Simon Hawthorne wrote

Hello again
I've been out and dug a hole (inside the barn) to try and establish
how deep the footings run. I have put a photo and description on my
web site (at the bottom) - I reckon they are 2' in total - I reckon
this isn't enough? My structural engineer (who I haven't spoken to
today) told me that underpinning (if that is what is required) is not
such a bad job if you know who to ask - and needn't cost more than £3k
for a project this size.
Any thoughts/comments....?
Thanks in advance....
Si

Hi Simon - what a nice project and well done on the pictures so far. Keep them
coming please

The barn looks mid Victorian, with its King-post truss, secondary rafters and
brick footings. There has been a little rafter spread by the look of it, and
the tie bar was probably put in to arrest bulging walls, but again quite minor.
There doesn't appear to be much structural damage due to foundation movement as
far as I could see.

Why are you so concerned about the foundations? If you're not going to increase
the loading on them at all I would say there's probably no need to do anything
about them from what I can see from the pictures. But nobody here on this
newsgroup can tell you whether they are adequate or not - this depends on the
site conditions, e.g. soil type, its compressive and shear strength, moisture
content, any trees close by, ground water level etc etc. Also, we have no idea
whether you intend to increase the loading - even knocking openings can increase
the loading locally. It seems you are getting excellent advice from your
engineer - I would trust in what he says.

If it's of any interest, my house has even shallower footings than your barn,
but as they're on solid chalk they are perfectly adequate.

Hope this puts your mind at rest
Peter