Thank you, Nick, working on leads now...have  few...luckily we moved to a seaside community in NJ ravaged by Sandy (that came out wrong...I meant there was opportunity to rebuild the town, not good that people lost homes).  

The only reserves that I have is there is a cracked soil line near the kitchen and possibly cracked under the base of the house through the concrete that leads to the street.

There's a group of BP people that meet up in Sandy Springs once a month at no charge

Contaminated soil, lead based paint is still used commercially, just not residentially, high levels of radiation, mold, asbestos. 

Thanks again to XXXX Underground for the fine job post 11 - basement development Developing an inner city basement has a number of elements that must be carefully orchestrated into the finished product; the hole has to get dug in the right spot, so the surveyor is essential before work begins the excavator must get the hole level and at the proper depth at the bottom of the footingthe engineer must take the sample for soil bearing and sulphate content of the soil, this will impact concrete selection later (the mix is variable depending on the project requirements)the engineer must already have developed plans for the footing rebar detail and thickness, and wall rebar pattern.

Sincerely and very respectfully,Sandy BlairCalBRE 01966962PB & Associates Real Estate and Home Loan ServicesSanta Maria, CA 93454

I would also want to know if the two vacant lots have been perk-tested to see if the soil is satisfactory for a standard septic system.

I've never heard of demolition as a solution for the problem, but it certainly seems like as much as you can do to a structure.I would find out what it costs for an environmental survey that includes soil testing.

We run a small homestead growing as much of our own organic food as possible,  I also study and teach soil health and fertility as well as regenerative farming practices.  

I expect that post Sandy, something similar will be happening.