Sweet summer golden raspberry
Last week I talked about buying property by rivers and what you should watch out for. I thought I would stay on the general subject of things to watch for when buying property. Some of this will be specific to the Mat-Su Borough, and some will be more general.
Let’s talk about foundations.
That’s about as basic as you can get. I have been amazed at some beautiful homes on poor foundations. So don’t get enamored with a pretty veneer without looking at what is under it.
The Mat-Su Borough generally does not have building codes or permits. So people can build whatever they want, however, they want. I personally like that freedom. But when they sell, you should look carefully at the foundation. This is one of the most important reasons you want to hire a professional inspector. We recently had an inspector discover that the foundation of a very expensive house was moving…downhill. Or at least the ground under the foundation was moving. Needless to say…that needs to be stabilized.
There are three basic types of foundation with a lot of variations.
They are:
- A footer with a foundation wall.
- Slab on grade
- Post and beam.
There isn’t room to cover them all so I’ll start with the footer and foundation wall. Ben Crowley of Ridgeline Inspections says that the footer needs to be at least 12 inches wide and at least 12 inches below the frost line. I’m not sure how the frost line is determined but most of the footers I see are at least 3 feet below ground level. The ground under the footer needs to be stable, if it isn’t the footer could crack, or the ground could give way under the footer.
On top of the footer is the foundation wall.
In a basement, or daylight basement this wall goes all the way to the floor joists for the main floor. Usually a basement has a cement slab floor but sometimes you will have a basement with a wood floor and a crawl space under that. This foundation wall can be made of poured concrete, cement block or a treated wood wall. The outside of the all needs to be waterproofed to keep water from getting into the basement or crawlspace.
OK…enough for now. I could tell stories forever about foundations…but it’s boring to anyone other than real estate nerds. Will talk a little about other types later. Feel free to chime in with more info or questions on facebook or youtube when those are uploaded.
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This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by, and to, the subscribers of Alaska Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (AK MLS, Inc.). AK MLS, Inc. does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by AK MLS, Inc. is for its own use and may not reflect all real estate activity in the market
