Foundations under camp
 

Thinking of putting a foundation under our camp which means lifting the camp. It would be crawl space under one half, full on other half. I'm assuming not all foundation companies do this type of work.
Is there any good foundation companies that do this type of work. There's an outfit called East Coast in Moultonborough. Do they do this type of work.

Thanks Dave M

Dave,
I can't speak for all foundation companies, but I had a great experience when we did ours.

Frank Lundy did the excavation.
Granite State Movers did the lift.
Bayside Concrete did the footings, walls and floors.

They all worked together and they needed to as it was done in several phases. There were unknowns found during the job, they worked thru them completing the job on time with no extra cost! Workmanship, site clean up, and the finished job exceeded our expectations. Get quotes, visit past customers, and plan as much as possible in advance. If your not familiar with construction and construction management hire a good GC so you have somebody to lean on if things don't go as planned.

hi Super duty, I was doing some research on this as well, would you be able to tell me (PM is fine) how you coordinated them all together and let got them on the same page with a timeline - do they all know each other and have they worked together before

Barry Caswell from Wolfeboro lifts houses. I am not sure if he coordinates the whole project but I think he does.

Cost?
 

SuperDuty1 - what was the cost of all this, roughly?

I have a cabin on an island that I've been considering replacing the existing footings and support posts (house is on an incline). No idea what the work involved would cost. Ballpark is fine - don't need to give away trade secrets.

Thanks

Foundation Under Camp
 

Geddes Building Movers in Bow, NH

http://www.geddesbuildingmover.com

603-224-2192

They do work throughout New England and have done a lot of work in and around the Lakes Region.

Having looked into this, Take a good look at your camp... You may find, you can rebuild your camp, for less money the jacking it up and trying to put a foundation underneath it.

LI, I looked at that briefly. I would be putting a foundation to begin with. So in affect I would be doubling my cost with a foundation and a new camp. Besides I built that camp stick by stick on weekends for a year with my father-in-law. My better half would not let me tear down that camp and I wouldn't want to either.

Dave M

You have to be careful with set backs also. Many of these old camps were built close to the shorefront and under new regulations a tear down and new construction would require moving the structure further back from the water, among other restrictions.

Check with Code Enforcement Officer
 

Have you talked with your town's Code Enforcement Officer? If not, I suggest that you go in-person and ask for his/her suggestions about the overall process. I think they like to be included early, and might be more accommodating if a gray area comes up later. I think it's best to do this as the homeowner, rather than only having your contractor do it.

When I did this a few years ago, I discovered that my contractor didn't quite know all the details for my town so my time at the Town Hall was well spent.

Yes, the list of contractors I posted although each an independent business work together on projects of this scope. This was very important because site work had to be completed before they could install the beams for the lift. After the first lift the rear cribbing had to be moved for additional site work to be completed. The concrete footings and walls were done in phases as the excavation was competed. Backfill could not happen (due to the height of some of our walls) until the building was set back down...so without going into all the details communication between trades is very important. Other things to consider are do you have a carpenter for the sill plate, center carrying beams and are any knee walls required if the foundation steps down due to site grade. Septic, water connections and propane connections, do you need a plumber to disconnect and reconnect? And yes the town and maybe the state need to be involved. Your local building official needs to sign off on the design phase, permits and several times as each phase of the job is completed. We stepped outside our original footprint and were so close to the 50 foot mark (now I think it's 250 feet) on the lake that the town required a licensed surveyor to certify the distance. Yes, I had to pay for that unknown issue. As far as cost goes, it can vary based upon site access, building size, overall scope of the job. On an island I believe there would be transportation charges involved for materials and labor. Like I said in the beginning, this was a major undertaking and for us with a great group of contractors it went very well and we are very happy we did it. We enjoy the space.

Well said. Can't wait for the "?Tanks" button to return.

Valid and good point.

Emotional attachment ahead of reality and practicality.

Have seen the raising of more then one. Only to end up with a camp with a foundation. The long term value is just not there.

Keep it as a 3 season home and save all of that money. Or if going to be a 4 season home. Build a new one.

But virtually impossible to convince any of unencumbered emotionalism.