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isaacb

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While cleaning the basement, scrubbing the walls, concrete patch started crumbling off, revealing a wooden board. further study revealed there was a hollow space behind it.
Seeing as how this was the base of the foundation, I removed the board for repair. after removal, I discovered that the rest of the base was concrete, yet only 3-5 inches thick, to a height of a little over a foot. there, I found the base of the original stone foundation. seeing as the rest of the basement wall is poured concrete, with the exception of most of this wall, which is stone and mortar. this meets poured concrete near this corner. also, this wall does not mark the edge of the house, there is a crawlspace with dirt floor extending past the wall.
My questions follow-

1-why is most of this 1 wall stone, not poured concrete?
2-is the 3-5 inches of concrete that runs the length of the base sufficient for safety?
3-is this something I can repair myself? and if so, some guidance would be appreciated
I have attached several pics of the problem.

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First lets figure out what that wall is doing for the house. We know it divides the basement from the crawl space but.
1 Do the ceiling joists or upstairs floor joists in the basement land on this wall or do they run in the same direction?
2. Do the floor joists over the crawl space land on this wall or are the attached in any way or do they run in the same direction as the wall?
3. In the house above, is there a wall directly or really close to sitting above this wall?
4. If the answer to 3 is ( yes) does that wall have ceiling joists landing on it and if the answer is (no) it still might have roof framing sitting on it, checking in the attic would be a good idea.
5. 3-5 concrete, does this mean 3 inches high by 5 inches wide?
 
1-yes, the joists rest on the wall
2-across the wall
3-yes, the living room wall, which extends the length of the house thru dad's bedroom
4-yes, however the only thing up there is a 3 ft high crawlspace, it is 1 story. and the ceiling joists run opposite the basement
5-no, varies from 3-5 inches thick, 12 inches tall
 
So this is a barring wall as it carrys the floor and the wall above, not carrying ther roof is a plus.
The other question will be if there is a footing under the wall, a footing will usually be concrete about 6 to 8 inches high and 12 to 20 inches wide with the wall centered on it. The top of the footing will be just under the basement floor, so like 3 to 3 1/2 inches lower than the floor. If the crawl space on the other side of this wall is dirt you may have to dig down to see what you have. How deep would you have to dig?
 
I have dug, nothing but sand. the whole wall is resting on that concrete 3-5 inches thick. also, the rock wall that begins 1 foot off the floor has no mortar, just loose stone. behind it the dirt rises to 2 feet below the floor. I hope you can get the idea from these pics, my phones cam is not that good

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BTW, Welcome to the site. It is a treat to deal with someone that actually answers the questions asked.
Now for the bad news. This should really be looked at by an engineer, he would look at the weight of the floors and wall above to determin the strength the wall should be. To save that money you could just use the overkill rule, just over do it.
I would build temp walls to hold the weight from above remove this wall. Dig down for a footing 12 inches wide and 12 inches down from the top of the floor and 6" in under the floor. Run two length of rebar and fill with concrete level with the floor and then form up and pore a concrete wall eight inches above the height of the dirt in the crawl space and then build a new wood wall the rest of the way to the floor above.
 
well, not the news i wanted to hear, but it'll be more expensive to buy a new house. and i have my family to think about, so i would rather be safe than sorry. thanks alot, I will update you on progress, if that is ok. I have quite a few projects to do as well, so I am sure I will have a question again. thanks again
 
Sounds to me like someone dug the basement deeper. They put in board to hold back the dirt and then covered it with thin layer of concrete. Also sounds like a disaster waiting to happen as the old foundation has been undermined and could be ready to collapse.
Get a structural engineer in to look at and confirm. He will also be able to tell you how to properly under pin the wall.
 
Sounds to me like someone dug the basement deeper. They put in board to hold back the dirt and then covered it with thin layer of concrete. Also sounds like a disaster waiting to happen as the old foundation has been undermined and could be ready to collapse.
Get a structural engineer in to look at and confirm. He will also be able to tell you how to properly under pin the wall.

Good advice!;)
 
Sounds to me like someone dug the basement deeper. They put in board to hold back the dirt and then covered it with thin layer of concrete. Also sounds like a disaster waiting to happen as the old foundation has been undermined and could be ready to collapse.
Get a structural engineer in to look at and confirm. He will also be able to tell you how to properly under pin the wall.

Read the discription of the wall again, there isn't enough wall there to save.
 
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