Underpinning

[nicoblack]

Hi all,

This is my first post so I would appreciate any help you can give. :D

We have a 1960 bungalow which are looking to improve by extending and going into the loft. The main issue is before we purchased the property it was partially underpinned along the front elevation and one of the gable ends. The property is basically a rectangle shape. Due to this builders are telling me it is difficult to price the job and for my own piece of mind I would like to get rid of the underpinning altogether.

I have been infored by one builder that I could just dig a new strip foundation on the inside of the existing walls and rebuild the elevations that way and leave the current wall in place meaning all the load is on the new foundations and therefore not underpinned.

I am getting that many conflicting answers I would appreciate some advice from yourselves. My priority is to get rid of the underpinning. The reason it was underpinned in the first place was the builder who built the property originally didnt ensure that the foundations were all sat on clay and the parts in question were apparantely sat on soft soil of some form that dried out and basically sank slightly. The ground itself is great, as we have built a garage etc and we dug down to solid clay quite easily.

Any help would be greatly appreciated how do I get rid of the underpinning? What is the best way? My ARchitect reckons I should extend out the front and bring in the side elevation and this would iredicate the problem but not sure planners would allow us to extend forward.

I appreciate your time in reading this post and hopefully you can assist.
Kind Regards

[stoneyboy]

nicoblack,
Underpinning is not a problem provided it has been done correctly, you are wasting time and money trying to get rid of it.
end