jesseawulf
04-06-2006, 02:53 PM
I bought my house a little over a year ago and decided this year to finish the basement that was partially finished. I found a few different surprises and I started my project.
1. After I pulled the old carpet, I noticed there was a large crack through the middle of the house. In some places it was 1/2 inch wide. I also noticed that as you get to the back of the house, the cement was actually 2 1/2 inches lower than the other side of the crack. I had a contractor come in and look at it and he said if it hasn't leaked it was probably fine so we layed new cement over the old to level the basement floor.
2. As I am putting up new walls, i am finding that the the whole back of the house is actually lower. All my walls are leaning to the back. This isn't an issue accept the studs are not straight up and down :(
3. Another thing I noticed is that it sounds hollow under the basement floor. As I am putting the walls up, it sounds as if there is nothing under the basement floor. My house is built into a hill, is there a possibility erosion has pulled everything out from under my floor? There are noo gutters on the house which I will be fixing this year.
4. The last thing so far that I noticed is that the front wall (the part that is into the hill) is bowed. In the center of the wall, it actually bowes in 1 1/2 inch - 2 inches. I found this after I pulled sheetrock off the walls. I can tell that someone has come in at one point and put new filling between the blocks.
All these problems leave me a little worried about the structure and longterm life of this house. What kinds of things should I be doing? I wish I had known all these things before I purchased the house and I probably wouldn't have purchased. The old carpeting didn't show any evidence of leaks, is the floor ok? How do I check under the basement floor? Is the bowing of the front wall related to the back of the house settling 2+ inches?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jesse Wulf
Osceola WI 54020
1. After I pulled the old carpet, I noticed there was a large crack through the middle of the house. In some places it was 1/2 inch wide. I also noticed that as you get to the back of the house, the cement was actually 2 1/2 inches lower than the other side of the crack. I had a contractor come in and look at it and he said if it hasn't leaked it was probably fine so we layed new cement over the old to level the basement floor.
2. As I am putting up new walls, i am finding that the the whole back of the house is actually lower. All my walls are leaning to the back. This isn't an issue accept the studs are not straight up and down :(
3. Another thing I noticed is that it sounds hollow under the basement floor. As I am putting the walls up, it sounds as if there is nothing under the basement floor. My house is built into a hill, is there a possibility erosion has pulled everything out from under my floor? There are noo gutters on the house which I will be fixing this year.
4. The last thing so far that I noticed is that the front wall (the part that is into the hill) is bowed. In the center of the wall, it actually bowes in 1 1/2 inch - 2 inches. I found this after I pulled sheetrock off the walls. I can tell that someone has come in at one point and put new filling between the blocks.
All these problems leave me a little worried about the structure and longterm life of this house. What kinds of things should I be doing? I wish I had known all these things before I purchased the house and I probably wouldn't have purchased. The old carpeting didn't show any evidence of leaks, is the floor ok? How do I check under the basement floor? Is the bowing of the front wall related to the back of the house settling 2+ inches?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jesse Wulf
Osceola WI 54020