6 June 2017
Amy and I continue to work on removing dirt from under the house, repairing the pier foundation, sill beams, and floor joists as we go.
Getting the dirt out of this room is a 4 step process. Break it loose from the crawlspace floor, shovel it up on to this little platform, shovel it out the window in to the tractor bucket, then dump it on a pile at the back of the yard. Repeat.
After this back bedroom was done, we moved to the front room which will be a parlor/sitting room.
When I removed the base board trim I found dust and dirt, which I was expecting. I also found what looks like wheat grain to me, which I was not expecting.
I used a circular saw to cut a slot in one row of floor board. It was one that already had a hole cut in it for a heat duct.
The joists are 2" thick, so I added some 1/2" plywood to each side of the ends of the joists with screws and liquid nails and installed double joist hangers to repair these and three other joists that had split.
Here is a sample of bones we have found while removing all this dirt out from under the house. They were simply lying on top of the dirt.
Occasionally, when she feels like it, our outdoor cat will supervise our work.
It only takes a good rain to remind you that water flows down hill and that red clay dirt, no matter how hard packed it seems, is still permeable.
I decided to go back and work on the foundation piers under the bedroom while the mud dries out. The old repair work at this corner needs to be redone.
I pull out the old repair (a doubled 2x6) and replace it with a tripled 2x8.
I removed the other side of the corner, then attached a beam so I could lift this corner up and support it while I repair the brick piers. This corner pier is done.
The pier in the middle of the wall is next.
Amy and I continue to work on removing dirt from under the house, repairing the pier foundation, sill beams, and floor joists as we go.
Getting the dirt out of this room is a 4 step process. Break it loose from the crawlspace floor, shovel it up on to this little platform, shovel it out the window in to the tractor bucket, then dump it on a pile at the back of the yard. Repeat.
After this back bedroom was done, we moved to the front room which will be a parlor/sitting room.
When I removed the base board trim I found dust and dirt, which I was expecting. I also found what looks like wheat grain to me, which I was not expecting.
I used a circular saw to cut a slot in one row of floor board. It was one that already had a hole cut in it for a heat duct.
Then pulled up half the floor in this room. You can see in the center under the hammer and flat pry bar that someone had cut a hole in the floor at some point.
So it looks like they cut a hole in the floor to add some supports under the floor joists.
Which leads you to find out why they had to add supports under the floor joists.
Here is a sample of bones we have found while removing all this dirt out from under the house. They were simply lying on top of the dirt.
Occasionally, when she feels like it, our outdoor cat will supervise our work.
It only takes a good rain to remind you that water flows down hill and that red clay dirt, no matter how hard packed it seems, is still permeable.
And, once the whole room has been dug out, it takes a really hard rain to remind you that Murphy's law will find the one thing that you overlooked to totally mess up the sump pump I had set up to keep things dry.
I decided to go back and work on the foundation piers under the bedroom while the mud dries out. The old repair work at this corner needs to be redone.
I pull out the old repair (a doubled 2x6) and replace it with a tripled 2x8.
I removed the other side of the corner, then attached a beam so I could lift this corner up and support it while I repair the brick piers. This corner pier is done.
The pier in the middle of the wall is next.
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