camarro
2012-08-06 16:00:41
- #1
Hello everyone,
I am a complete beginner and, together with my family, facing the question of what it costs to dry out our basement and add an additional floor.
Conditions: The house (built in '63) has a floor area of about 12m x 12m with an attached garage. There are cracks between the garage and the house through which you can see between the buildings (1-2cm wide). Inside the house, at the basement stairway, there is a crack in the plaster that apparently does not break through the exterior wall. Maybe it is really just the plaster or even just the paint flaking off.
The house is located at the edge of a former floodplain of a stream about 150m away and has a basement that already has a "backflow valve" in the laundry room, so no water enters the basement through the drain. When it was installed is unknown. The walls are made of good old bricks.
The house is completely half-story basemented (i.e. the basement windows are not "clerestory windows," but rather you look out horizontally) and inside on the exterior basement wall from the floor upward there is a damp strip about 30-40cm wide. I have already chipped off the damp material in one room and replastered it with mortar. However, I fear this was only a drop in the ocean, because at the lower edge of the damp area there were places where I could fill up to 5cm of mortar into the wall.
The yard in front of the garage, next to the house, is paved, and you can see that the pavement is slowly settling. That means the driving lane of a vehicle, which was only parked there for a maximum of two years, caused the pavement to sink.
We have a living floor which has received new electrical wiring as well as a new bathroom with water supply and drainage. The ceiling between our living floor and the attic is a wooden beam/mortar ceiling. The roof structure is dry.
Also, the exterior walls are not insulated and the radiators are in the classic niches under the windows. So an exterior insulation would also be necessary.
We are currently considering to add an additional floor to the house.
However, I would like to know first how much capital is necessary to preserve the building fabric and to create a "dry base" or what costs would be incurred for an extension and insulation.
What is the best approach here without being overwhelmed by costs, or can the costs for renovation and extension be estimated somehow???
First architect, then engineer, or something completely different???
My sister-in-law is an architect (finished her studies three weeks ago) and I don't know how much practical experience she has, but it seems a bit strange to me to already plan a new floor while the base is not in order (=> damp basement) and not worrying about the costs in this planning...
I am thankful for any tips!
In particular, I (in my naivety) would be glad if someone, based on my information, could give me a rough estimate for the renovation or for the extension.
Best regards,
camarro
I am a complete beginner and, together with my family, facing the question of what it costs to dry out our basement and add an additional floor.
Conditions: The house (built in '63) has a floor area of about 12m x 12m with an attached garage. There are cracks between the garage and the house through which you can see between the buildings (1-2cm wide). Inside the house, at the basement stairway, there is a crack in the plaster that apparently does not break through the exterior wall. Maybe it is really just the plaster or even just the paint flaking off.
The house is located at the edge of a former floodplain of a stream about 150m away and has a basement that already has a "backflow valve" in the laundry room, so no water enters the basement through the drain. When it was installed is unknown. The walls are made of good old bricks.
The house is completely half-story basemented (i.e. the basement windows are not "clerestory windows," but rather you look out horizontally) and inside on the exterior basement wall from the floor upward there is a damp strip about 30-40cm wide. I have already chipped off the damp material in one room and replastered it with mortar. However, I fear this was only a drop in the ocean, because at the lower edge of the damp area there were places where I could fill up to 5cm of mortar into the wall.
The yard in front of the garage, next to the house, is paved, and you can see that the pavement is slowly settling. That means the driving lane of a vehicle, which was only parked there for a maximum of two years, caused the pavement to sink.
We have a living floor which has received new electrical wiring as well as a new bathroom with water supply and drainage. The ceiling between our living floor and the attic is a wooden beam/mortar ceiling. The roof structure is dry.
Also, the exterior walls are not insulated and the radiators are in the classic niches under the windows. So an exterior insulation would also be necessary.
We are currently considering to add an additional floor to the house.
However, I would like to know first how much capital is necessary to preserve the building fabric and to create a "dry base" or what costs would be incurred for an extension and insulation.
What is the best approach here without being overwhelmed by costs, or can the costs for renovation and extension be estimated somehow???
First architect, then engineer, or something completely different???
My sister-in-law is an architect (finished her studies three weeks ago) and I don't know how much practical experience she has, but it seems a bit strange to me to already plan a new floor while the base is not in order (=> damp basement) and not worrying about the costs in this planning...
I am thankful for any tips!
In particular, I (in my naivety) would be glad if someone, based on my information, could give me a rough estimate for the renovation or for the extension.
Best regards,
camarro