Renovate existing extension- advice?
We bought a ‘flip’ house last year- knowing what we were getting into. The work is typical- cheap, fast, poor quality. We are doing a little at a time and may have hit our first major project. The extension (legal as far as we were informed during purchase) on the back of the house is basically unsealed from every side. There is no drainage in the garden so when water gets high enough it seeps in through the floor. We want to replace the back wall and roof entirely and put in two drains in the garden. The drains would require going through a 4in. slab of concrete. From the basement we can see a drainage pipe located directly beneath the extension that a plumber told us he believes we could connect to for the new garden drains. We would also like to make the roof a functional terrace off the master. The space is 16X10. When we moved in a contractor quoted us approximately 10k for the roof terrace alone (nothing fancy but safe, decent looking, and would last). Does it seem realistic to get this whole project done for 30k? If not, what’s a realistic ball park? Do we need an architect? I assume we need some kind of permits but since we don’t plan on changing any square footage but will have to dig into the back I wasn’t sure. We want to get started as soon as possible. Any and all advice is appreciated!
lizaj
in Renovation 11 years and 2 months ago
5
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5 replies
resident2 | 11 years and 2 months ago
You wish list depends on the current structure; is it wood from? Masonry? The drainage issue is a drainage issue, that can probably be corrected by itself without pulling the whole extension down. Do you need a permit? It depends on the extent of what is really needed and of course your neighbors. I have neighbors with a trigger finger to 311, + inspectors are poorly trained, one even needed to go back to the office to check to see if I needed a permit for painting! If an inspector comes and sees open walls it will be flagged. So how are your neighbors? and keep the front clean and the doors locked.
Arkady | 11 years and 2 months ago
I’d put in a french drain in the garden to alleviate the flow to the other drain[s].
dorkofwindsor | 11 years and 2 months ago
One homeowners’ rambling thoughts: “so when water gets high enough it seeps in through the floor” could it be possible that the back drain and gutter lead aren’t backing up? many people have an old main drain connection to the gutter lead and backyard drain that would have been (before your extension) backing up, essentially flooding the basement. Definitely some of the early Calder houses. until that is people blocked off the back stairs with a makeshift curb, essentially making a little “bathtub” in the rear stairwell which fills up in hard rains – many still overflow to this day. Is it a flawed drainage design of 100 years ago or is it simply the city sewers over-capacity with rainwater? Its been the patchwork project of many homeowners ever since. Was it correct to pave over the backyard or was it exacerbating the problem trying to force more rainwater through a backed up main drain / city sewer? If the yard drain is backing up along with the gutter leader, backyard pooling means the basement would give water throughout the foundation. I am not convinced that people have addressed the original problem in some houses. I lived in an older brownstone in Manhattan as well (1880’s) that had serious foundation leaking due to a suspected neighbors broken underground gutter leader gushing into the soil. Again, the key word is suspected, presumably because people don’t take the time to properly reproduce / simulate the problem real time and monitor with camera, other resources. I don’t know what kind of house you have or if any of your neighbors have basement water problems in their finished basement (unfinished basement neighbors don’t seem to be that in tune with water issues) but i find it to be an extremely common issue. Many will get an interior perimeter trench, sump pumps, replace underground gutter leader. Some people on this board report successful dry well installation. Hard to say what is the problem but it could be easy for plumbers to suggest the most expensive option.
BSDOD | 11 years and 2 months ago
Nearly every house in Some neighborhoods have unpermitted extensions or mud rooms on them. Doing everything the permitted route of course is the best thing to do. The reality is, it will be more costly, add time to your renovation, and may expose you to other violations upon final inspections from DOB when they visit. Without permits, you will need to communicate with your neighbor, as you will most certainly need to be in their backyard to finish one side of your extension.
brucef | 11 years and 2 months ago
I hear about five things that trigger the need for a permit. If you figured that walking on the roof structure of the extension would be OK, you’d be wrong. They will require probably 10″ C-channels in the new roof structure. I am probably boring all of you out there with my repeated rants about DOB, but here goes… If you remember these few rules, you’ll be OK 1\. Every good idea you have will be prohibited. 2\. Every pricey unnecessary expense will be required. Between the required engineering plans and architects fees, 30K should just about cover your budget before any work is done. It will allow you after the obligatory 8 month delay to buy a roll of paper towels to cry into. All construction costs are additional.\ As a contractor with more than 30 years experience, even flying below the radar, which in this case I wouldn’t recommend, it would be cheaper and better to raze the extension, and do it right this time. New construction can be performed at a good level of quality by quite a few contractors. Repairing old mistakes is far trickier and rarely successful. In our less restrictive locale, we would leave one wall standing and “repair” the other three. Then we would repair that first one (probably the one against the lot line. I’ll bet there isn’t an adequate foundation under this dubious extension.