Barn foundation replacement

skyking1 said: I'd form and pour it, but dang that is a lot of work. For sure put in a lintel beam across the daylight end, an I-beam that keeps the top of those walls at the corners in order. with the bottom doweled into the footing and the top spaced by a big I-beam, it would be stout. Click to expand... Got a price for repouring these two walls - over $10k (from the same guy that didn't use any vertical rebar...)

CM1995 said: X2. Mater I've got several lightly used I-beams down here I can let go cheap but the shipping is going to be a bit on the steep side. On a side note - Why spend so much to replace the foundation on an old barn? Sentimental value, mother in law suite? I could understand if it was the mother in law suite because I'd spend whatever to it took to keep her out of the main house. Click to expand... Would they fit in a flat rate USPS box? The barn isn't really old, but is unsafe to be used with the walls caving in. We're just fixing it up so it can be used again, this time hopefully not cutting corners where it would cause so much trouble down the road.

Tinkerer said: I predict that you won't have to cut too many, if any rebar when you do the demo of those walls. When you lay the concrete blocks I would advise you to be real generous with the reinforcing wire. In my area it is called ladder wire because it looks like a ladder. Common practice is to lay wire on top of every fourth row. I would put it on top of every second row. Don't cut the outer wire when you do the corners. Bend it. Splice and twist the ones that are cut in the corners. IMHO of course. Click to expand... There were horizontal rows of rebar: 2 at the top, and single spaced 2' apart down from there. Maybe double at the bottom, I didn't look. These are the type of blocks I'm going to use:

skyking1 said: Look at the permitting and replacement process, the vintage wood, the look. Re-creating that is a huge undertaking. Slip a new foundation under it and it is better than a new built thing IMO. Click to expand... This is agricultural so no permits required. And yeah, it took 12 years of Vermont weather to look like that, pretty common around here. The barn itself is in fine shape except for where it was damaged from a pine tree that exploded when it was hit by lightning.

CM1995 said: Guess it's a regional thing. I could go to one of the handful of local saw mills for the lumber and with a new build upgrade the windows, doors, etc. Probably wouldn't even permit it.. Interesting project none the less. Click to expand... All the lumber was milled on the property, from trees on the property.

Today's progress

Wonder if it was backfilled too soon, loose material holding the water and a cold snap especially if it was late fall. Once it's craked its weak. Concrete take a lot longer to reach strength in cold weather.

Looks to me the shoe wasn't bolted to the top of concrete wall or am I missing something

It took 12 years for it to get this bad, moving a little each year. What do you mean by shoe? The sill plate was bolted to the wall. It's hard to see in the picture, but the j bolt broke out a section of the concrete because there was so much pressure on it.

Yeah the sill plate. I see it on today's progress.

ps66x4 said: Yeah the sill plate. I see it on today's progress. Click to expand... Ok, I didn't know that was another name for it

materthegreater said: Ok, I didn't know that was another name for it Click to expand... Me neither. Call it a sill plate down here. So you are going to use the mafia blocks to rebuild the foundation wall or did I miss something?

I heard it both ways. Never gave it any thought

materthegreater said: You guys are too funny! This barn is 12 or 13 years old. . . . Click to expand... That is a really good argument for building codes, permitting, and inspections . If somebody bought that property and barn 6 years ago and thought that they were getting a good building, they would be feeling pretty ripped off when they found out that it didn't even last another decade.

It got backfilled with that clay, not drained away, and each successive frost just killed it. Ice makes infinite horsepower and each time it refills and re-attacks.

All the mafia blocks I have seen are made out of left over concrete that was returned to the readymix company from a pour. Some of it can be well into it's curing time. Some blocks are decent quality and some not so much. I saw one maybe more in your photo that I would guess won't last very long through very many freeze and thaw cycles.

Baxsie said: That is a really good argument for building codes, permitting, and inspections . If somebody bought that property and barn 6 years ago and thought that they were getting a good building, they would be feeling pretty ripped off when they found out that it didn't even last another decade. Click to expand... Ah, yes, that's what we need, more government oversight ! ! !

ps66x4 said: Looks to me the shoe wasn't bolted to the top of concrete wall or am I missing something Click to expand... In my world a shoe is at bottom of a stud wall. The one on the concrete foundation is a sill, sill plate. Shoe might be on the floor, or if no wooden floor, it'd be next layer horizontal on the sill.

Willie B said: In my world a shoe is at bottom of a stud wall. The one on the concrete foundation is a sill, sill plate. Shoe might be on the floor, or if no wooden floor, it'd be next layer horizontal on the sill. Click to expand... Here it's a sill plate whether on a concrete wall, slab or second story wood floor.

Baxsie said: That is a really good argument for building codes, permitting, and inspections . If somebody bought that property and barn 6 years ago and thought that they were getting a good building, they would be feeling pretty ripped off when they found out that it didn't even last another decade. Click to expand... Vermont is the most ruled State in the Nation............but little enforcement. I'm an electrician. I went through the licensing process the hard way. I had no influential connections. As the rules state, I worked summers during high school, but got no credit for that time. I began apprenticeship at 16 after high school graduation. Document 8000 hours, while attending 4 years night school. I then got the honor of taking the Journeyman's test. Another two year wait to take the Master's test. Got my Journeyman's license 1978, Master's 1980. Vermont doesn't require a license for 1 or 2 family homes. 2 family homes are to be inspected, but few are, mostly they fly under the radar. While all work is required to comply with Code, very little does. I believe they are even more lax with other trades & the odds of anyone voluntarily complying with building codes are slim. Plenty of builders work their carreers with no knowledge of any codes existing.