Are my footings deep enough for second storey

[m4rty5miff]

Hi,

I have a single storey extension to the back of my house which was built approx 15 years ago, I am planning to extend upwards to create an additional upstairs room. How can I find out if the original footings are man enough for the job?

Is there a significant difference between single and 2-storey footings. How do I go about getting this verified?

Thanks
Martin

 

[Static]

Its width of footing that is key..

As a rule of thumb a second storey will add about double the load to the foundations, so they may need to be 2x the size..

BUT your extension footings may have been built larger than actually needed, sometimes done to fit the wall on or for ease of construction.. or lazy design..

Get a spade and some red bull and do some digging up of the flower beds next to the extension wall to determine the footing width.. can also find out what kinda ground the footings are on and the depth they went down to.. if you dont know this from the plans..