ENGINEERING 101
If you don't have a Structural Engineer as part of your RE Investing team, finish reading this post, and then drop everything else your doing and get one! Maybe it's because we buy so many old crappy houses, but it seems like more and more of of projects require beam calculations, foundation reinforcement, and point load placements. Having someone you trust on speed dial that can handle these types of situations can save LOTS of TIME and money!
While the foundation LOOKED good to me, I really wasn't 100% sure everything I should be looking for. Not only that, but an Engineer's letter is REQUIRED for most projects like this for a permit.
I meet our Engineer at the house and have to admit, I was abit anxious about this meeting.
My hopes and dreams of our first Pop Top project could be CRUSHED if he doesn't like what he sees.
I thought we would start in the basement. I was wrong. He wanted to walk INSIDE the house first to look/feel for low spots and settling cracks so he could then trace the problem areas to the basement. Makes sense. This is why he makes the BIG bucks.
We find a couple dips in the floor and then proceed to the basement. The door is stuck... Wait just a sec...
We're in! We walk/crawl the entire perimeter looking for cracks, bowing, and other things that keep foundation remediation companies in business. Everything looks good.
"On a side note we are actually working on another Pop Top project down the street from this one and everything did NOT look good!!! We are having to REPLACE an ENTIRE wall of the foundation!! I'll post details of the wall fix for that house on this thread in the next few weeks!"
We then check out the areas of the floor system where we saw problems upstairs. Sure enough the beams and joists are overspanned. He tells me this is VERY common in older homes. We will have to reinforce these areas with additional piers and new beams. Luckily our framing crew is well versed is this type of remedial work, and really even though it may sound expensive, adding piers, beams, and reinforcing / jacking up the existing floor system isn't that big a deal and is relatively INEXPENSIVE if you have the right contractors on your crew.
After a throughout inspection and measurement of the perimeter walls, existing piers, and existing floor system, my engineer produces what appears to be a medieval torture device. If my armpits looked kinda soaked just worrying about the foundation...I now look like I just jump into a pool.
"Did I forget to pay my last bill????" Did I make one too many bad Engineer Funny Ha Ha jokes"
I am relieved when instead of probing me, he starts probing the soil. He has to ensure the soil under the house has enough compaction to support additional footers and piers for the extra load we will be adding. The dirt checks out. Engineer's letter in my Inbox!
