House Raise - Keep the breeze blocks or demolish and use steel posts?

Hi I am looking for some advice on a house raise I am completing.

The house is a medium sized 3bdr weatherboard postwar Queenslander. Currently underneath the house is raised about 1700, the outside walls are made from 140x190x320 Concrete Bessa/Breeze masonry block which supports the outside loads. Internally there is a block wall that runs across the middle width of the house, separating the 'downstairs' into two halves. From the front wall to this middle support wall is a span of about 5500 and from the middle wall to the back wall is a span of 4600.

The front half has a row of 3 internal concrete stumps holding up the centre of the bearer span, the rear has only has a single steel post supporting the span, but the timber bearer looks like it has some steel plate bolted to each side along the length as reinforcemnt.

The foundation is a concrete slab. the back half is tiled (as it is currently serving as the laundry). The walls are hollow but otherwise look well constructed and there is no sign of cracking or sagging. The slab too is in excellent shape and shows no cracking or depressions.

I would like to raise the house by a further 1400 to create a height of 3100 underneath. My intent is to run new steel universal beams underneath running lengthways down the house (perpendicular to the current timber bearers) and then remove the internal concrete and steel posts. There would be about 6 beams across the width of the house and they would be supported along their length by the front, middle and rear concrete block walls.

My idea to keep the slab and existing wall is to hopefully reduce the cost but my question is: is this an achievable/good idea? or am I better off sacrificing the existing slab and walls and simply clear them out and put steel posts in for the supports?

Any help or advice would be great!

Thanks in advance,

Alex.


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