Foundation/Structural repair know-howers...

[goingoneight]

So, here's the dealio.

Buying a house from a family estate. Structural inspection ordered per BOK.

It's a raised foundation house, so I have no idea how it's to be repaired hopw much much per jack and/or pier.

Anyone have any experience in this department?

[Mjcpr]

My advice is DO NOT buy a house with foundation issues.

[goingoneight]

It's cracks above doors. Picky banker if you ask me. Pretty much every house that isn't band-spanking new has a crack somewhere. Especially in Oklahoma.

[Williesan]

It's cracks above doors. Picky banker if you ask me. Pretty much every house that isn't band-spanking new has a crack somewhere. Especially in Oklahoma.

That's our clay-based soils for ya. First you get a wet winter/spring and the clay swells. Follow this by a hot, dry summer and the clay will shrink as the moisture drys out of the clay. This causes settlement in the foundations, hence cracking in the walls, above doors & windows and all that other wretched junk you shouldn't need to deal with as a homeowner.

The request for this type of inspection is pretty common - if your home inspector picked it up, then you should investigate it further simply because of the fact you don't want a small issue to become a huge issue later if you buy it.

If you are looking at having piers or jacks installed, make sure you get a licensed and bonded company to do it. Make sure they offer a warranty on their work. The only company I say "Don't Use" is Olshan (the one that Nolan Ryan has been hawking for several years) - they screwed up my grandmother's house, then tried to back out on their "lifetime guarantee" when the house settled again in the same spot a year later.

What I would do: if piering is required and the seller won't pay for it, I'd walk away. It's not worth the trouble unless the property is extremely undervalued and you can cover your money invested when you sell.

Hope this helps.

Williesan

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Also research your piering companies.

Given those clay soils, make sure to invest in a piering company that drives to bedrock to anchor their piers. Others, while cheaper, only set a concrete piling at a certain depth and jack the foundation from there. All this does is square the house for now. Any additional movement, specifically from those unstable soils beneath the pilings, will simply result in more foundation shift, more problems, more of the same.

There's a company out there that's doing some concrete leveling with urethane foams now. I have yet to hear anyone that's actually tried it and the base premise sounds more applicable to filling voids under slabs. However, the guy at the Tulsa Home and Garden Show said that by application of the foam, it unifies and levels the slab and stabilizes it from continued shift. Part sales pitch, part product. But from my thoughts on it, you'll only know which system will work best for you through a structural engineer. And when I had my inspection work done when I bought my casa, inspection does NOT equal analysis by an engineer.

Permajack is a quality outfit. I've also heard good things from Ramjack. Most do free estimates which'll give you a better idea of the number of piers you're gonna need. Expect anywhere from $250 to $500 per pier. And depending on the extent of the damage and area needing stabilized, potentially up to 20-25 piers.

In other words, there is no way to get out of it cheap. Virtually impossible.

[goingoneight]

It's my grandpa's old house... recently appraised at 103,700 by the bank's appraiser of choice. He just ordered that structural because he found the hairline cracks above the master bedroom door and two in the garage. The garage is funky, because it's on the concrete, obviously... the house a raised-foundation. IOW, I might get away with only doing the actual house piers, as the garage cracks haven't grown or moved in 30 years per my Dad. However, the house cracks, we tried the quick fix or drywall patching and sanding, only to find the cracks resurfaced thanks to this wonderful snowstorm this weekend. I don't know if that's a blessing in disguise, or a curse that will put this house out of my price-range. The family's already cutting me a deal selling a 103K home for 75K... but when I compile the rest of my bills and add on down payments, closing, etc... it's just not gonna happen... me paying for it.

Anywho... thanks for the advice.

[Breadburner]

Do you mean its a crawl space.......?