Lawyerin' up

We met with a lawyer today to talk about our insurance issues, and it looks like we have a good case against our agent for not selling us adequate coverage. With any luck at all, we can file some paperwork and their malpractice insurance will settle with us. Without going into the intricacies of LA law, it's the duty of the agent to make sure the customer knows what level of coverage is recommended and what types of policies are available.

We've been trying to get a quote out of Lafitte the foundation guy for weeks on elevating the house and putting it on a new foundation. This more than anything else will determine whether it will be more expensive to renovate or to rebuild. Even though they just levelled the house before Katrina and already have all the info, I guess they're just so busy they don't want to deal with this one. Tomorrow I'll take a shot at finding another reputable foundation repair company.

While I'm at it, I guess I need to get a structural engineer out to give us an assessment of whether the thing would hold together if we raise it. It's in pretty rough shape. I also want to know - will I ever be able to get level floors, or will they always have a rolling hill effect? Mr. Nola thinks we could salvage the old oak floors and refinish them. I would far rather pull them up, lay a level subfloor, and put down new wood. The question is whether the framing itself can be levelled enough to allow a flat floor.

In general, I'd rather rebuild altogether. I love the look of the old house, but I don't know if it can be fixed to the extent that the walls are plumb and the floors flat. That's not too much to ask for, is it? Cost-wise, it all depends on the difference between pouring the foundation with the house elevated above it, and pouring a foundation on an empty lot and building new framing on top of it. New windows would probably be the biggest single expense after the foundation.

Those of you who've already done this - what did windows cost you? We would have to have real divided-lites or simulated divided lites (like Pella's architect series) rather than fake plastic mullions over a sheet of glass. The surrounding houses were not as badly damaged so they will still be there - fake mullions would stand out like aluminum siding on our street.

I'm really into these windows. I imagine they're incredibly expensive though.

The house has, um, 20 windows on the main floor, and about 10 smaller ones upstairs.