ᐅ Bought an old basement. Is it supported only by wooden studs, or does it also have solid masonry construction?

Created on: 9 Sep 2020 22:44

Hello everyone, a few weeks ago we purchased a plot of land with a basement (built in 1989). The house above it was removed after a fire last year. Apart from the fire-fighting water, the basement was not affected and is in good condition. Previously, there was a 1.5-story wooden house on it. We would prefer to build another 1.5-story house and are currently in discussions with various home builders (solid construction & light-frame construction). One of the solid construction builders has pointed out that the foundation would only support one floor (ground floor) if we go with solid construction, meaning the attic floor could not be developed.

Are heavily insulating pumice or Poroton bricks really that much heavier?

The basement is a prefabricated reinforced concrete basement, but only 14 cm (5.5 inches) thick throughout. The overall exterior dimensions are 11.5 m x 11.5 m (38 feet x 38 feet). The foundations are unreinforced strip footings B 15, measuring 30 x 50 cm (12 x 20 inches). Concrete slab B 15.

We have all the structural engineering plans ready but I don’t know what to look for.

Before contacting more solid construction builders, I would like to know if solid construction is even an option for us. Is it possible to roughly determine this from the plans without immediately hiring a structural engineer?

Best regards from the Pfalz

Altai10 Sep 2020 16:03

#13

OlliQueck schrieb:

Okay, I don’t have a structural engineer on hand since we didn’t want to contract the trades separately but rather build with a general contractor.
I’m afraid I’ll be paying twice for structural engineering – first for an engineer to calculate which houses can be built on it, and then the contractor will do all the structural planning again for the actual house construction.

I guess this is the kind of extra cost you get with such an unusual plot of land. Mentally add it to the price of the property. In fact, it would have been better to check before buying whether the planned house could even be built there.
As @Climbee always says, straighten your crown and move on… if the project fails because of a couple of hours with an engineer, it’s probably on shaky ground anyway (sic!).

Pinky030110 Sep 2020 16:12

#14

Exactly, a structural engineer doesn’t cost a fortune. They review the plans and charge based on the time spent. It shouldn’t be more than a three-digit amount, right?

Nice-Nofret10 Sep 2020 17:06

#15

... I rather assume that he would also like to inspect this burned and firefighting water-damaged basement in person ... plans and reality are not necessarily congruent.

11ant10 Sep 2020 17:45

#16

I do not expect the basement’s suitability to be affected, as the fire was reportedly above, and "only" smoke and extinguishing water have less impact on the concrete.

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

OlliQueck10 Sep 2020 17:47

#17

Nice-Nofret schrieb:

... I rather assume that he would also like to inspect the burned, fire-water-damaged basement in person ... Plans and reality are not necessarily consistent.

The basement is not in as bad condition as it sounds. It is dry and protected. The fire was stopped at the upper part of the ground floor. Before buying, we visited it with an experienced architect who inspected everything and deemed it usable.
However, since the other providers are now giving contradictory offers or differing assessments of the structural integrity, I will probably still invite an independent structural engineer.

But my main question about whether we should better stick to timber framing has already been indirectly answered by @11ant, since today’s lightweight construction apparently doesn’t have much in common with what it used to be. So we will continue to consider both options.

11ant10 Sep 2020 17:52

#18

Lightweight construction for exterior walls is practically no longer used today, at least when it comes to residential buildings. However, interior lightweight walls are genuinely light nowadays, since the metal studs weigh less than the timber studs used in the past – although this is partly offset by the weight of the cladding.

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

ᐅ Bought an old basement. Is it supported only by wooden studs, or does it also have solid masonry construction?

Reaktionen