Renovations: Missing Foundations

Above, you see the newly built stone foundation that John had to replace on the house. This is at the eastern wall under the main house. The Big Room addition was built without a foundation. The floor joists were sitting on a single pile of broken bricks! So using granite stones (originally quarried at our own quarry over 100 years ago) found in the old cellar hole, John built the foundation you see here.

The next problem was what you see here: the floor joists of the same room, on the north wall, were completely exposed to the earth outside of the house. The builders had simply covered the insulated joists that you see here with aluminum flashing. Therefore, the mice could move freely from their tunnels in the soil right into the insulation. The entire house was a mouse luxury condo!

Above you may be able to see a granite foundation stone that had been used to prop up the joists. The sill was completely rotted out. The wall was essentially hanging off of the ceiling joists, floating in air.

Above: John and his tractor are pulling out the misplaced granite foundation stone. It wasn’t doing a bit of good where it was and prevented access to the cellar hole under the Big Room.

After the stone was removed and the area cleaned, John rebuilt this section of the foundation. Here you can see a concrete foundation wall that John poured. If you look closely (or click on the photo), you can see Zorro’s paw prints in the concrete. The cat thought this was a terrific entrance and exit to the house. But the wall is closed now and Zorro has to use the doors.

Here, the foundation is completed with cement blocks and mortar. The cellar hole is now sealed. The siding will be replaced properly to protect the floor joists and wall studs. We are crossing our fingers that we don’t find many more severe structural problems!

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