Mortgageman79

Hi All,

I am very excited about this site and joining as a member as I think it is exactly what I was looking for. I Have currently went under contract on a house in a beach community in new jersey and I have a question regarding the foundation. I will try to provide as much information I can about the property in hopes that someone will be able to answer my question(s). The house is a 1940's bungalo built on a pier foundation. The house is fine aside from the normal wear you would see on a home that is 60+ years old. My ultimate goal is to blow off the roof and and another level as it is currently only 1 floor. The town will not permit me to add the level unless the foundation is "Beefed up". This would require me to put in a new foundation with the proper footings. The current pier foundation is no more than 1.2 to 2 feet off the ground. I would not be looking to put a basement in just a crawl. The house is about 25x40. Ok so now to my question(sorry it took so much reading)

-What type of cost should I be looking at for something like this?
-What is the normal process for this type of project?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

mudmixer

The first thing to do is get a structural engineer to tell you what must be done. Since it is older and soil bearing may be a part of it, any prescriptive code requirements and he will have to come up with a solution to satisfy the town. He probably will give you several options. You will need someone to sign off when you do the jbo, so you might as well get the information early.

One you know what has to be done, you get go about getting prices that really mean something. Prices over the internet really mean nothing since little information is given.

Foundations can have a wide range of cost depending on what has to be done. If the soil is not good enough for the extra floor, you may need bigger footings or more footings under the house. If you get into making changes in the footings any footing code changes since 1940 would have to be implemented.