Small 700 sq foot cabin in the mountains of western NC
These are over 12 feet tall.
I’m not sure when they were installed…as they do not appear to be original from 1965.
I’m guessing wood support piers were original with the home.
The piers appear to be two regular 8x8x16 CMU…the piers look exactly like what I see under the mobile homes around here. But those are never higher than maybe 4 feet.
The piers looked fine…no cracking or leaning or any signs of an issue at all.
I’m not sure of any codes with regards to such a concrete pier that tall. I looked at foundation codes for NC and couldnt see anything
Think this could be an issue? Or am I over thinking this ?
Don’t look right to me either.
If this would have been engineered, they would not have used sash blocks to provide a 16" sq. pier that would have made reinforcement and grout filled difficult and unappropriate for that design requirement.
They could have at least used a full chimney block or split block with reinforcement and grout filled. That beam is questionable also.
Any design drawings to verify if those block piers a reinforced and filled?
Did you tap them with a hammer?
I would recommend a review by a qualified engineer or architect.
Getting on a ladder, you may be able to peer into the top of each pier,
to see if they have reinforcing rod and/or grout. If they were retrofitted,
it would have been pretty hard to get the grout/concrete in deeply and correctly.
Also the vapor barrier on insulation generally wants to be on the occupied side.
