Lifting home and adding a foundation
 

I am considering jacking up my home and having a full foundation added. Anyone have recommendations of people that do this kind of thing? Also any idea's what it may end up costing??

10 years ago a friend had his 30' x 30' cottage raised and a full foundation put in. Cost then was in the $30K range.

Doing a google search,one of the first links was to this forum with the same question as you in 2009.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ead.php?t=7424

Just finishing up on doing that on Lake Waukewan. There is a lot that goes with the project, my advice talk to someone who has done it. Sent you a pm if you would like to talk

My brother did this to his Moultonboro home back in 2000. He worked with DOUG Murphy of Center Harbor and East Coast Foundations. Doug moved the house and East Coast did the foundation. It was somewhere around $17k. His home is 30 x 30.

Oh, he also had some other work done...like French drains put in.

No recommendations for you but you certainly want to employ somebody that knows what they are doing as this is not a trivial task especially considering that most places that are build on piers are build with specific support points (piers) engineered into the overall substructure of the building. Placing the building on a foundation would most likely need to include some if not all the same support points as the piers it is replacing. Whether that be by installing additional support beams or strategically placed lally columns.

The same considerations also need to be thought about when lifting and supporting the building while a foundation is constructed underneath or risk damaging the building.

Either way it sounds and probably is expensive.

Barry Caswell in Wolfeboro does this.

Lifting Home
 

Geddes Building Movers

359 River Road
Bow, NH 03304

http://www.geddesbuildingmover.com/news/

If the cottage is currently on piers the use of steel I-Beams under the structure will help support it when put on the concrete foundation. You will need to have an engineer deterime the best placement.

IIRC, about 30 years ago, Geddes lifted my 30x30 cottage and we put our own foundation/first floor under it. We had no problems with them.

What is the age of this home?
What is the size of this home?
Does the home have a chimney and if so what kind?
How far from the road and are there any slopes?

I have had this done professionally for me. So I do have some insights.

Specs
 

I know I should be considering just tearing the house down. My concern is the increase in property taxes that are associated with new construction. Right now my taxes are about $8-9K. I'm worried that if I build new I'll be up by $15K+. By just adding a foundation under the home how could it increase tremendously? There are 2 section of the home. The oldest (a old boat house that was moved and converted to a home in the 50's) is 20' x 24 with a screened porch 20' x 7'.5" I would put a foundation under for a total of about 160 sf ft + 480 sq ft x 2 floors +and a addition that was added in the late 1990's. There is a brick fireplace that I would most likeley remove and replace with a new gas or wood fireplace. The new section has a foundation that the ceilings are a bit low. I was going to add 2' more to that basement to raise the height and add the basement to the old section. Town of Meredith allows 2' extension to existing foundations. I want to create a walk out basement as my property has a slight sloping grade and we would gain so much extra space in the walk out basement that I think would solve most of our over crowding issues and keep our costs and taxes down. The home is located about 20' from the road which leaves us with a nice yard as the home is close to the street which I like.

Planning to lift & level cottage on Rattlesnake
 

We are planning to have our cottage on Rattlesnake Island lifted, leveled and set back down on new piers (set on real footings) later this summer/fall but I am concerned about the liability aspects of having this work done. Does anyone have legal knowledge of personal liability law? How can I best protect myself against a lawsuit if someone should happen to get hurt (or worse) while working on my project? Or suggest who I should speak with about my concern?

In a word (or two), Insurance. Make sure that your contractor has liability insurance and worker's compensation insurance. If they don't have both, walk away regardless of how "good a deal" they may present. Good luck.

I live here... I am always Upthesaukee.