Barn remodel into apartment

[Jennifer Gomez]

I am in the design part of my barn remodel.

I have a few problems:

1. current uneven interior cement slab
2. cracked foundation in places, moving out about 2 inches along with West wall. How do I stabilize this?? It has been recommended that I pull out the current 4 inch slab and redo the cement slab in the whole barn and stabilize the foundation with rebar.

I'd like to go as cheap as possible and I am totally in love with the idea of laying an earthen/adobe floor. This would be fine with the uneven foundation as I can just lay it level with crushed rock and tamp it down and then lay my cob/adobe mixture over the top. But then, the question comes up; how will I build stable interior walls? Can you screw treated lumber into the current cement and then shim it straight and build the interior walls on that?

Do I need to stabilize my foundation? any other ideas besides pulling the current slab and stabilizing with rebar and a fresh coat of concrete?

Thanks for any ideas, Jennifer

[dpb]

Jennifer Gomez wrote: ...

Can you say "house built on sand"?

You can "be in love" w/ cheap 'n easy, but it's money down the drain that will come back to haunt and likely cost twice as much in the end as it would have to have done it correctly the first time.

Get a foundation expert or civil engineer to inspect the site and the structure and design a remediation plan.

Or, just forget about whatever is going to happen and do it cheap and don't bother asking...but don't come back in a few years complaining about failures and how to fix them... :(

--

[jloomis]

[John Grabowski]

The foundation supports the entire structure. If that is not stable than nothing else will be either. You are better off putting the money into the foundation now before you remodel otherwise you may lose your investment. Continue with the repairs and upgrades as money becomes available. Think in terms of resale value. Will other buyers want a mud floor and a loose foundation? If you want mud floors you can pour footings for the interior walls so that they are solid.

You can save money by being your own general contractor if you have the time. Shop around for subcontractors. Cheap foreign labor is usually available for day work and some of them are quite skilled though you may need to supply tools as well as meals and beverages.

[TonyG]

What part of the country are you in? TonyG W.Wash.