Renovations, feedback and your load bearing wall?

Hi,
So we are in negotiations with the home owner on a mass park cape that we really like. It has potential but there some things that we would need to do to make it work or be the ideal situation we would like. If you have any feedback on any of the below, please let me know...trying to figure out how much extra $$ we would need for all this:

1. Load bearing wall - we would like to take a wall down so the space is opened up for living room and a formal dining area. Has anyone taken a load bearing wall down/reinforced it? How much did it cost you? any places or person you would reccommend for this work?

2. Samsung indoor ac's - anyone have thse? It connects to a unit outside but i think it runs electrically but the units are indoors. We may need to buy a few extra ones...are these good?

3. Has anyone converted their cape into a CAC house? how much and is it possible to convert a cape to central ac?

4. electricity upgrade- has anyone upgraded their electricity? if so, was it a mess? can be done while living in the house? and about how much?

5. basement - how much did it cost you to finish a basement on your own? any person you would recommend for this type of work?

Thanks so much for your time!

Re: Renovations, feedback and your load bearing wall?

we got an estimate to take down a load bearing wall.. and it was around 2K.

Re: Renovations, feedback and your load bearing wall?

I don't know how much it cost b/c the previous owner had it done but it is possible to install CAC in a cape. Our cape has CAC they just used up a bit of closet space in order to install the vents w/o having to go in the ceilings.

Re: Renovations, feedback and your load bearing wall?

all i know from a friend who took down a load bearing wall was it was extremly hard, and they had to lift the top of the house to insert another header to support the house. it was a lot of $$ and it could cause any tile in the house to crack. it also causes a few minor cracks in the sheet rock through out the house.
I think it will be impossible to get a price based on anyone else that has done it becuase it all depends on how much "load" that wall is really holding, if a header is needed or just a support column to support the house in that area.

you could call in a company and get an estimate I'm sure they can do that at a very little cost or free

GL

ETA: an electric BOX upgrade (which upgrades the electrical through the entire house) should run you $1000-$2000 and its not a mess at all just at the box.

Message edited 10/16/2009 3:25:01 PM.

Re: Renovations, feedback and your load bearing wall?

Sorry I only know answers to 1 and 3 and am a fellow cape owner...

1. We got two estimates for $4000 to take down a wall between our kitchen and living room. It is also a load bearing wall. We decided it was a little too much for us to spend right now so we havent done it yet.

3. Do you have forced air heat? If so, it will be alot cheaper for you to convert to CAC. We have forced air so all we would need to do is get the unit which we were told runs $1500 approx.