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Back to the seismic upgrade and foundation repair… I was getting ready to tie the south and east sides of the foundation wall together with rebar when I noticed that the eastern mudsill had some weird dents in it. Closer … Continue reading →

Our furnace is a gas fired Carrier 58GS100 from way back in 1975. During the colder days in fall we had been mostly relying on electric heat to keep us warm upstairs. However, since the house needed to stay warm … Continue reading →

We learned some interesting things while parging. This foundation was poured in three distinct layers and there was a significant amount of soil cave-in between pours. These mixed soil layers took quite some time to dig out. There was also … Continue reading →

When we partially excavated the foundation on the north and south sides of the house to make room for forms, it was noted that some of the concrete was in pretty bad condition. How bad? It was crumbling to a … Continue reading →

To create a load path from the foundation up through to the house, the gaps between the foundation and the mudsill must be filled with concrete. When concrete is added to the top of a foundation it is sometimes called … Continue reading →

Back to the seismic upgrade! In order to create forms to fill the gaps between the foundation and the mudsill, I found it necessary to excavate down a couple of feet around the outside of the foundation. However, at some … Continue reading →

In the process of removing one of the trees on the south side of the house, the aluminum gutter was struck as one of the heavier branches fell. This left the gutter crumpled and unsightly. I suppose I could have … Continue reading →

As time went by I found that the difficulty in drilling each hole varied considerably. Some of them finished in just ten minutes. Other times, such as when I struck a large rock, ten minutes would go by with seemingly … Continue reading →

The mudsill will be attached to the concrete foundation using 35 x 17″ bolts. I’m using 17″ bolts because of the mudsill-foundation gap. Being that long will allow them stretch all the way through the new concrete and still set at … Continue reading →

Each of the four walls of the house have special issues in regard to the seismic retrofit project. For the west wall that issue is the front porch. Having to crawl under it every time I need access makes things difficult. … Continue reading →