House gets new bottom

House Gets New Bottom

FTLComm - Tisdale
July 24, 1999

Seeing a house sitting on its lawn is not a usual sight and in a place where homes come and go occasionally this is a really interesting problem being solved in a direct manner.

In 1967 this was a grain field. The first house on Caribou Crescent was built across the

street from where this one stands that year and the own told me that the field was covered with dandelions. The original owner of the house was blind so it was not appropriate for him to have a basement under his new house and a set of piles were poured and the house built.

Without a basement the present owner was able to buy this house for very little money and with a growing family and the need for more space he and his wife had to consider buying or building another home or expanding their present dwelling. This house is situated less then a block from the elementary school in an idyllic neighbourhood, a great place to raise a family and so expansion was the decision.

Chupa Excavation was engaged to make this happen and have on at least three occasions installed basements under houses

without moving them but it was decided that it would cost less and produce a better result to move the house off its present position dig a basement then put the house atop the new structure. The cost of the project will be less then $30,000 but will more then double the value of the home. This picture shows the basement being dug out with the concrete piles.

This is an interesting picture because it shows a dark band of top soil in line with the workman's head. That six inch band is the original field almost two feet below the present yard level. Mr. Chupa pointed out that when Caribou Crescent was laid out they spread out the fill from the street construction and basements right on top of the field raising each yard about that two feet. In the picture below you can see even clearer the demarcation of the former field level.

I was surprised at the amount of black soil involved, because of the concrete piles this file was being hauled out to the dump but Chupa Excavation was able to use up some of the fill as the owner wants to raise his back yard up slightly in the area where the loader is parked in the picture below right. By the way, the raspberries on the bushes to the left of the digger are fabulous.

House Gets New Bottom FTLComm - Tisdale July 24, 1999 Seeing a house sitting on its lawn is not a usual sight and in a place where homes come and go occasionally this is a really interesting problem being solved in a direct manner. In 1967 this was a grain field. The first house on Caribou Crescent was built across the
street from where this one stands that year and the own told me that the field was covered with dandelions. The original owner of the house was blind so it was not appropriate for him to have a basement under his new house and a set of piles were poured and the house built. Without a basement the present owner was able to buy this house for very little money and with a growing family and the need for more space he and his wife had to consider buying or building another home or expanding their present dwelling. This house is situated less then a block from the elementary school in an idyllic neighbourhood, a great place to raise a family and so expansion was the decision. Chupa Excavation was engaged to make this happen and have on at least three occasions installed basements under houses
without moving them but it was decided that it would cost less and produce a better result to move the house off its present position dig a basement then put the house atop the new structure. The cost of the project will be less then $30,000 but will more then double the value of the home. This picture shows the basement being dug out with the concrete piles. This is an interesting picture because it shows a dark band of top soil in line with the workman's head. That six inch band is the original field almost two feet below the present yard level. Mr. Chupa pointed out that when Caribou Crescent was laid out they spread out the fill from the street construction and basements right on top of the field raising each yard about that two feet. In the picture below you can see even clearer the demarcation of the former field level.

I was surprised at the amount of black soil involved, because of the concrete piles this file was being hauled out to the dump but Chupa Excavation was able to use up some of the fill as the owner wants to raise his back yard up slightly in the area where the loader is parked in the picture below right. By the way, the raspberries on the bushes to the left of the digger are fabulous.