knucklez wrote:
my foundation wall is the same, stone with no cement footing. even still, i saw "net evidence" of under pinning with similar walls and see that 18" wide under pin may be possible. i'll look up the piling and post method you speak of to learn more. would be nice if you could snap a picture of that too
when you lower the floor did you have to put in new lolly columns on concrete footing? how did you support the beam while you removed the existing to pour new post footing?
this is a colossal project you've under taken. you deserve a BEvERage when it's all done! thanks for the share
I'll try to explain the method now that you have seen a few of the pics. I was going to go with all pressure treated lumber but that is a no-no for inside a dwelling. Instead, I bought a lift of 3/4 " construction grade ply and 8 gallons of Thompsons Deck Seal. It smells like the old paste wax for a while and then dissipates. I was quite liberal with it, particularly on cut ends. Contrary to the instructions.
AFTER I rebuilt the stone foundation-by removing every possible stone-one section at a time- then washed them off-primed them with an acrylic primer and then remortared them into place. I really had to make sure that I packed every crack and crevice. Every 'void' got stuffed with smaller rocks and packed in with mortar.
I then started cutting in the dirt walls. Corners first to establish a line. I dug down to the height I wanted-in this case 7'6". I stayed back from the foundation by 18" as I didn't feel comfortable getting too close! I then augered down 3'6" and left them overnight so that I could find the water table. My pilings were 6" below the water line so I poured in 1/3 bag of dry concrete mix, pounded in a couple 4 ft rebar to below the top of the piling and then pured in mixed wet concrete. Being sure to 'stick' the concrete really well in order to get all the iar out and have a solid piling. Then, while the concrete was wet I set in my 4x4 post ( which I had previously notched so that it would sit under, and support the joist above. I had also previously nailed galvanized post cleat on the bottom.) into the concrete and leveled/lined it and kept it in place by piling bigger rocks around it. Then I went on 'down the line' digging the dirt down and doing one post at a time. I also thought far enough ahead to dig back far enough in order to slide full sheets of plywood behind the posts!
Prior to putting the plywood in place, I ran a 6 ml vapor barrier all the way around also using big rocks up on the ledge to hold it in place. To hold the plywood in place util I back-filled I pre-drilled the plywood at each post and where I had room, I hammered in a galvanized rooing nail. For the posts which I couldn't nail with a hammer, I used a big wood clamp and 'squeezed' the nail tight.
Before back-filling, I cut 12" 2x6 and nailed them onto the joist against the top of the notched 4x4. No way that is ever going to move!
After back-filling, I pulled the vapor barrier over the 'ledge' and I will then pour a 3" layer of concrete.
In order to pour pads (18x18x8) for the jack-posts, I bought a couple more jack-posts and set them on either side-about 2 ft away- of the post I wanted to remove. I used 8x10x4 ft timber to rest my temp supports on. I crancked then EVENLY, until the 'old post' was 'just barely loose. I left that sit like that overnight just to make sure that my temp support were going to work and not settling back down. I then dug down and poured the pad. I let the pad cure for 48 hrs before replacing the post. It helped the process along by taking apart one of the heating ducts and redirecting the heat to the fresh concrete.
For the bearing beam in the center floor I went 8"x8". I ran 4 strings of 1/2" rebar. I also put in a 2x4 'nail rail' (to spike the floor joists to) and using tie-wire, hung the upper strings of rebar off that.
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