Please note: I am obviously not a tradesman, otherwise I wouldn't be on this site asking this question. However, in five years of home ownership I have: re-roofed my garage, resanded all the hardwood floors in our upstairs, built a large fence for our back yard, built a patio for said back yard, done plumbing, done some electrical and recessed lighting, etc… In other words: A lot of times on this site I seem to get answers like "If you're even asking this question you should get a contractor/professional to do this!" And then I go ahead and I do "this" all by myself and it works out looking pretty darned good. All this to say: I'm 99.999% sure that I can do this project myself, even if I've never done this sort of thing before!
When we bought our home five years ago, the only note the inspector made was that one of the foundation walls in our basement was slightly bowing inward, and that within 3 – 6 years we would need to reinforce it with "I-beams".
Well I believe that time has come. Immediately below is a picture showing the bowing, and below that are pictures showing all the cracks that have started to form:
What kind of "I-beams" should I be using, and how many? This is a 1700 sq. ft., 2-story colonial house if that helps any. I am assuming I need to (or rather, should) space them evenly apart, yes?
Budget-wise, I need something that works, but don't need something that could lift up the moon. Any ideas as to where I can start looking?
Best Answer
If you want to install it yourself, great. But I suggest you start by having an engineer look at the application and calculate your requirements. Could be well worth the investment.