eblackhawk
Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
- Messages
- 5
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Hi! I'm a new guy here from TN and I have a problem that is both vexing and depressing at the same time. I live in a two-storey house that is nearly 90 years old. When I bought the house 18 years ago the floors slanted a little but I wasn't concerned for I have lived in several old homes that weren't level with no apparent problems. But now I am experiencing a HUGE problem. Over the past few months numerous cracks, both vertical and horizontal have appeared all over the house. In my dining room especially, everything shakes when you walk into the room.
I have had foundation repair people out to look at my problem but they say they cannot help me because there is not enough room in my crawl space (17") for them to do anything about it. They say they need at least 27" for them to get around in there to shore it up. Eventually, one company recommended someone who may be able to do something about it. So I give this guy a call, he comes out and says he should be able to get under my house with his "crew of Guatemalans" and jack up the house and put plastic sheeting over the dirt to help prevent future problems.
Well, he comes out one fine day with one other guy (not a "Guatemalan")
and after looking under the house from the crawl space access says there is no way he'll be able to get under the house from there. He then suggests that he can cut a hole in the floor in my hall so that he can get to the load-bearing walls that need support. He and his helper proceed to do that, moving the carpet out of the way and saws a 3'X6' hole in the floor. Six hours (over 2 days) later he puts a jack under 1 wall in my kitchen and puts a cement support under the nearby bathroom wall. However, he says there is no way for him to get to my dining room from there (that is the main sagging wall) unless he tears up either my kitchen tile floor or my hardwood floor in the dining room in order to do this. Also, because of the lack of access, he cannot put plastic sheeting down. For doing what he did, he charged me $2400 and for another $800 he'll do the dining room.
I feel he did not do much for the $2400 and so I am reluctant to have him tear up more of my house. Bottom line: I don't think he really did much to help and my fundamental foundation problem still exists. What can I do to repair this problem? I don't have a lot of money to fix this problem even if I knew what to do next! Where do I go from here? Any suggestions??
Eric
I have had foundation repair people out to look at my problem but they say they cannot help me because there is not enough room in my crawl space (17") for them to do anything about it. They say they need at least 27" for them to get around in there to shore it up. Eventually, one company recommended someone who may be able to do something about it. So I give this guy a call, he comes out and says he should be able to get under my house with his "crew of Guatemalans" and jack up the house and put plastic sheeting over the dirt to help prevent future problems.
Well, he comes out one fine day with one other guy (not a "Guatemalan")
and after looking under the house from the crawl space access says there is no way he'll be able to get under the house from there. He then suggests that he can cut a hole in the floor in my hall so that he can get to the load-bearing walls that need support. He and his helper proceed to do that, moving the carpet out of the way and saws a 3'X6' hole in the floor. Six hours (over 2 days) later he puts a jack under 1 wall in my kitchen and puts a cement support under the nearby bathroom wall. However, he says there is no way for him to get to my dining room from there (that is the main sagging wall) unless he tears up either my kitchen tile floor or my hardwood floor in the dining room in order to do this. Also, because of the lack of access, he cannot put plastic sheeting down. For doing what he did, he charged me $2400 and for another $800 he'll do the dining room.
I feel he did not do much for the $2400 and so I am reluctant to have him tear up more of my house. Bottom line: I don't think he really did much to help and my fundamental foundation problem still exists. What can I do to repair this problem? I don't have a lot of money to fix this problem even if I knew what to do next! Where do I go from here? Any suggestions??
Eric