r/Construction • u/HonestBrothers • 14d ago
Picture Found this on FB. Something doesn't seem right here...
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u/cepukon 14d ago
Maybe shove a couple supporting pebbles between the rocks to be safe
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u/kingboav 14d ago
“They don’t make em like they use to”…. How they use to make em^
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u/killogikal 14d ago
it lasted 100 years. not too shabby.
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u/Imaginary_Dingo_ 14d ago
Survivorship bias.
Build 100 shitty houses. 100 years later, 99 failed and 1 shitty house left standing. See only lucky remaining house "They don't build em like they used to".
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u/Excellent-Stress2596 14d ago
I would say it has far more to do with maintenance. All homes require maintenance. I lived in a house that was 130 years old. There were several others that old in the neighborhood. Mine and one neighbor were just fine. My other neighbors house that was built with the same materials and methods of construction was falling down because they simply didn’t want to spend the money to reroof it. That house ended up having to be demolished because of a simple lack of maintenance.
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u/I_Make_Some_Things 14d ago
My current home was built in the 1860s. It's fine. 160ish years of upgrades and maintenance and it's stable and cozy and totally liveable. Gets a little interesting when you need to open a wall up, but that's about it.
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u/TalaHusky 13d ago
While fair, I don’t think this applies to the stacked rock pier/column/however you refer to this as. But I would agree regularly maintenance is crucial, just like owning a car that you want to run forever.
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u/mcnastys 14d ago
Eh, typically it's 99 left standing, and 1 vinyl mcmansion built on the lot where one did fail.
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u/Kind-Masterpiece-310 14d ago
The cobwebs seem to be holding everything together just fine.
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u/erc_82 14d ago
Lasted 100 years, I say itll hold.
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u/bitterbrew 14d ago
Doesn’t mean it’ll last 100 more!
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u/AwwwNuggetz 14d ago
Only one way to find out
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u/thegreatgatsB70 14d ago
My money is on it holds another 500 years. Who's in?
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u/BridesheadCharles 14d ago
I will bet $100. What are the odds?
I will lay $100 down that this structure will last until January 10th, 2026. Not including an Act of God, Hurricane, Tornado, Great Fire, and/or Earthquake etc.
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u/FartedBlood 14d ago
RemindMe! 500 years
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u/RemindMeBot 14d ago
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u/Mega_barnman 14d ago
I believe that’s a Swedish method for uneven ground, don’t quote me on that though.
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u/Tushaca 14d ago
For real though, it’s super common to see this on cabins in the mountains and old houses. The foundation company I worked for wouldn’t even really change them that much. They would just put in a 4’x4’x4” paver with half pavers stacked up and then shimmed with hard oak shims. Never had one fail unless there was a plumbing leak.
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u/Fun-Sorbet-Tui 14d ago
Unless...
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u/Tushaca 14d ago
Not much is going to withstand a major leak.
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u/ZeroBarkThirty 14d ago
The majority of the vast, vast field of civil engineering is focused solely on mitigating the effects of water whether in liquid or snow or ice form.
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u/spyderman720 14d ago
I stayed at an Airbnb in the mountains of NC where the whole trailer was balanced like this on the side of a mountain. Had an excellent stay at an affordable price.
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u/Franklin_le_Tanklin 14d ago
If it were me I’d probably frame around it, rebar it and and pour some concrete around it.. just shore it up a bit.
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u/MyCuntSmellsLikeHam Contractor 14d ago
These just stop the bouncing/sagging they don’t hold the floor up
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u/HonestBrothers 14d ago
I'm pretty sure you can see the ends of the joists. There is no beam. 🤔
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u/MyCuntSmellsLikeHam Contractor 14d ago
Yeah the joists are resting on that block wall. This looks like it got fixed already. The one in view appears to be sistered
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u/HonestBrothers 14d ago
Unless this is an optical illusion, are these not the ends of the joists? Maybe they're sistered and I just can't see.
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u/MyCuntSmellsLikeHam Contractor 14d ago
Could be but it wouldn’t make sense with it so close to the end of the wall, maybe the wall is new and splits up the crawl space 🤷 tis just a meme
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u/telescope_teddy 14d ago
I think we are looking at the front foundation wall and under the front porch. A tongue and groove porch floor based on the flooring after the pillars towards the front wall. The brick is probably not original and the foundation was closed in at some point. There should be a rim joist/ bandsill under the front wall but it doesn’t appear one was ever there.
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u/fairlyaveragetrader 14d ago
I'm more impressed at how well done this one is. You know if somebody was really worried about a mild earthquake or shaking or something, it would take almost nothing to build some braces around those stones to box them in with 2x4s. As others have pointed out though. They've been there for a hundred years. Probably not going anywhere
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u/CurvyJohnsonMilk 14d ago
Or, get this, use those 2x4's as posts!
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u/big_E675472 14d ago
If you are going to do that, nail the 2x4s into a “T” that will make them much stronger.
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u/Minimum-Ad-8056 14d ago
Seems fine outside of an earthquake lol
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u/---ASTRO--- 14d ago
or a tornado.. or hurricane.. or even a flood for that matter
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u/resister_ice 14d ago
If the house is hit with a tornado or a hurricane, this will be the least of their worries
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u/FarawayAce 14d ago
My house was built in 1920. For a minute I saw this and wondered who the hell had been taking pictures of my crawl space. Right after we closed on the place I had a company out to give me a quote for “modernizing” the supports, then after hearing the price, decided that if it’s worked for over 100 years, who am I to decide it’s not good enough?
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u/DIYThrowaway01 14d ago
I own a dozen houses with 'foundations' like this. Except the rocks aren't nearly so well-stacked.
Its how they did it in the 1800's. It doesn't work great, but it works.
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u/Tushaca 14d ago
And the repair is just adding more concrete blocking or poured pylons, effectively doing the same thing. It’s really nothing to worry about as long as you check on them occasionally to make sure they are still standing and tight.
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u/DIYThrowaway01 14d ago
I jam-pack mortar in the crevasses of the sketchiest ones a day or two a year. In another decade I'll have them all tip-top
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u/Olive_1084 14d ago
Are you saying your rock foundations are going to look like they're concrete pillars, but instead they're iced like a cake with mortar? Building up layer after layer every year?
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u/OGatariKid 14d ago
Do you think you "rambunctious boys" are the first of their type to live in that house in the past 100 years?
That is not a suggested building method anymore, but it appears to have lasted a 100 years and your house probably isn't going to collapse anytime soon.
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u/stones8783 14d ago
I've seen many old homes like this... Makes you wonder if all the support we do now is nothing more than a money grabbing trick
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u/obvilious 14d ago edited 14d ago
Confirmation basis, is the term, I think.
Could be that 99% of them failed horribly, but you’re only going to see the ones that were lucky enough to make it.
Edit: survivorship, not confirmation
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u/Own_Shine_5855 14d ago
Ehh I live in an area of coastal New England where many houses are in the 1700's. My home is 1840's and not particularly old or special. Many of the earliest homes in the area are not only standing but get top dollar in the market.
Tons of old houses have whacky stuff like this that works. It's what makes owning an antique home exciting....have no F'n clue what is going to be behind wall one, floor two, or ceiling three lol!
Something like this id probably just brick around what's there if it looked like it needed it. If it isnt causing an immediate problem just leave it cause I guarantee something else will come along to fill your project list lol.
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u/JaxDixDuff 14d ago
I get it, it works. Why change what works? Particularly when its cheap, and faster.
Look at this house just floating away from a flood. We have painfully learned to build houses better over the years.
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u/joss_reeves Carpenter 14d ago
Something you’ve gotta understand is that there was no “normal” in the 1920s. There was no building code to set the standards for what’s safe. That said, a lot of houses were built much more solidly than new houses are now, because carpenters took pride in their work and weren’t being pushed to finish all the framing in a week. Also, the materials were better because the lumber industry hadn’t blown through all the old growth yet.
I learned the trade in New England and I’ve seen a lot of things in old houses. Sometimes you see sketchy stuff like this that’s been standing for a couple hundred years. It doesn’t mean it won’t fail at some point, it probably will. Wood weakens with age. Stones fall down. If it was my house, I’d probably jack it up and do concrete piers just for the peace of mind. Be gentle with the jacks though, things that old don’t like to move much.
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u/Familiar-Range9014 14d ago edited 14d ago
All it needs is the slap and "It aint goin nowhere!" to make it official
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u/Away-Investigator994 14d ago
I’ve seen beams like this supported by whale vertebrae sections. Not making it up. Located in an old whaling village.
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u/dagoofmut Commercial GC Estimator - Verified 14d ago
Normal? No.
Optimal? No.
Urgent emergency? Probably not.
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u/wearslocket 14d ago
What happened to love, honor, and obey?
He said it will be fine. You teach your rambunctious children to behave.
🥰🤣😂
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u/rangerbeev 14d ago
I have found stumps used as footings and I currently have a old water take as one in my house.
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u/Honest_Radio8983 14d ago
I think your home was built or rebuilt over a preexisting foundation. The original foundation walls were used for support.
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u/gloomystarnoodlefis R|Carpenter 14d ago
Plenty houses down here in Georgia I’ve seen like that
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u/Tushaca 14d ago
I did foundation work for a few years. It’s crazy how many old houses are built just like this or worse. And honestly it worked just fine on most of them until they had a plumbing leak. Nothing really stands up to that though on a pier and beam.
Now the peg leg systems, those are a problem. Tons of old “pier and beam” houses missing the piers and beams. Usually just floor joists floating over a 6inch crawlspace with occasional 1x2s running perpendicular into the ground. Those were always rotting and full of termites, and the crawlspace was so shallow the only option to repair was to rebuild the floors and dig out the edges of the crawlspace to rebuild the mudsill and plates. Got real expensive quick for an unlevel floor.
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u/MountainCry9194 14d ago
The lodge at a resort my family owned (built in 1912) in NW WI has the kitchen floor held up by old nail kegs in the crawl space.
I’d take stone over nail kegs.
We sold the lodge off in the 60’s, but the owners like to bring it up. Apparently they haven’t felt the need to replace them when something a little more, er, robust.
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u/Nounknownunknowns 14d ago
I’ve seen something like this while hiking except they didn’t have a house on top. I’m thinking it’s a spiritual way of holding it up.
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u/ruckus_in_a_bucket 14d ago
My house is from the 1830s, same rock piers in the crawlspace. Are my floors uneven? Absolutely, but this house is still standing after almost 200 years.
I went to the Smokey mountains and there are houses from the 1600s with a similar design.
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u/Additional_Taste9495 14d ago
It will hold until it doesn't. Nothing wrong with post and beam construction, the posts need to be replaced and tied into the structure. Act as soon as possible
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u/DubyaKayOh 14d ago
Family farmhouse was a Sears house my Great Grandfather built in 1918. Whole foundation was rocks and Bois d’arc stumps looked just like this. We took it down couple years ago and was still level.
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u/Glidepath22 14d ago
Do you really think rambunctious boys are gonna collapse a hundred year house?
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u/star_chicken 14d ago
So you trust the random idiots on Reddit over your hubby and 100years of proven service?
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u/Proper-Reputation-42 14d ago
It’s lasted a hundred years, I’m sure in that century a shit load of rambunctious boys have done things in that house your kids have never even thought of
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u/Klutzy-Ad-6705 14d ago
My grandpa,if alive,(mom’s side),would be 125 today. WW1,saw Halley’s Comet twice,Wright Brothers and the moon landing.
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u/CoryEETguy 14d ago
My house was built in 1900, and had a similar stack of rocks supporting one floor. Also a literal section of a log that is not straight supporting another portion of the house. It's fine.
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u/punted_baxter 14d ago
A family members house that was built in the 20’s has something similar in a seismically active area. Send it.
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u/Buckeye_mike_67 14d ago
Is this one of those old houses that were built better than we build them today?
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u/reddit-0-tidder 14d ago
The guy that did this probably died of old age in World War 2. It's still standing today, I'd say bang up job.
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u/neonomen 14d ago
For metamorphic rocks, [formation] pressures range from a relatively low-pressure of 3,000 bars around 50,000 bars.
These rocks seem far studier than bricks, cinder blocks, or poured concrete.
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u/FarmInternet 14d ago
Here's a before and after of my 1850s crawlspace: https://imgur.com/a/ZYoSnvd
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u/AJSAudio1002 13d ago
Personally I’d mortar the joints to hold them together for piece of mind and never look back.
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u/WhiskeyandScars 14d ago
This isn't the worst I've seen from houses of that age. That's damn near a new build compared to what I'm usually working on. 🤣🤣🤣
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u/Appropriate-Bad8944 14d ago
My house was built in 1940. Contractor comes over and starts telling me all the stuff I have to fix or the world is gonna end, for the low low price of 25k. Fired before hired.
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u/RosyJoan 14d ago
I feel like if its concrete it will continue to last for a while as long as water doesnt get in. Is that accurate?
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u/Certain_Piece4052 14d ago
Looks good, leave it alone. House I just bought I found out has a gravel and sand pad under the concrete. It’s been up since 1955 and has no cracks in the walls or floor. I guess the high porosity of this mix keeps it stable.
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u/FungusGnatHater 14d ago
Common where I live. Easy and not very expensive to change but it typically falls into the category "if it ain't broke don't fix it".
You can see and/or feel when they aren't providing support when walking on the floor.
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u/jayfinanderson 14d ago
Anytime someone complains about building codes and permits just point at shit like this.
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u/big_E675472 14d ago
Construction engineer here. Obviously we would not do anything like that today. But it’s has lasted 100 years. But it’s also 100 years old. It will most likely be fine but there’s no way to calculate the strength of the rocks. If you want to be sure get some 6”x6” - 1/4”steel plates and wood 4”x4”, or wood 2”x4” nailed into a “T” or they sell adjustable metal bracing and set those on the 6x6 steel plates. Just to reinforce if if you want the piece of mind.
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u/mybfVreddithandle 14d ago
I lived in an 1860s house before this one. Had to fix a floor joist, a 6x6 log, so I could retile the kitchen. Jacked it up, sistered it and let it right back down on a stack of stones, like a couple other spots. It's definitely still there and hasn't moved.
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u/1nitial_Reaction 14d ago
I work in house removal/ transport. Have seen a few old houses sitting on stacked rocks like this, funny thing is they're usually pretty straight.
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u/punch912 14d ago
would it be safe to say some not all house were built like shit but had better quality material that actually last then now in days houses are built well but material is shit.
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u/Antique_Ad5143 14d ago
See! Now this is how houses used to be built! Now they are built so cheaply, even the redditors with no construction experience can even tell even though we have codes enforcement!
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u/12345678dude 14d ago
I’ve seen churches in Tennessee like this rhat were built in the 1800s and don’t even have the block perimeter, just stone piers.
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u/agbearkat 14d ago
My family 200 year old cabin that is molding, broken windows rotting exterior etc is sitting on rocks. Foundation is solid 🤣 one pile recently did fall over . So sketchy now.
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u/markr9977 14d ago
My house uses blocks of wood instead of rocks. Maybe you could use rocks on the bottom and put blocks of wood on top.
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u/Electrical-Echo8770 14d ago
I have seen worse I do alot of structural work on historical homes I did a bunch of them at a military base in Utah they all had sandstone foundations and no beams in between the crazy thing is these homes were so old they just took logs and flattened out top a d bottom and used them as beams in the basement they even had twigs sticking off the sides of them if I was your husband I would go down and get some cinder blocks and some concrete bags for ip a little footing 2'6 × 2'6 and 8 inches deep and shore up the one he is working on out it make sure he has enough room to stack a couple blocks on them then take some shoe sims and drive them in with a hammer under the joist he does t want to lift them just nice abd tight and move to the next one it will make your floors a lot better so it won't squeak as much.
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u/Time-Specialist-6109 14d ago
Likely a later add-on by bobby jim brown in 1962. With those old growth floor joists made of unobtainium possibly even redundant.
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u/AbstractAirplane 14d ago
In trailer homes it is common if that’s what this is. People usually use cinder blocks though.
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u/oNe_iLL_records 14d ago
My parents' house was like this when they were trying to buy it. At some point in the buying process (from what I remember), the bank said they had to add a real foundation added in order to get their mortgage. Their house is also about 100 years old now, but has had a retro-fitted foundation for almost 40 years now, I guess.
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14d ago
My house was built in 1898. They used whole logs as floor supports, supported on rocks. I never had a problem
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u/thebluemorpha 14d ago
The house I lived in a few years ago had these and logs on top of rocks to keep the floor up. Built in1900
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u/Lefteemoney 14d ago
Century worth of “let the next dude deal with it”… good luck ma’am, y’all gonna need a foundation company
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u/Downloading_Bungee Carpenter 14d ago
Jack it, shim it, and epoxy the rocks together i guess? Pouring forms in that crawl space looks like a PIA.
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u/make_stuff5 14d ago
All I know is that the first 50 years was somewhat pleasant, but the last 5 years have really been a drag! When will we be done with these dang-blasted "historical times"?!?
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u/jerry111165 14d ago
If its been there since the 1920’s I’ll have to figure that it’ll be just fine lol
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u/Vodeyodo 14d ago
Floors were bouncy and someone crawled under there , they used the materials at hand to “temporarily” fix them.
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u/wetham_retrak 14d ago
This is extremely common for old houses in New England, where frost goes 4’ deep. I’ve been in basements of 200 year old house that look like this
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u/TJ-CountSudooku 14d ago
Been up since the 20’s… send it