After the foundation work in the back of the house was completed, we took a look at the front. Digging down just a little where the rot can be seen quickly revealed an unsurprising problem – this corner of the house was not sitting on a proper foundation, just resting on dirt. In the scheme of things, this wasn’t as bad as it sounds, at least not structurally. The back two-thirds of the house was sitting on cinder block piers and since the property grades downwards, this is where the most support is needed. And since this is a former quarry, there’s plenty of stone keeping things from shifting.
But the bigger problem is the rot caused by exposed wood (and structural wood, at that) being in contact with the ground and allowing water to both run over the wood and get soaked into it as well. So we had to dig out a nice trench under the front and side elevations in order to build a new foundation, add a new sill plate, assure all the wood is either above grade or at least pressure treated, and add new drainage. The upshot is that, once complete, this is truly a one-time effort. With the new foundation in place, the house will be very stable, the wood structure will be protected, and the crawl space will remain clear and dry. There are a lot of benefits to this work, so as much as this was not part of the plan, getting it done is very worthwhile.
Below is a gallery of various stages of this effort. Basically, the trench was dug out, the house was jacked up, new cinder block piers were installed along with a new sill plate and the house was lowered back onto the new structure. Then a cinder block wall was filled into to complete the crawl space and a french drain was filled into the exterior to keep water away from the foundation.
