the store. or do they sell product to the wine makers?I dont want to get too far off topic. i just want to learn EVERYTHING about everything. is it good wine? I make beer but its not awesome.


All kinds- mostly of grapes, of course. Any wine you see that was made in California was likely made in the area I live- but that's like, a 100 mile radius. 

My point was mainly that the citizens around here are mostly snobby businessmen and whiny laborers that take too many breaks.


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