Get a structural engineer's foundation assessment

What the engineer is doing

The structural engineer (verify via OSBEELS) walks the basement or crawlspace, looks at the foundation walls and footings, taps for hollow spots, checks for cracks, and tries to identify the foundation type. They'll usually open one or two small access holes if the foundation isn't fully visible.

The product is a written assessment — typically 3–6 pages — that does three things:

1. Identifies what's there. Foundation type, approximate age, condition, visible deficiencies.
2. Estimates capacity. Whether the existing foundation can carry a second-story load with an estimated additional dead + live load.
3. Recommends a path. Keep as-is (rare for older Portland houses), retrofit in place (partial pour, sister beams, anchor straps), or full lift (lift the house, replace the foundation, drop it back).

What the three paths mean

• Keep as-is. The existing foundation is sound poured concrete from ~1955 or later, in good condition, on stable soil. The second story is a normal addition. Cheapest path.
• Retrofit in place. Foundation is sound enough to keep but needs reinforcement: new footings poured against existing, anchor bolts retrofitted, sometimes new shear walls. Adds $25K–$75K to the project and 2–6 weeks of construction.
• Full lift. Foundation is unreinforced concrete, brick-and-mortar, or rubble — common in pre-1940 Portland houses. The house is jacked up, the old foundation removed, a new foundation poured, and the house dropped back. Adds $80K–$200K and 8–14 weeks. Counterintuitively, on some bungalows it's the cheapest path because it lets you also build out a new ground floor or basement.

Reading the assessment

The assessment includes:

• Existing foundation description — concrete, brick, rubble, mixed.
• Visible deficiencies — cracks, water damage, sill rot, missing anchor bolts (almost universal in pre-1980 houses).
• Soil-bearing assumption — typically a stated assumption based on visible site conditions; a geotech may upgrade or override this.
• Recommended path with rough cost band.
• What additional information is needed — specifically, whether a geotech report is required.

Why this happens before schematic design

Foundation strategy drives the entire project. A "lift" project is fundamentally a different design exercise than a "retrofit" project — the house gets new exterior walls at the ground floor, new doors and windows, often a new basement. Knowing the path before schematic means the design fits the project; knowing it after means redesigning.