Great to see an in-depth look at a major foundation repair since I've never done one before. Love the before and after pics as well (blue is always a great color choice on anything, especially siding). Thanks for the great content Coach!
Great video, thanks for this series. I have a few questions if you don't mind. 1. Did a licensed structural engineer have to provide the plan and if so what was his cost? 2. It appears a new perimeter footing was installed all the way around and cement block used from the footer to the house structure. Is that correct? Curious as to how the top block / house joint was made. Mortar joint? 3. Interior piers seem to be replaced with new solid concrete blocks. Was a footer poured for each new pier? It also seems like a new wood beam system was added above the new interior piers. Is that correct? 4. Although you overran your estimate, it seems like a lot of work for the cost. Of the $16500 how much was labor vs materials? In my area (Maryland) I expect the costs would be considerably higher due to soil conditions and foundation requirements. 5. Is there a formal county or city inspection required? Again, thank you for providing this series,.
Thanks for the question. I'll do my best to answer: 1. I hired a licensed engineer to look at it separetely from the contractor. And he had suggestions/changes he suggested based on that. If I had it to do over again, I would have hired this engineer FIRST and let him make the plans that everyone else followed. Live and learn. 2. I'm not sure how the block was connected to house. I assume a mortar joint, because the only materials they had out there were cement blocks and mixed mortar. 3. Not all piers were replaced, but a good number of them were replaced with new footer and cement blocks on top of footer. Yes, one new beam was installed in center of house because some of the spans were too long. 4. Based on the unhappy response when I asked the contractor to go back and fix stuff the engineer found, I don't think he would do this job again for $16,500. I'm guessing it would have been $20,000 - $25,000+. And I'm sure it's more expensive in different parts of country. I'm not sure break down of labor to materials, but there was a LOT of labor time. 5. Yes, city inspection and permits were required.
Looks like there was some plastic down, crucial to always have that vapor barrier. Why people neglect that aspect is beyond me… simple, cheap, effective.
Hi, I’m working on a 132 year old to story house right now and there’s nothing in the house I’m working on that looks as good as what you started with most of the wood was sitting on the dirt and a whore one or two pieces of granite rock the center of the house is sitting on a granite rock that they found somewhere threw it on the ground stuck a rough, cut 4 x 4 in there sideways beat it in the place took some rough cut wedges drove a man. The house is 35 feet wide and may have 3 to 4 support areas across the entire house with little to no beams. Most of the wood that had ground in Compac is rotted 6 to 28 inches. I’ve been in the foundation repair business for 42 years and this is definitely a challenge I can’t remember what the old saying is, but this is the house built by John. And John was in the Carpenter, a journeyman, a concrete man I think he cleaned horse stalls for living because this house is full of S#/“*!
Good luck! Sounds like you have a tough job ahead of you, but I think you are much more qualified than I am to take it on! I bet it will be beautiful when you are done.
In this case we did not install an impermeable membrane. We just had cement blocks and cement footers. And we have gutters to divert water away from house. But in other cases we have dug along entire foundation and installed a membrane on top of cement blocks in order to prevent water intrusion into crawl space.
We are near Clemson, SC. Unfortunately I wouldn't recommend the person who did our work at first! It's tough to find anyone to do it. Perhaps you can get a structural engineer o give you a plan, and then hire contractors to do it. With a plan it might make it less intimidating.
The fun of rehabs on older homes! Your contractor did nice work at a reasonable price. How long were they on the project? Started a remodel on a 1943 home four weeks ago, no foundation issues (been up underneath it enough, plumbing and electrical). Yours is quite a project, just math (and good estimation)!
They took a couple of weeks on most of the work. But it ultimately took 3-4 weeks because i wasn't happy with some of the work underneath and asked them to go back. I wishni could say i estimated well on this one. I think my skills were rusty and we will be 30-40% over my original estimate. Ouch!
Hi Chad...thank you for all the sharing of information on investing .I'm searching for a structural engineer for a project, can you give a referral of who you use?
I'm probably not the best person to ask, because my contractor ended up being bad! But if I had to do it over again, I'd talk to mobile home dealerships. There are companies that do a lot of masonry work to block in doublewides, and I bet they'd also be able to do the work we had to do on this old house.
I've been binge listening to your podcast on Google Podcast but unfortunately they don't let you leave a review. I just wanted to say how much I enjoy listening and getting insight from you on real estate investing. I have a rental that was unintentional due to purchasing in 2008 but it will be paid for soon and I'm looking for my next property. Just wanted to let you know that I enjoy the show and appreciate all the time that you put into it. Thanks!
Thank you so much for the feedback and for listening to the podcast! I've added you to the list of reviews eligible to win a free book:) And congrats on the property that's almost paid off! That's awesome!
We just sold a house in CA and the buyers got spooked by a comment made by a pest inspector about our pier & beam foundation. It had been looked at by inspectors before we prepped the house for sale, but the buyers wanted a foundation inspection. Although pier & beam was common in our neighborhood due to the soil type, we had a terrible time finding someone who would/could come inspect it to ease the buyers minds. We were a little worried there would be a surprise or just delay the whole deal since we were ready to pack for TX. It all worked out fine, but it just shows how easily buyers get scared and how important it is to have your ducks in a row when you sell! Great content, love the show!
Yeah, any foundation issue seems to spook buyers. We have had to get engineers involved before to recommend repairs and sign off in the end. The scary stuff can get you good buys (like this triplex)
Nice foundation work. Interesting that they didn't just jack up the entire house to do the new foundation. First impressions on the siding color, looks great! That said I'm not a great guy to pick colors... Lol
It was a medium tier vinyl siding. It cost $15,705. You can see all the details in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XJghX57vbg8.html ...
Wow! Impressive repair. The finished product looked great! I'm dealing with a foundation issue right now on one of my single family units with a monolithic slab. Getting water in the house during heavy rains. Right now, using educated trial and error to try to resolve the issue since the source is currently unknown. BTW like the new color on this house!
thank you for watching Brooke! I'm definitely loving the siding and how they pop with the new windows and doors now. We're going to put coverings over the doors and new porch rails which will make it even better.
No, i wish. We had over 30 days sitting still working on getting contractors started on next part (new wiring, new plumbing, carpentry work inside). Finally started back now.
The outside came out real nice! I am from Ct and would probably pass on this because of the cost of repair. Would you be willing to share your numbers on this project?
Yeah, i wouldn't blamr you on passing, Matt. I have had 2nd thoughts too! If you look at the playlist of this rehab, i share numbers for each step. And i will share total numbers t the end.
That was helpful, thanks for sharing. I would have guessed it would be more than $15k. The siding did wonders, too. Approximately how much did it cost to reside the house?
Siding cost $15,705. You can see all the details in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XJghX57vbg8.html ... the foundation work could have cost a lot more with other contractors. We got lucky to find the one we did.
Just had to do some major foundation repairs also at my rental here in south Florida. We used push piers (20-30ft. Into load bearing soil) and underpinned them to the existing footer. Came out nice on your end. Should last a lifetime.
It wasn’t too bad cost wise... I did the excavation and back fill myself, so for just the pilings being installed were $7,500 total. I was getting ridiculous quotes from $15,000-$30,000.
