Underpinning

Hi,

I recently viewed a house in Galway city with considerable cracks in the facade, the house is approx. 100 years old and is end of terrace, the agent said that the foundations needed "underpinning".

Has anyone underpinned a house before and at what cost ?

Thank you.

Whether the house needs to be underpinned should be determined by your engineer on performance of a structural survey.

Assuming underpinning is required, the cost of underpinning will depend, inter alia, on:

- the number of pins required to be inserted under the exterior walls of the house (which will depend on the size of the house, the extent of the cracks etc)
- whether the drains need to be replaced

Based on my experience, this is very lucrative work for builders with the cost varying widely from builder to builder so it is really important that you get a number of quotes. Just to give you a feel the range could be from €15-25k.

The underpinning may be covered by the vendors insurance in which case this should be factored into the contract for sale. Alternatively, you may be buying this "as is" in which case you will need to make a judgement call as to whether the property is worth the asking price bearing mind the cost of underpinning as well as other work required.

donegal.

.

Also, find out the reason for this being necessary. It may be progressive in which case you might be looking at having to do it again later on

`

Thank you.