New Life to an Old Foundation

[Notalented]

I'm posting some of the foundation work I've done to my 1900 New England farm house I've been on for a few years. This is my attempt at getting my work out their and trying to get myself motivated again to actually get my ass in gear and finish.

...the idea of this project is simple I'm repointing the foundation; taking out all of the non-structural stones and all the old dried up mortar. The job has long and tedious to say the least, but the result look very good.

I'll have some pictures to upload tonight.

[Notalented]

So this is where it all began, I started by digging out along the outside and prepping the wall for the work to come. Living in an area pron to frost, I dug below 40'' or more from ground level with is most of the way down the foundation wall.

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At this point I have quite a bit complete at the bottom of the wall the thickness is approximately 20'' needless to say their is quite a bit going on behind the finished face.

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[Gothichome]

Notalanted, first off welcome to the district. I can see a lot of work there. Foundation work is not the most glamorous of jobs, but with out it being sound every else is a waste of effort. Look forward to more pics and a show and tell.

[Notalented]

A panoramic view of everything thus far...

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At this point I've back filled and we're at grade again. Their is a bit more work left to do above grade in certain spots, but that much is evident, the part you can't see will come with the interior work.

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And then everything was finished... now I realize this is all posted after the fact but all of this took 4 months all said and done. The four months really only accounts for the time spent doing the major preparations inside and out and the work outside. The interior comes next

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[Notalented]

Back tracking a small bit but this is what some of the foundation wall looked like on the inside before the outside was completed.

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This section of wall show what it all looks like before the magic happens (aka jointing and brushing)

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... and then after.

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[Gothichome]

Well that looks a whole lot better. Really don't know what was holding every thing in place. Is the whole lot in the same condition?

[Notalented]

Well that looks a whole lot better. Really don't know what was holding every thing in place. Is the whole lot in the same condition?

I believe the camera was making the light coming through really bright exagerating the holes, not to make light of it (pun not really intended.) The stones, as with many field stone foundations, are enormous most weighting more than a truck. That particular wall was faced originally only towards the inside, making some of the rock look smaller than it really is.

On that note, the fact it was only (flat) faced on the inside on that wall (and most of the front of the house for that matter) is making this a bit harder for me having to essentially make a none flat wall look flat. You can see in this picture the corner on the right side (where I was working) was I believe to originally a doorway. Thus the unfaced foundation on that portion of foundation and same around the front door on the house for obvious reasons.

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(This picture is of the house before any of the work was started.)

[Neighmond]

Welcome in! Such a house, makes me want to do something with my foundation

[Notalented]

I may be getting a little off topic with this portion of the work log since this move on to a retaining wall which is hardscape but bear with me. In a way it's foundation related since I'm using it to retain land around the house and if you look at the last picture it was also the solution to getting rid of all the rocks that made up the retaining wall that contained the garden in the front yard.

Here is how it all began...

(You can disgreguard all of the cut granite since that was for another project all together.)

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[Gothichome]

Notalented, I can see the reason for the wall, looks like the erosion has made it all the way to the garage. Looks like the plan is to take it all the way to the house?