Questions tagged [foundation]
The base on which a house or other structure is built or installed, connecting the structure and transferring its load to the ground. Questions using this tag should include additional tags to identify the type or material of the foundation.
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How to tell when/if brick foundation needs to be repointed?
My house's foundation is circa-1900 brick with lime mortar over a fieldstone base.
Should I consider repointing the brick a periodic maintenance task -- and if so, how can I tell when it should be ...
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Is this crack just drywall problem or foundation?
I bought my house about 9 months ago. I'm just now noticing what looks like a horizontal crack patched up. This is next to my window.
Am I looking at that correctly... Was there a crack and the ...
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Can I rebuild my deck on the existing posts if they're solid?
About the 4x4s holding up my porch deck which is 27 years old. The small deck in front of my front door is 9-10 feet high, with stairs up to it. The deck is 6x11, and made of cedar. The decking ...
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Can you glue rigid foam board to sill plate?
I was looking for rigid foam to cover my entire 9 ft basement foundation wall and noticed that only 8 foot rigid foam boards were in stock locally. It is 9 feet from the bottom of my ceiling joist to ...
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crumbling foundation wall
A poured concrete foundation wall is crumbling inside my basement. How concerned should I be?
Here's what it looks like at the base of the wall:
A noticeable pile of cement dust forms on the floor ...
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How do I finish half concrete wall in walk out basement without framing
I am starting to think about finishing my walk out basement. I am in the southeast USA.
It has a wall that is half concrete from the bottom and then wood studs on top. How can I best apply drywall to ...
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Do I need 2x6 studs in my basement energy walls? [duplicate]
I am starting to think about finishing my walk out basement. I am in the southeast USA on top of sand mix soil.
For insulating full-height concrete foundation walls, do I need 5.5" studs like the ...
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For how long is it okay for sump pump to stay broken?
There is a sump pump in the subfloor area of a basement. The sump pump has stayed broken for several months. After inspecting the sump pump recently we found that there is no water. Which is somewhat ...
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Concrete base for parcel box
I need to build a concrete base for a mail parcel box on the ground. The parcel box is 36.6cm deep, 49.6cm wide and 112.3 cm high. It weighs about 15kg.
What size should the concrete base be?
How is ...
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Adding a garage - do I need a cement foundation or is stone sufficient? [closed]
I am planning to add a 12ft x 24ft single-car garage to my property to house my 1965 full-size Buick and stuff like bikes, lawn tools, etc.
I live in Delaware (Mid-Atlantic USA) and the most cost-...
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Discontinuous footer?
During the installation of a radon mitigation system, the installers noted the area of the suction pit (not shown) didn't have a footer under the foundation wall. It seems that other parts of the slab ...
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Should dry-stack stone post bases in a foundation be replaced? [closed]
My daughter is looking at buying a house. Stack stones support the center beam. The home inspector says this is normal for an older house. Should she request it is repaired?
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Is a drain pipe passing under my footing a structural concern?
I'm connecting drain tile outside my house to a sump pump inside my house. To do this, I need to run a 4" diameter pipe under my house's footer. Will this cause any problems with the footer, or ...
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Stone foundation gap
Is it normal for a house to not sit flush on a stone foundation? Every other part of the house seems to align with the stones. No massive interior cracks to indicate foundation damage though.
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Are single storey homes less likely to have expensive issues? [closed]
Are single storey buildings (i.e. bungalows) cheaper to fix than multistorey buildings if they have major defects? For example structural problems.
Background. We're looking at buying our first house. ...
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What's the intended purpose for these rebar protrusions?
This is a foundation of a single story residence in the midwest USA.
Are these rebar protrusions intended to be used for anything like framing or mounting things to the wall? They only protrude 2 ...
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Are these cracks in our wall something to be concerned about?
There are a couple of cracks that have been in our wall for about 5-6 years. They haven’t gotten any worse, and I don’t see any other cracks anywhere else in our home. I was going to fill them in ...
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Spread footing foundation for kitchen addition
I am in the process of doing about 200sqft addition on the first floor to my kitchen. The structural engineer did not visit my house and specified spread footing for the addition. My current house is ...
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Compacting gravel on wet ground
I'm building a retaining wall from concrete blocks. The foundation will be 8 inches of 3/4 inch gravel compacted with a plate compactor. The trench is dug, but it has rained a good bit the last two ...
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resurface interior concrete foundation wall
Within the basement, the interior walls, where I have already pressure washed (4400 psi, 0° and 15° tip) after having used a stiff bristle brush and vacuum to first clean, then did etch & cleaner ...
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How can i fix these little v shaped cracks and pops in foundation?
I am not sure why these are here, but they don't appear to go below soil. There are a couple of them. How do I fix such a thing?
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How urgently do I need to fix soakaways drilled adjacent to my foundations - and what is the best method?
I have recently moved into a Victorian/Georgian mid-terrace house, built 1854, with solid rubble/stone walls perhaps 18 inches thick. Both front and back outside levels were too high when we moved in, ...
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When sealing a crawlspace, should the vapor barrier go in front of or behind wood posts resting on the footing?
Boise, ID (zone 5). I'm encapsulating the crawlspace both as radon mitigation and to reduce heat loss (currently no insulation down there).
Under the floor joists are some beams supported by 4x6 posts....
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Red and orange streaks leaking down my concrete basement wall, and is this a major concern?
I discovered a large number of streaks running down the interior of my basement foundation wall in a storage closet. It looks like mildew or perhaps iron ochre. The wall abuts a patio with paver ...
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Water or mold? Showing on baseboard in basement...what next?
We've noticed some water damage on a small 8 inch section of baseboard in our basement. See below:
I was going to remove the baseboard to look behind. Any other suggestions?
Worried it could be a ...
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Hot/Cold water lines not set in between studs Tub/shower removal
I removed a tub/shower insert and noticed the hot/cold lines are not set in between the studs, how can I tile around them? I don't have a plumber available.
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Building Grade for slab and footings
We're getting ready to build a 65×30 metal addition, 11' in height. I'm about to start building the grade up but I need 75% of it to rise 24". I know I'm going to need roughly 18 trucks of road ...
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Can I jack my house briefly to replace a mud sill?
I discovered that the mud sill by my garage exterior door has rotted about 12 inches on each side. Only about half the wood is gone and the 3” vertical support beams are resting on about 1.5” of mud ...
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Why do basement blocks above grade show moisture all the time?
At first, I thought maybe it was because the previous owners had laid plastic down in the flower beds so the water was getting trapped underneath the mulch. The soil was basically a mud pit and water ...
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How can I determine if a prexisting slab on grade is frost protected?
I have a detached garage that was built sometime in the 50's. At some point it seems that an addition was made to it to create a shop. There was an old oil burning stove in there as well on the ...
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How can I repair a loose crawlspace support post?
We just had a crawlspace inspection (unrelated to this topic) and the inspector found one of our support posts was loose enough to be wiggled back and forth. It wasn’t quite touching the concrete pier....
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Corner of my house is missing with eroded concrete foundation. Is this quick fix enough?
Discovered this hole today in the corner of my cinder block foundation. Water is pooling there when it rains (another fix I need to do) but for now, I was going to chip out the loose piece, mix ...
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pointing dry stacked fieldstone foundation?
hoping I can get some advice on this. We have a c. 1876 house in CT that has a half brick (above grade, mostly), half fieldstone (below grade) foundation. We are planning on repointing it, using lime ...
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How to fix exterior wall separating from 150yo brick & fieldstone foundation
We have a 150-year-old home that has an original-construction bay window whose brick & field stone foundation has sunk away from the exterior wall above (anywhere from 3/8" to 7/8" ...
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Does this water tunnel for rain look ok?
I have water puddle next to my foundation when it rains. I dug this trench to try to get the water to not puddle around the foundation. I also put some soil around the foundation. Does this look okay?
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Is a gap between walls and floor due to settling?
There is an addition to the back of the house we recently purchased (5 months ago). We have noticed gaps appearing between the old back ending of the house and the walls of the addition. Then we ...
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PolyRenewal foam injection for settling slab foundation
My house is built on a concrete slab foundation and is 20 years old. Part of the slab, roughly 15'x6' in size under the kitchen, is cracking off from the rest of the foundation and settling down. In ...
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can a professional distinguish between a previously sunk foundation and a currently sinking foundation?
I bought a house with the understanding that the foundation had sunk some, but that the structural problem had been permanently fixed and stabilized (with steel columns) in late 2019. However, I'm ...
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Is 2x8 lumber suitable for window boxes in a poured foundation?
We are about to have a new house built and the foundation is 8" thick. The foundation forms will be wood with metal straps. Finished boxes will be wood.
Will 2x8 pressure treated wood be good for ...
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What type of drainage solution for water trapped between my walkway and foundation?
I have a walkway that runs 16 inches parallel to my foundation along the entire side of my house. The walkway elevation is also higher than the top of the foundation where it meets the brick. This ...
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Can I divert my roof stormwater away from my storm drain and to a dirt patch 20 yards away
So I have a townhouse in New York City and I've been getting sewage backup from storm water. I added a sewage backflow prevention valve at the front of the house at the sewer, but the shared storm ...
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Skid Steer hit exterior wall.... interior wall now bowed [closed]
we are buying a new build, and noticed one of the exterior walls (load bearing) is bowed on the interior of the home. We inspected the outside, and it appears (likely during the yard grading) a skid ...
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I-beam removal from garage ceiling a structural concern?
I'm purchasing a cape cod built in 1949 that has only a partial I-beam in basement ceiling. It appears 10' has been cut and removed from the garage that is under the back of the home. I currently own ...
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Is this mold growing behind duct tape that's holding vapor barrier to concrete foundation?
We put a vapor barrier down in our crawl space. Some parts of the perimeter were not completely sealed, so a few months ago, I used a clear duct tape to attach the vapor barrier to the concrete ...
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Can a dripping overflow pipe damage foundations
Our neighbours have a dripping overflow pipe that is right up against the side of our property. I have mentioned it to them but they don't seem concerned and are not in a hurry to get it fixed. I ...
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Crack in foundation, what to do?
I noticed a crack in the basement wall above ground next to the basement window. The crack goes all the way through the wall and is visible both inside and outside of the house. I have attached two ...
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What's this channel under my basement slab and how should I patch an area above it?
I previously asked how to patch a couple of holes in my basement's concrete floor (slab). The first was was pretty straightforward. However, the second one's gotten a little complicated so I've got ...
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Gravel beds near foundation [closed]
My wife and I bought a new house a week back in Merrimack, NH.
How soon should we put the gravel beds near the foundation?
Should we put it before the winter and snow or can we wait and put it in the ...
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How do you prevent disturbing a wooden fence when digging a foundation?
When digging a foundation beside a wooden fence, how can I ensure my excavation doesn't cause the fence to collapse?
I'm digging into chalky ground and the foundations will be around 450mm wide and ...
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What concrete patch product should I use for these foundation/ slab holes?
I have a couple of concrete holes in my basement I'd like to patch. One is a hole in the slab right in the corner that's about an inch deep, and about 1x4" in area:
The other is about a foot ...
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