Repilling question

luteba, Jun 3, 1:32am
So, one of the options suggested for putting drains in was to lift up the whole house, do any necessary repiling (including large piles to carry structural beams), and lower it back down again.
However, the two front bedrooms that were added on in the 1960s have a steel-reinforced concrete lip (if that's what it's called?) foundation (description to follow), and a cast concrete slab front porch in between.
I assume this means that the proposed idea (lift it all up, put it back down again) wouldn't be feasible?

"Base walls
Construct 6" thick base walls on 12 x 6 footing to dimension given on plan. Carry walls 2'0" along under outer walls of existing building. Allow for rpecast concrete mouse-proof 9" x 6" air vents at 6'0" centres and directly under sole plate.
Construct 4" dwarf walls to porch slab which is to be cast on hard-fill. Porch steps to have 12" treads and risers to suit base height but in no case to exceed 7".
Piles to be pre-cast of 8" x 8" top section with hole for passing wire tie through. Piles to be set in 12" x 6" footings and taken up to required height and to be true to line and level. Spacing between piles to be not greater than 4'6" under sleepers."
Reinforcing
.
Porch slab to be re-inforced with No.665 B.R.C. mesh well tied into wall re-inforcing."

ceebee2, Jun 3, 4:46am
Putting drains in where exactly?

luteba, Jun 3, 5:24am
Thanks ceebee2, the drains are running underneath the house from one side to the other.
However, I've spoken to a repiler in the meantime, and he said it would be "a nightmare". So I'm moving on to plan B.

howgoodisit, Jun 3, 1:05pm
Plan C?
Sell up and buy another better house.

arielbooks, Jun 3, 7:16pm
I have seen floor boards lifted to repile the relaid again when access has been difficult.

ceebee2, Jun 3, 10:40pm
Hire a "thrusting" outfit but may be expensive.

trade4us2, Jun 3, 10:52pm
What are the drains for? Are they for your house or is it a council drain? Why can't they go around the outside of the house?

luteba, Jun 4, 2:55am
Thanks howgoodisit, we've looked into that option, but what we want is not for sale within our budget.

trade4us2, the drain will be from our sink to our (private) drain. It can't go around the outside of the house because our drain is on the other side of the house and going around the outside would be a very indirect route.

In the end I don't think it will need a thrusting outfit, just a bit of digging underneath.

mark_g, Jun 4, 8:29am
Still not sure exactly what the issue is.

A sink drain is a small plastic pipe. It doesn't have to be buried while it travels across under the house, just supported occasionally.
Can you not take the pipe across under the house (above ground), and if you strike a concrete skirt wall either go under it (a few hundred mm) or drill through it? Could go through where one of the air vents is?

Is there no wiggle room at all under the house? is that the issue?

trade4us2, Dec 23, 9:43pm
My sink is on the other side of my house and the drain goes around the outside of three sides of the house, attached to the weatherboards. There's not much fall but it works. All the plastic pipe clips broke after 10 years so I have replaced them with metal ones. The pipe is quite heavy when it's full of water.