I know it's usually the other way around...

Anyway, I may be crazy for even considering this, but here it is:

We bought a 3BR bungalow last year, a BV built in 1946. Inspection report came back OK, noted a crack on front face under a large window. We had a structural engineer look at it, and he found a couple of other small cracks. He told us it was from subsidence, and the front corner would need concrete underpinning which would cost around $3500. It wasn't urgent and could wait a year, he said. He recommended a guy to do it.

Based on that, we went ahead with the purchase because $3500 wasn't going to kill us.

When we started getting quotes, we were being told that the problem was worse than we'd been told, and that we could be looking at up to $25,000. Now I see little cracks running up sides around the corner from the big crack, which looks like if they keep going, the front brick face of that protruding part of the house will fall down.

Unfortunately, the engineer gave us nothing in writing and wanted to be paid in cash (yes, he is a legit engineer, who obviously doesn't like to pay taxes).

Although the house was restumped with concrete stumps years ago, the floors are uneven in spots and there is a definite slope to the subsiding side. We wanted to get the floors levelled so we could do some plastering work. The underpinning guy told us that if we get the interior floors levelled without jacking up the brick skin, the bricks would fall down. Also, how would the windows sit in the cavities???

We were wondering if it would be do-able to get a contractor in to rip off the BV (which is on 3 sides of the house - the back had a later WB extension), and replace it with Hardiplanks.

I'm afraid of spending a ton of money on the underpinning, and not having the cracks close up properly, or worse, the possibility of having to do it all again someday.

Has anyone here ever replaced BV with WB, or know of anyone who has? I'm trying to get an idea of the costs involved, whether or not it would be worse than the cost of all that underpinning.


Read the full thread at RenovateForum.com...