A 3BR / 2BA house was recently foreclosed in my area that has most of the features I'm looking for and can probably be had for $80-100k. If I could obtain a fixed-up house for under $150k all-in, the math says I'd shave a little over a year off my working career (and have a freshly remodeled house instead of a worn out place). I am currently about 5y from retirement at age 45, and this would make it 4 or 3.5y. Plus, the house is in a good school zone for the kiddo, is 5 miles to work, and in a safe walkable neighborhood across the street from a small park.
The entire remod job is too much detail, and finances are not a problem, so let's just talk foundation work in this post.
It's a typical 2-story Craftsman with a central staircase, so half the weight of the 2nd story and roof transmits down the walls of the staircase to the floor joists. The downstairs area is about 30x30'.
The floor joists that span the house are nailed to each other in the middle of the house, and the middle is supported by a pair of 2x10s resting on brick piers. The piers have settled and tilted over the past eight decades, causing the support beam to tilt the opposite way. I estimate the sag at between an inch and two inches, and some twisting has occurred causing the hardwood floors to separate at the bottom of the stairs. At some point probably in the last 20 years, someone installed additional 6x6 treated support beams (i.e. deck posts) and piers on each side of the tilting original 2x10s - but not under the staircase. These supports are mostly under the middle of rooms instead of under the staircase walls as would be ideal, yet they are probably responsible for preventing further collapse. It appears the staircase continues to transmit weight to the middle of the house, flexing the floor in the middle downward because the nearest support is several feet away. The floor joists are somewhat cantilevered, and therefore sagging under tons of weight. The crawl space is semi-tight, but in amazing condition with no signs of rot, mold, or termites.
The plan would be to slide a 20 foot "I" beam made of 3/8" steel (already available) under the center of the house right next to the existing, tilting beam. Placement would be directly under where the joists are nailed together. Small logs would be used to roll the new beam into position, Egyptian-style. Three large concrete footings would be poured and cinder blocks filled with concrete would form the piers for the new beam. The beam would be placed on top of the piers. Additional temporary footings would be poured under the beam for the purpose of supporting very large hydraulic bottle jacks. Then I say "hold my beer", crawl under there, and jack the middle of the house up as things creak and pop over my head. I would use tight strings to measure level against the bottom of the floor joists. When level or slightly above level is obtained, I would use shims to wedge the I beam to the piers and then lower the jacks. After this is done, it may be necessary to re-shim the newer support beams on each side.
I know this sounds intimidating to most people, but I've done this procedure with two other houses on a DIY basis - just never anything this big and never without ripping the floor out. In the context of the larger project, the foundation work is a predecessor to all subsequent tasks. That is, you want all the cracks to form and flexing to occur BEFORE you install a new bathroom, paint the drywall, or tile the kitchen. Definitely jack it up before you move additional weight into the house! So if I DIY the foundation, I have to complete that task before I can hire contractors or start on literally anything else. During that time, I'm making two mortgage payments and unable to sell or move out of my more expensive house.
Questions:
1) My main concern is whether the floor joists themselves are warped and will not come un-warped when I jack them up. How many of you think the circa 1930 2x10s will remain bowed even when no longer cantilevered?
2) I guesstimate I would save $5,000-$8,000 doing the above work. Worth it? In terms of savings/time to FIRE, we're talking a couple months. Time to perform the work is probably eight to ten entire weekends. However, a setback delays the entire project. During the time I carry two mortgages, I'm paying a shitload of interest - maybe so much I would come out ahead paying a contractor to get it done ASAP, allowing me to sell my current house more quickly. The math gets very assumption-laden, but the gist is doing it DIY is financially risky due to interest costs. That is, assuming a contractor would actually get to it faster.
3) Is the plan over-complicated in some way I do not comprehend? For example, another approach would be to bolt additional 2x10s to the original support beam, jack that up, and then rebuild the piers. The question is whether I could get away with knocking out the old piers in order to straighten the existing beam or if doing so would cause the joists to break/twist because it may still be holding up significant weight. Creative ideas are welcome.
Pics:
1) General view of the tilting main beam and crawl space conditions
2) Newer support posts holding up the middle of a room. There is one of these on each side of the main beam, a few feet away from the main beam.
3) Close-up of how the joists are nailed together above the main beam
4) Close-up of the tilting main beam