The back foyer/mud-room on the house started out life as an open deck. Someone along the way closed it in. I rebuilt it six years ago and changed the roof line from a dish-pan to a proper peak. The foundation posts were plain three inch by four foot steel pipes set on a flat rock about three feet down below grade. That is how they rolled 75 years ago. Last year I noticed the steel posts were starting to rust out at ground level.
I guess its a year for repairing rusty things. Including my truck, but more on that one in a later installment. The door to the foyer kept shifting so the bolt would no longer line up with the striker and it changed with the seasons. This meant that the whole structure was shifting. So a couple of weeks ago I figured it was time to do something about it and fix it right instead of moving the door striker with the seasons.
Time to dig it out and see how bad it is and learn what really is holding up the foyer.
The cheap Chinese copy of a Hi-Lift jack I bought at Tractor-Supply a few years back for about 25 $ comes in handy to level and hold the building while I take out the rotten pipe.
Install a new steel pipe with an eight inch Sonotube cardboard concrete form around it. For added protection and good looks I sleeved the steel pipe with a piece of stainless steel tube salvaged from some old pool stairs I had in my junk pile behind the barn.
Mix three bags of Quick-crete . . .
. . . and fill the Sonotube. Note the concrete footing I poured at the bottom before fitting the pipe and Sonotube. This should keep the ground frost from moving the concrete column in winter.
Not bad results
There, that should hold it for another 75 years. I left the middle one alone as it is galvanized and has not rusted.
Alguien acá podría decir "Ah, bueno, con esas herramientas que tienen los gringos, cualquira es 'vivo'... Acá el dueño de casa habría llamado a varios amigos para que hicieran palanca metiendo un tronco bajo la casa, mientras el ponía una pila de ladrillos para sostenerla. Luego, comerían un asadito regado con vino tinto.
ReplyDeleteBueno, con chuecos así reparando cosas de esa manera con razón las cosas no van tan bien allá. Pero lo del asado si suena bueno.
DeleteLots of older houses here are built on stacked up pieces of slate. I kid you not.
ReplyDeleteHarry, plenty of them like that around here. The old steel pipes were set on top of a flat rock. This one was a poor man's house in 1937 when it was originally built. Come to think of it, it still is. Corners were cut in every possible way back then. I am sure the original builder would get a chuckle to see it still standing today. With what I have done we have made a vast improvement.
DeleteNice work Mike, how did you get the sonotube off?
ReplyDeleteOh yea forgot to mention that. The Sonotube is made out of a spiral of cardboard like a paper towel tube. So its a matter of finding the corner and start unwinding. Takes a bit of fussing and it goes in fists and starts. Took a bit of hacking at it with a utility knife to get it going. I only removed it to just below ground level. That way there is no unsightly yellow cardboard from above ground rotting away over the years.
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