Just a comment on the north facing situation. It's the back of my house that faces due north. I'm in zone 6, which for me means very hot summers and winters with bitter cold, and cycles of snow - ice - thaw that can be plant killers. Throw in prairie winds out of the west and it's no fun right now. But my absolute favorite planting bed is a 9' x 20' border snugged up against the back of the house beside my back patio. I understand what you mean about the intense light in summer, but there may be a trick to it that will help you decide about what you will plant. I've watched how the shade line moves back toward the house as we move from spring up to the summer solstice (about June 21). At that point the shade line is about as close as it will get to the house itself. For me, there's a 3 ft band that is always in the shade. I don't plant that close to the house, but I do plant near that 3 ft mark. Those plants have access to growing some of their roots toward the shade. Plus the plants nearest the house are shaded through the days of the spring when the tilt of the earth thingy is moving that shade line. Anything closer to the house also gets the reprieve from the sun soonest as the shade line moves back in the other direction further and further from the house. In other words around the spring equinox (about March 21) the house shades an area extending beyond the bed and the patio. At that point everything is in complete shade and the plants are coaxed up from the ground by the warming earth and gentle ambient light. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths poke up a little later here because they are kept cooler in the shade. Right at the sweet spot (about 5 ft from the house in my situation) a gorgeously robust clematis is beginning to need a little more space. It usually blooms long and then blooms again in the fall. So far I mostly have shade plants in this entire bed in spite of the fact that I know the afternoon light is coming. Kept watered, and tended, and mulched, I have been amazed at how well these shade prefering plants do. But ... I think it helps that as the earth's tilt again shifts the light southward, the shade in this area slowly begins to give its reprieve to these plants. I once used this bed for vegies ... just to see how that would go ... and the things that really love light to do well and are harvested in Aug and later, didn't produce much once they were tucked under the growing edge of the shade. Your situation is different, so you'll have to watch the light. On a sunny day in January the north side of my house is gloomy and significantly colder. The south side is the brighter warmer side. Anyway, my point is that you can work with this exposure and expect good results. There are all kinds of ways to create shade protection. A stepping stone in just the right spot is incredibly effective for keeping the ground moist and cool near a plant. I sometimes use that technique in addition to plenty of mulch. I love my north side beds and was actually planning to add hydrangia to my little playground in back. Wellspring

Hi Danny :) We lost our home to fire just this last November, I can relate to your current fears. Have you already chosen a builder? I ask because we chose one pretty quickly and he has helped us to navigate how insurance claims work and eased our fears tremendously. Our initial estimate didn't include replacing the joist system either, and, like you, I was ready to be really upset. But our builder calmed me and said this is just how it works. Apparently, this is standard operating procedure. It is far more expensive to mitigate than to just replace in most cases, but insurance companies want proof of that. He sent them the estimates and cleaning/sealing was way more expensive than tearing it out and replacing it. So here we are today, finishing demo and my builder tells me they are paying to replace the joist system. Apparently, it is twice as expensive to keep it. So I wouldn't go all "guns blazing" just yet. Your builder can make the case to replace instead of repair. Our insurance company sent our initial checks to replace the house (policy limit payout) around the same time we were hiring our builder. The builder has since submitted claims for code upgrades and claim changes... and the insurance company has sent those checks along in a timely manner. We also have replacement coverage and he will make the claim for those funds after the items are installed (though very little was "depreciated" in our claim even though the house was 50 years old). When I was interviewing builders and discussing some of the things I was concerned about regarding Insurance replacement, they all said pretty much the same thing, "Don't worry about that, that's our job". Knowing that he knows when/how/the right time to argue a point, makes my role in this so much easier. I can't recommend a Public Adjuster because we didn't use one. And in hindsight, I'm glad we didn't. We didn't end up needing one. But even if we needed one today, we could still hire, so no need to get in a hurry. They'll still be there if for some reason you did need them later. At the end of the day I just couldn't pull the trigger on paying someone $$$$ to "do battle" for me, when I wasn't even sure there was gonna be a fight. It turned out to be the right choice for us. Our claim has been paid at full policy limits for structure, we are able to put our home back and even make improvements with the settlement with no problem, and our builder has made code upgrade claims that have been paid without issue. Our contents claim is not finished yet, but I did the inventory after the fire myself. It took me 4 days, and it was very cold and WET, but I saved myself $14,500 by not hiring the PA. The initial itemized list the insurance company gave us after their inventory was reasonable... but there were some things I saw that were missing (things that one would have to dig under the debris to locate... and I knew we would get a better resolution if I put in the work to locate and document them. I have not seen the settlement yet, but my contents adjuster says to expect it to be at or very close to policy limits...and that we also have 3 years to buy everything back and submit receipts to recoup additional replacement costs. So NOT hiring a PA has saved me $55,000... and hiring my well qualified/experienced large loss builder - early in the process has saved me a ton of stress. I hope this helps in some small way. Hang in there.

I agree w/ spam. Hiring a structural engineer shouldn't be too expensive. He might tell them forget it, or he might say go ahead. I would think in this case, though, hiring an "expert" would be in order first. We are considering moving our 115 year old house w/a similar foundation situation (plus lots more). We have gotten an estimate on jacking and moving, and it's not as prohitively expensive as you might think. And, if needed the engineering costs on top are also, in comparison, are also not hugely expensive.

kcmnc, shrubs grow faster than you assume. Here is a bed I planted in the fall of 2009, but photographed in June 2010, with nothing taller than 3' except a very few of the evergreens that were 4'-5'. Most of the rhododendrons, dogwoods, spicebushes, hydrangeas, etc were under 2', and some were about 6". The cherry trunk visible in the photo below is just out of sight to the right in this photo. And here it is in 2014, with just less than 5 years in the ground. The large pink Hydrangea paniculata 'Pinky Winky' is 8' tall x 12' wide, well over my head (it is the little lopsided green blob on the left in photo 1.) Note how much space between the hydrangea and the dark green arborvitae in photo 1; they are touching in photo 2. Even after gardening for 35+ years, I was floored by how quickly it filled in! It has almost totally hidden the large logs, buildings, and solar panels it was designed to keep out of sight. Many of the perennials I put in initially have disappeared since they were overgrown by the shrubs. Seriously consider looking up your shrub's predicted width and plant accordingly as suggested above by all of us. In two years you will have covered at least half of the foundation as long as they are plants suited for the spot (soil, sun, etc), and the plants will create a distraction that makes it less apparent since your eyes will have something else to focus on of more interest. Are you planning on staying less than 3 years? You also always have the option of parging or painting the foundation to make it fade into the background better. If you leave the shrubs where they are, either you or a future owner will regret it since you/they will be putting in time fighting to keep them away from the building.