Thursday, October 15, 2009

Another Infill on Cooper



This Cooper Street infill is just a block down the street from the one in the previous post. The cribs are still in place, some in the foundation hole and some in the driveway. The exterior was likely to have been brick on this house, as the exterior cladding has been removed and the house wrapped in fabric for weather protection.

Note that the new foundation has lots of windows, so it will likely be living space. There is also a large addition to the rear. The access to the addition will be along the side yard on the left of the house, as shown in the last picture -- notice the sonotube of concrete to hold up the porch.

Click to enlarge on the pictures, the details are interesting: cut off wiring will need to be patched together, the foundation sills are apparent (pressure treated on this one, regular spruce on the previous house), the sistered joists etc are visible.

As always, the ubiquitous go-hut arrives first and leaves last. This infill project will leave the "new" house significantly higher than its immediate neighbor to the right, although at a similar level to the earlier generation of infill house (with a driveway sloped down to a basement garage) on the left. There is a lot of variation along these blocks with houses up and down, forward and back, on the lots.

It is interesting to me that it is economic for someone to buy the house, gut it, lift it, put in a new foundation, and build and extensive extension, adding several living units. I would love to know the $numbers$.

5 comments:

  1. this home was lowered onto its foundation yesterday

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  2. I know the neighbours and it's not an infill. It's a response to a foundation problem, discovered while attempting to put in an addition, if I recall correctly. I believe the owner has been living in the home for many years.

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  3. Not too long ago I was chatting with a contractor about having a house lifted and new foundation put in. He said at least $100,000 and that the last time he did one in lowertown "the house on top was still a piece of garbage". :( I think I would be tempted to tear it down and start over from scratch...

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  4. Yeah, I remember the foundation on that house. You didn't have to be an expert to see it was in bad, bad shape. I'm pretty sure this stretch of Cooper is in the heritage overlay, so tearing down and rebuilding might not have been a great option from the perspective of getting permits and variances and whatnot.

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  5. The addition in the back is now well underway!

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