So Foundation Guy was here. I was exercising with friends and DH handled the main walk through. I came in for the verdict. The look on his face was a cross-between maybe you should sit down and it could be worse.
We bought the house from the original owners, who designed and built the house. They lived a good portion of time in Europe, and found the maintenance on the home from across the seas to be daunting. Especially cleaning leaves out of the gutters. Soooooo, they took the gutters down when the house was a year old. That was 41 years ago.
The lack of gutters forced water to fall off the house next to the foundation and erode the soil away. This allowed water to seep UNDER the foundation and heave up the center of the house. There is a heaved up crack in the basement floor and the house is 2+” higher in the center then at the edges. The drywall in the attic is cracking and buckling.
Foundation Guy suggested we relandscape the front yard, do some mud-jacking of washed out areas under the front porch, put on gutters and wait for the house to settle back down before proceeding with the kitchen.
“You’re kidding right? You totally had me going there. Your face looked soooo serious…..you’re not kidding? You ARE serious? Catch me….I’m going down.”
How much is that going to cost? How long will that take? We are making phone calls….but so far JUST the mud-jacking is $800. And a structural engineer for a second opinion? $400 and a wait time of two weeks. Then we can rent a skid-steer because DH has Skills. Expecting $200 a day for that which is way less than hiring a landscape company. But we are on a waiting list to get one–looks like lots of folks have the same idea. Foundation Guy thought we had enough dirt in the high spots of our yard that we wouldn’t need to buy more–good news. And then the gutters….not sure on that but expecting 4 figures.
And once we get that done, how long before the house settles? No one can tell us. Darren has already called his mother and suggested she start thinking about plan B for Christmas since we won’t have a house to host it in.
Breathe…..slowly. It’s not cancer. We are still in love. Our children are safe and healthy. We have food and an emergency fund and maybe when the furlough is over DH will still have a job. The dry erase marker came out of my new sofa this morning with a shot of hand sanitizer and Grant is really sorry and will never do it again. My washer and dryer are still functioning as are our 17 year old cars. There’s so much to be thankful for. Thankfulness takes the sting away.
I still need chocolate. Good thing I bought the Halloween candy early….or maybe not.
We can so relate. Our home is 153 years old. She is a beauty. Along with her beauty has came a lot of problems. I just keep saying God knew these things before we bought it. He gave us this home without a doubt in our mind. We prayed for the home he had for us. As I am sure you did as well. He will provide. Praying all goes well.
Some of friends of ours in Olathe are having MAJOR foundation issues as well 🙁 Their estimate was over $40,000 for a house that they bought for $80,000 several years ago. So sorry~glad your DH is able to do some of the repairs and save money!
Oh, ouch!
Hugs! Sorry to hear the bad news, but glad that you’re finding ways to look on the bright side.
Wow! so sorry to hear of all your issues! Projects in our 65 year old house almost always cost more and take longer to fix than we first think. So we haven’t done much, only what’s necessary. We plan to “one day” totally gut the very dated, very tight kitchen, but that will be a huge project, so not any time soon. I hope things aren’t as bad as they seem and I’m encouraged by your good attitude. I was without a dryer for over a month- hubby got it fixed last week, thankfully. But I had to constantly remind myself that it could always be worse and I had so much to be thankful for.
oh no, so sorry
No gutters? Wow. Let that be a lesson to us all. I’m praying for you and for a solution soon.
Angela I am offering you a big hug right now. Just read your blog post and yep the news is not what you want, but I love how you look at the good in your life instead of focusing on the bad news . Make soime lemonade with those lemons.
Oooooh….I’m just sick for you. 🙁 How upsetting. And inspiring. Our house has no rain gutters either. *that* needs to change! I can’t imagine how long it takes a house to “settle”, geez….
So sorry to hear that. 🙁
I know that’s not what you wanted to hear! My heart goes out to you. Just keep reminding yourself of the things for which you have to be thankful.
Life can be so funny sometimes. Of course I know it’s not comical at all in the moment. But like you said, you’re still in love and your children are happy. And of course you still have chocolate! But I have a feeling somehow something will work out and everything will carry on!
Wow, lack of rain gutters did all this!? I’m so sorry, especially since you are in the middle of so much. On the other hand, it’s a good thing you realized something might be amiss before going any farther. I know you will get through this. May the Lord’s all-sufficient grace shepherd you through. As you say, you do have much to be thankful for.