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bought a house from 1910

so anyways, that covers a couple months of getting very little done
ground thawed so I'm gonna start digging out from under the wall I've been working along. Thinking I'll be replacing the whole thing with concrete. Got snap ties and 3/4 plywood to make forms with, figuring on a 10" wall below grade, 6" above the floor. Gonna try doing a suspended slab using old garage doors as the decking material. Figure I can put as much cribbing underneath it as I need to. footing so far I figure will be something like 8" thick and 24" wide.
Just doing all these figurings seat of the pants like, anyone that knows concrete feel free and hop in with suggestions.
 
M92PV4U said:
Leaf spring thing is a spring tooth. I've pulled one behind a disc but I'm also not a farmer and don't know wtf I was doing.
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huh neat, so wikipedia says it is basically an archaic disk with less moving parts and less effect
neat, it'll probably continue rotting where it sits
 
[486 said:
;n355707]

huh neat, so wikipedia says it is basically an archaic disk with less moving parts and less effect
neat, it'll probably continue rotting where it sits
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Drag it up by the main road "yard art".
 
[486 said:
;n355702]so anyways, that covers a couple months of getting very little done
ground thawed so I'm gonna start digging out from under the wall I've been working along. Thinking I'll be replacing the whole thing with concrete. Got snap ties and 3/4 plywood to make forms with, figuring on a 10" wall below grade, 6" above the floor. Gonna try doing a suspended slab using old garage doors as the decking material. Figure I can put as much cribbing underneath it as I need to. footing so far I figure will be something like 8" thick and 24" wide.
Just doing all these figurings seat of the pants like, anyone that knows concrete feel free and hop in with suggestions.
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What is holding the wall up now? I would be afraid to put a big footing like that so close to the surface for fear or the frost heaving it. I would do a slab on grade or 4’ deep piles or walls.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
What is holding the wall up now? I would be afraid to put a big footing like that so close to the surface for fear or the frost heaving it. I would do a slab on grade or 4’ deep piles or walls.
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footer will probably be 7-8' down from grade

figure on the 24x8 footing being just below the basement floor, then a 10" thick stem wall going up for a 7' ceiling height in the basement, then the wall will transition to 6" thick above grade
the ledge from the transition in wall thickness will support the ground floor which will be the steel decked poured slab I was talking about

currently there is broken concrete that's on grade "holding the wall up"
more it seems the wall is mostly hanging from above and swings at the bottom when you go to pull nails out of some of the studs
 
All right so got some decisions to make
I really should buy an excavator, but the current used market is absolutely fucking insane. Also, it'll probably do a lot more sitting than working which is not good for something that hydraulically complex. An old cat track loader (the '50s ones built like bulldozers, not the modern ones built like skidsteers) would probably be ideal for what I intend to do. It wouldn't trench, but I could probably make up a ripper that'd put a water line down deep enough to avoid frost after about four passes.
Anyways, bullshit thoughts for a different day when one shows up for scrap money again.

First pic, the shit "foundation" the house is on
second, looking in a lot of old houses over the years, they really seemed to like laying timbers down the wrong fucking direction, I think that's a full dimension 2x12, all rotten and punky
third, sawzall for scale, that whole piece of wood is about 3lbs, it's gotten wet and dried out that many times
fourth, that's where I cut the 2x12 out of. Right next to the shitter that wasn't even bolted down because the subfloor had rotted away. Luckily after enough years poop turns back into dirt. There's a about 5 different floor joists that go across there along with a piece of 3/8" angle iron. There's also exterior 3/4" boards and tar paper sandwiched in there, so that used to be an exterior wall.
fifth, rotten shit layered atop rotten shit layered atop... there's five floor replacements done here. They used the 3/4" boards bare for a while, then tossed asphalt flooring atop it, then tossed more 3/4 boards atop that, used those for a while, then tossed linoleum atop that, then tossed plywood, masonite, and whatever else atop that with vinyl on top.

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Oh right, back to the "decisions to make" really there's only one.
Finally got to start digging in the kitchen and I got fucked with rain. It is indoors but there are no eaves and the grading is shit so the water does indeed turn the rocky clay into sticky shit.

I'm thinking my 'final solution' here is to build a temporary lean-to on the building. Then I can knock the existing wall out without worrying about squirrels fucking up my insulation AGAIN.
Dig out and pour a section of wall to completion, then move the lean-to to a different section of house and repeat.
 
[486 said:
;n360597]All right so got some decisions to make
I really should buy an excavator, but the current used market is absolutely fucking insane. Also, it'll probably do a lot more sitting than working which is not good for something that hydraulically complex. An old cat track loader (the '50s ones built like bulldozers, not the modern ones built like skidsteers) would probably be ideal for what I intend to do. It wouldn't trench, but I could probably make up a ripper that'd put a water line down deep enough to avoid frost after about four passes.
Anyways, bullshit thoughts for a different day when one shows up for scrap money again.

First pic, the shit "foundation" the house is on
second, looking in a lot of old houses over the years, they really seemed to like laying timbers down the wrong fucking direction, I think that's a full dimension 2x12, all rotten and punky
third, sawzall for scale, that whole piece of wood is about 3lbs, it's gotten wet and dried out that many times
fourth, that's where I cut the 2x12 out of. Right next to the shitter that wasn't even bolted down because the subfloor had rotted away. Luckily after enough years poop turns back into dirt. There's a about 5 different floor joists that go across there along with a piece of 3/8" angle iron. There's also exterior 3/4" boards and tar paper sandwiched in there, so that used to be an exterior wall.
fifth, rotten shit layered atop rotten shit layered atop... there's five floor replacements done here. They used the 3/4" boards bare for a while, then tossed asphalt flooring atop it, then tossed more 3/4 boards atop that, used those for a while, then tossed linoleum atop that, then tossed plywood, masonite, and whatever else atop that with vinyl on top.
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Jesus Fucking Christ.
 
[486 said:
;n360721]

yup
old caterpillar stuff is neat, instead of charge cooler hoses they got all cast manifolds and piping that fits together with these huge o-rings
oil bath air cleaner, low pressure hydraulics that don't stress hoses too badly...

pretty much designed to sit for decades with minimal parts replacement
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I think it's pretty awesome. I think I would do as much damage with it as good stuff:laughing:
 
DMG said:
I would consider it. You have some patience.
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I'm far too stupid to get away with that kinda criminal shit, so I waste my life working on my own garbage rather than making money to pay for someone else's labor either in buying new shit, or in paying others to fix things.
because if you do it in the way that money changes hands you get taxed on it many times, directly funding the sorts of...

I don't have patience. I have a special kind of hate.
Mr.Ratbastard said:
I think it's pretty awesome. I think I would do as much damage with it as good stuff:laughing:
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for a while they kept coming up for $3-4k, and this was when scrap was really high, too
 
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Why don't you have a basement, never seen a 'house' that far north without a basement that you can at least hunch walk in. I know you were digging it out previously. Were they all additions/porches that became enclosed?
 
Pocahontas said:
Why don't you have a basement, never seen a 'house' that far north without a basement that you can at least hunch walk in. I know you were digging it out previously. Were they all additions/porches that became enclosed?
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Bach when all the dirt had to be moved by hand they did the minimum digging possible. Just a trench to get below the frost line for the foundation. Often there will be a 6ft-8 diameter brick lined hole in one corner that was used for cool dry storage. Tons of old houses in the Northeast are done this way.
 
well, electric only got here in the '50s
propane wasn't really a thing until the '30s and even then it was way too expensive to have hauled in for heating, but for lighting and summertime cooking? sure
Place was heated with wood until the '50s when they dug the shit out and tossed in an oil fired boiler.

if you don't need to find a place for a water heater or furnace why bother digging a basement that'll just fill with runoff? No electric means no sump pump.
 
Damn, I admire your determination, but I think I would have brought an excavator in and a few dumptrucks to scrape that place.
 
Got the start of the outer enclosure started off. Another place where two people would make it go at least 3 times quicker.

Either way, even using mostly lumber I found in the taco bell dumpster, tossing shit together goes so much faster than fixing up old garbage. Oh well, fixing the old garbage uses a lot less materials than starting over from zero. Takes a lot longer, but it's a lot cheaper.

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If I owned that house and heavy equipment, or matches, for that matter, there is only one thing I would do... what a project.
 
okay figured out the phone/computer thing so now you get pictures
first is shed progress, indeed that is a free garage door being used as siding

second is transplanting one of my pines so it'll be out front blocking the view from the road once it grows up big and stronk
I had it balanced on the forks and was thinking to myself "That went much better than expected" Then it tipped over so I took a pic, tried backing out and I was sunk in to the skid pan
Luckily the hole to receive it was already dug so I just grabbed the fucker and dragged it over there, then used the forks to push myself out. Took every bit of poop that 40hp motor had.
Oh right, anyone know of a simple audio tachometer for an android phone? I'm pretty sure this thing's running slower than it should but the motor's too crammed in there to stick my starett tachometer on the snout of the crank

third is some more views of the existing foundation. They indeed poured around the siding. Rot city.

fourth, conway, that paint you gave me is a little lumpy but it works fine if you mash it out and around with a brush

fifth, tires with a sidewall cut out, gonna try and bolt them together to use for ground stabilization type stuff. Dunno if they'll work.

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[486] said:
okay figured out the phone/computer thing so now you get pictures
first is shed progress, indeed that is a free garage door being used as siding

second is transplanting one of my pines so it'll be out front blocking the view from the road once it grows up big and stronk
I had it balanced on the forks and was thinking to myself "That went much better than expected" Then it tipped over so I took a pic, tried backing out and I was sunk in to the skid pan
Luckily the hole to receive it was already dug so I just grabbed the fucker and dragged it over there, then used the forks to push myself out. Took every bit of poop that 40hp motor had.
Oh right, anyone know of a simple audio tachometer for an android phone? I'm pretty sure this thing's running slower than it should but the motor's too crammed in there to stick my starett tachometer on the snout of the crank

third is some more views of the existing foundation. They indeed poured around the siding. Rot city.

fourth, conway, that paint you gave me is a little lumpy but it works fine if you mash it out and around with a brush

fifth, tires with a sidewall cut out, gonna try and bolt them together to use for ground stabilization type stuff. Dunno if they'll work.
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Are you sure you don't smoke meth?

That shit looks real meth inspired to me.
 
it's only temporary
I'm digging out the foundation of the only lockable structure on the property, I'd like to keep it enclosed, so I'll dig it down to foundation level outside and put a couple barn doors on that shed
then I can drive the skidsteer in there and fuck shit up before putting the foundation in.

Rocky clay is no fun to dig in by manual means.
 
Does the yard ever completely dry out or does it stay marshy all the time?
 
the high spots dry out eventually, just not when it is raining every few days

I figure with the tires I'll strip the topsoil and use the clay from digging the basement out to fill them in. Probably mix in either sand or gravel so it isn't just clay soup.
 
[486] said:
it's only temporary
I'm digging out the foundation of the only lockable structure on the property, I'd like to keep it enclosed, so I'll dig it down to foundation level outside and put a couple barn doors on that shed
then I can drive the skidsteer in there and fuck shit up before putting the foundation in.

Rocky clay is no fun to dig in by manual means.
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When I saw your post in some other thread about the tires and you mentioning chopping up leaf springs for washers...

You said you were gonna bolt the "washers" together. In the pursuit of the absolute cheapest way, you could always chop up round bar (or even rebar) and poke it through your washers then weld. It doesn't need to be tight to hold tires together...
 
Genius
saves me a trip to the store, too

ETA: might not be as strong without the positive clamping force of the bolts though
 
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