The church wall in Millbrook that taught me a lesson about frost lines

I was driving through Millbrook last weekend and saw them restoring that old stone church on Elm Street. What caught my eye was how deep the foundation went, like 4 feet down for a simple one story building. Talked to the foreman for a bit and he said they found the original 1880s footing when they dug it out. That thing was barely 18 inches deep and had shifted almost 3 inches from frost heave. Kinda makes you think about how much we take modern codes for granted. Any of you guys ever run into old foundations that make you cringe?

4 comments

4 Comments

joseph93216d ago

Ngl my buddy bought an old farmhouse near Rhinebeck and the whole porch was basically floating on a slab of dirt. Had to jack the whole thing up a foot and it still sags every spring.

rosek4416d ago

That old farmhouse sound like a classic money pit hidden behind nice siding. Jacking it up once is tough, but having it sag every spring means the ground underneath is still moving. Did they ever put in real footings after they lifted it, or just level it and call it done?

fiona_lane13d ago

Oh man that's rough lol. @joseph932 your buddy really got the full farmhouse experience there. That spring sag thing is no joke, around here the frost heave just keeps working against anything that's not sitting on proper piers. My neighbor tried the same shortcut and now he's out there every April with a bottle jack and a prayer. Honestly at this point it might be less hassle to just tear off the whole porch and start fresh with concrete footings below the frost line. But I know that's easier said than done when you're already in the hole on a fixer-upper.

michael_patel13d ago

121 Springs of that and I used to think concrete was enough until @fiona_lane set me straight.