I’m perplexed what this is, I hate to assume but think it must be structural. I’ve never seen it before. house was built 1907 and basement is 1/3 is poured concrete 1/3 field rock and the other 1/3 is block. .
on the east side of the house there is an additional 2ft of poured concrete, and some blocks. as you can see in the pic its about 2ft of extra poured concrete from the wall . scratching my head over this, and client also didn’t know what to make of it.
This was typically done to help prevent further movement of the original foundation walls. Basements or cellars during that time were almost never used as a living space and had very little head room.
As Randy said, could be to reinforce the foundation wall. It could also be part of a cistern. Did you see any indications that there might be a void behind the block? Any plugged openings on the side or top? I have seen many, many different cistern configurations in our area.
my first thought was for a cistern, but its just all poured concrete with the addition of the blocks on one side. no plugged up openings.
it is on the side of the house where most of the cracks are, and also the floor is sloped.
*i do think this was done at time of build, and wasnt added on.
House was built in 1907, so might be some remnant of a previous cistern. Either way, just call out any issues you see. I always tell clients that in 100+ year old homes, I might not be able to explain all the things that have taken place over the years. Actually, I tell clients that in almost every home. I am not there to decipher the home’s history, only to point out current issues.
What were the issues with this?
house is over 100yrs old, and poorly graded where these cracks are. *also no gutters on the house.
Whenever I see blocks below concrete (or, really any two different materials above/below one another) I tend to think it was just a dirt cellar and then dug out to make a more usable basement.
from a guy facebook forum. *this kind of makes sense with the tiny window.
It does look like wood or coal storage if I’m seeing correctly. Block on right which is reinforce buttress.
Concrete onm center of wall then left side o see gray concrete half wall? Which suggest this was an area or chamber that coal or wood was shoveled in and that knee wall prevented it from pouring over into the room. So there was this 3.5x6 foot opening there for storage originally
Reinforcing a Weak Foundation | JLC Online
This is what it appears to me. Bench Wall
Looks like a Buttress to me.
yea, but most of the time are they not slanted?
Sometimes, but not neccesarily all the time.
Morning, Patrick.
I am thinking a chimney base was installed or fortified. Was there a masonry chimney and fireplace?
As well as Randy indicated, the foundation was fortified during its life cycle.
There are foundation issues. Looks like the foundation has had repairs.
Observation: Ancestral foundation. Stone, CMU and Poured concrete.
Suspect: Interior poured concrete fortitions. Cracks, Uneven parging.
Refer to a poured concrete and masonry foundation Ancestral foundation specialist for further evaluation and repairs where required.
Act upon any recommendations therein.
Chimney was on the other side of the house. agreed.
always learning something new. love it.
I kindly told the client, a few things. he took it good. … told him its up to him if he wants to get a structural engineer. they might tell him to fix and monitor.
***This was typically done to help prevent further movement of the original foundation walls.
***It does look like wood or coal storage. Block on right which reinforces the buttress.
**House might not have had a full basement, they excavated and then lowered the floors in the basement to make it more livable.
What you have there is typical in my area. What matters and should be focused on is performance. Describe the problem. I would not have felt compelled to give the client all these possibilities and notions. It does not sound as if you know what was original from initial construction, a modification later or a repair attempt. So why go there?
What is your concern? Leaning, cracking, water intrusion, sloping floors? If so, say so and then a recommendation.
I did, but he kept pressing for more. so i wrote up a email and sent it to him.
