Your house foundation. It is what holds your house nice and level and keeps it from sliding down driveway and out into the street. Foundations in new construction are designed for the slope of the land, as well as soil conditions, numbers of stories and other factors. Not long ago I inspected a home where, way back around 1900, four trees had been cut off on the site and these cut-off trees became the four corner supports for the home. In the following picture one can see one of the tree stumps that is now surrounded with “additional” foundation that has been added over the years. Yes it was very small and was most likely nothing more than a get-away cabin that was built before the area became overrun by “progress.” A tree is a relatively good analogy as to how foundations work. We have the support post (the trunk of the tree) and the footing (the roots that spread the load out over a bigger area). Any tree, when impacted by forces it was not “designed” to deal with, can become uprooted and the tree will topple over. The footing of trees is pretty much designed to secure the tree in place and counter the forces placed upon it by wind. A bunch of trees together will do more to help each individual tree than any lone tree can do. A house foundation is similar. If it is supported by four corner supports and we loose just one of the supports bad things are likely to happen to the furniture, and occupants---never mind the structure itself. Now if we divide the spaces so we now have 8 supports, we go from catastrophic failure to something in between “catastrophe” and “sloped-floors”----commonly referred to as “character.” If we divide those spaces again, we now have supports at 16 points and it becomes even less likely that loss of one of the supports is going to be as problematic. Of course this is all relative to the distance between the supports and the type and size of beams spanning those supports. Obviously if we fill all the spaces between the supports we have what we call a continuous foundation and some of that foundation could be effectively taken away without much consequence to the whole house. If one thinks about a foundation in this manner, it makes it easier to understand how inconsequential some cracks can be. Of course one still needs to be able to interpret the cracks----because they could mean something more. We still have a fair number of post & pier type foundations around the NW that were built around the turn of the century----the 20th century. They almost always have inadequate supports even though the spacing of the support posts would likely be adequate by current standards. What was usually NOT adequate however was the size of the footings under the support posts. Lots of times these posts were simply placed on large stones----including both stones found on site as well as cut blocks of stone brought to the site. Sometimes they were merely set on blocks of wood----or as previously stated---tree stumps. These houses almost always have “excessive character” that would not be tolerated in any other type of construction. The best solution almost always involves either replacing the support post footings with ones engineered for the soil conditions (always considerably bigger than the ones originally used) or install an actual full foundation under the home. These post & pier homes can be very difficult types of houses to “fix.” Fixing usually involves making a decision about whether one can live with the amount of sloping of the floors or not. If one cannot, and the house is to be leveled, factoring replacement of all the lath and plaster throughout the home will become a necessity as opposed to staying a cosmetic “feature” of the home. This gets really complicated if the house has undergone interior work to counteract some of the settlement. Floors that had been leveled to compensate for the sloping may now become out of level. Windows and doors installed level and plum will now no longer be level and plum. Most people opt for simply “stabilizing” the home with proper supports and/or foundation and bank on retaining the cosmetic “features” and “character” of the home. At a recent inspection all or most of the support footings had been “upgraded” at some point in the past---maybe 50 years ago. Because these footings were undersized and located so that the post was not centered above them the house has continued to settle and is about to play tiddlywinks with the footings. These supports will need to be re-done or a new foundation poured under the house----they did not succeed in stabilizing the house at all with this repair. Charles Buell
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And we all know that a good foundation is needed no matter what you're doing if you truly want it to stand the test of time.
Enjoyed the read and pictures
Charles....I look at those photos and think about how thankful I am that I market new construction.....
Don, otherwise in the end you will have a house with a lot of "character"
Barbara----I sure hear you there.
I used to be in the construction industry in northern Minnesota and we did lots of work on foundations that were uniquely constructed. One important thing to watch for, besides the weird set up above ground, is the possibility that water is being diverted someplace nearby (like a slightly leaking sewer pipe) and undermining the pier block or other support mechanism.
Anymore, I sincerely appreciate the willingness of inspectors to investigate these crawl space areas and take detailed pictures, so I can sit comfortably in the living room and discuss the other aspects of the home while we wait for his return.
Glenn, what I love is the occasional, "You all right down there?" :)
Thanks for all the information - and the photos are really helpful as well. I'll be more informed at future home inspections.
Charlie,
About any time I see a house around 100 years old, there will be a number of rocks as piers.
Without a good foundation, whether it's a building, a home, or an education, the outcome will most likely be failure.
I once lived in a house built in 1874 that had one heck of a slope! When sleeping, my head was below my feet! LOL I was young then, and it was a rental, thank goodness!
Debi
Hi Charles, What I really appreciate about your posts as they relate to home inspections is that you document it well, and educate people in not only what to look for in checking out homes, but also to educate consumers and real estate professionals alike on taking better care of their own homes. When professional services are shortcut or homemade remedy's are done, most often they are not done with the proper care or as is often the case, not done correctly in the first place. Property values are best maintained when problems are discovered that they are handled more professionally in abating the issues. Shortcuts and homemade remedies most often have long term consequences.
Charles - Another great post. So educational and if the only place I see these kind of pictures is on your post I will count my lucky stars. This looks like something we would find by the lakes where cabins have become full-time residence and the "family" has done all the repairs.
Happy Birthday Charles.
For years down here in the south pier footers were not required to be "poured" but were allowed to be simply cap blocks. Bad Bad idea even with our hard red clay soil. Although the code had not been changed when I had my home built, I insisted on the poured footers. The code changed during my construction. Don't know that I would have ever gotten a CO without them and it's really hard to go back and add them.
Tree stump supports should just be for trees.
What's wrong with sliding down the driveway and out into the street? You don't appreciate a nice surprise once in awhile?
Charles, great post, as with everything the strength of anything is in it's foundation!
Katie, thanks for the comment
Steve, yes----pretty common on houses that are 100 years old
Craig---eventually for sure
Debi----I grew up in such a house myself
William----and it is all job security for me:)
Diane, I hope my pictures are the worst you see---but that would probably make you extremely lucky:)
Thanks Tammy----looks like I have to get over to facebook and do some thanking as well:)
Kate, well it would be "different":)
Tony & Darcy----yup---and some are way better than others
Charles - Those pictures with the tree stump being used as part of the foundation, are mind blowing! I take it they don't worry about termites in that part of the country:-)
Hi Charles, just love the tree stump corner post concept . . . early attempt at growing a green house.
Myrl, old growth cedar can take quite a while to become termite food---especially if you get lucky:)
Frank, very green:)
That "repair" is amazingly bad. Obviously the block was not set deep enough into the soil. I'd say it failed from a lack of deep thinking :)
James for sure. Not deep enough, not thick enough, not big enough, not centered enough.
So what is the big deal there. Looks not so bad to me. There is a critic born every minute.
Nutsy
Some homes have a rich history, and deep roots behind their story.
Nutsy, I think you need to take the home inspection course for the 5th time.
Troy, and it kind of fun to play interpreter on occasion.
I have NEVER seen a tree used as a corner support, never mind 4!!
I have seen lots of improper posts, footings, etc., and attempts to fix things long ago. You gotta do it right!
Jay, add to that that they may not have known how to do it right the first time or at the repair.