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Reply to "From Sea Level to 10,023 ft"

@Gordon Nichols - I deleted my list 'o woes at about the 59th minute of my allotted 60 because I feel pretty grateful to be still vertical (if a little beat up and bent). Nobody wants to hear it, regardless. Everybody's got something, and I've got nobody to blame but myself.

As far as the foundation issues out there - yikes. Our concrete gets "flyash" which is a byproduct of burning coal in a powerplant. The way they have gotten rid of it is to put it in concrete. This will not be an issue going forward (as we're headed into the brave new world) so they've decommissioned the nearby coal plants.

For about 30 years, there's been a real problem with "spalling", where the surface of concrete pops and pocks. It's been my contention that this was a result of flyash, but concrete guys disagree. I've always paid extra for concrete with no flyash, and fiberglass strands added. I've not had the kinds of problems some guys have had, but I've got a section of sidewalk poured last fall that is starting to spall. It's maddening.

Out here, old houses have brick foundations, which is how they fail. Mr. Homebuilder in the 1870s (when this town was platted) would work his day-job, then come home at night and hand dig his foundation. When he got through the topsoil and into clay (3- 4 ft), he'd stop digging and start laying the foundation bricks - 2 courses thick (8"). He would go about 2 -3 ft proud of grade, then start framing. The basements were between 5 and 6 ft deep, with brick floors, as built.

Generally, at some point later, somebody would want a deeper basement and a concrete floor. Typically, they would dig down another couple of feet, leaving a ledge around the wall so that the house wouldn't cave. My guy was braver, and dug straight down from the walls, formed a concrete lip, and poured a 4"-6" thick concrete "cripple" wall just inside the brick. The guts of that guy cannot be understated, nor can the quality of the concrete (now at least 100 years old). He went probably 18" down, then poured a 4" floor, which is mostly without a crack or a joint. The floor and the little cripple walls seem to be monolithic, and they are not the weak part of the setup.

The weak part is the brick, which while made from good clay and fired right here in Morton, IL, were never glazed in any way, and therefore have gotten a bit soft in 150 years, especially in the mortar joints. Parging the walls helps hold the whole thing together, but we had one outside (bearing) wall that had bowed inward at least 4". I jacked the house up (off the floor) and dug down on the outside with a mini-hoe. We knocked out the bricks and poured a new footer, then laid up a block wall. It was easily the skippiest part of the entire project (so far), and that includes when we dug a new foundation up next to a bearing wall, then poured a new concrete wall for a small bathroom/laundry addition.

The house leans about 1" in two directions, which cannot be rectified. We're hoping that stripping the plaster and lath will not further rack the house.

"They don't build them like they used to", and for that I'm grateful. The average old house in this part of the world is complete garbage.

Last edited by Stan Galat
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