Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 4/4/2011

Question
Hi, I live in Texas. We have a home with a pier and beam foundation, but the garage is on a concrete slab. We are planning to turn the garage into a living area, but want to add additional space on the rear of the garage. Can we just tie into the concrete slab of the garage, or continue with the the pier and beam structure of the home itself?

Answer
Hi Anthony, If you want the addition to the garage to be at the same level as the garage is now then you will be better off doing a slab to slab tie in.  However if your garage slab sits up high on a built up slab and you have a lower elevation in the ground where your addition will be built then you might need to look at the cost between building the new addition slab up to elevation or continuing the post and beam floor system under the new addition.  Either way is acceptable but your surrounding elevations will really determine which method is the most logical.  I hope this information helps, please feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com