Ok so I bought this old house and have entirely renovated the
interior. Before my original contractor left halfway through his
contract in a snit, he'd jacked up various parts of the basement and
braced it so that the walls and floors are now more or less level.
This didn't affect any part of the foundation except under the front
porch where the foundation doesn't actually meet the wall in one
corner. He put in wedges to keep it all level. How exactly would I go
about sealing the crack between the wall and the foundation?

Stasya

In article . com,
stasya wrote:
Ok so I bought this old house and have entirely renovated the
interior. Before my original contractor left halfway through his
contract in a snit, he'd jacked up various parts of the basement and
braced it so that the walls and floors are now more or less level.
This didn't affect any part of the foundation except under the front
porch where the foundation doesn't actually meet the wall in one
corner. He put in wedges to keep it all level. How exactly would I go
about sealing the crack between the wall and the foundation?

Find another contractor and don't **** this one off.

--
Rich Greenberg N Ft Myers, FL, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 239 543 1353
Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val, Red, Shasta & Casey (RIP), Red & Zero, Siberians Owner:Chinook-L
Retired at the beach Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

"Rich Greenberg" wrote in message
...
In article . com,
stasya wrote:
Ok so I bought this old house and have entirely renovated the
interior.

Chuckle. Saw this several times when I was house shopping a couple years
ago. Interior upstairs was remodeled, acres of fresh drywall/carpet/tile/oak
trim, but I go in the basement, and the foundation and/or floor structure
hasn't been touched, and wouldn't pass muster for a chicken coop. One
memorable place had 2x6 joists, and a literal forest of lally columns in
basement, holding up short pieces of timber to keep floor from flexing. I
passed. Note to new homeowners planning renovations- 1. foundation, 2. roof,
3. mechanicals. Then and only then, make the inside pretty, or you just
****ing your money away. Either the house will be worthless, or you will
have to rip out part of your work to go back and do what you should have
started with.

Before my original contractor left halfway through his
contract in a snit, he'd jacked up various parts of the basement and
braced it so that the walls and floors are now more or less level.
This didn't affect any part of the foundation except under the front
porch where the foundation doesn't actually meet the wall in one
corner. He put in wedges to keep it all level. How exactly would I go
about sealing the crack between the wall and the foundation?

Find another contractor and don't **** this one off.

You don't 'fill the crack'. You fix the foundation as needed to hold up
whatever is above it. Are you sure it is through sagging? If house had to
be jacked at multiple points to level it up (versus, say, a low corner or
wall section that got undercut by water), that tells me entire foundation
needs a looksee by a real engineer. In some cases, such as improper or
missing footers, the cure is to jack the house back up, support it on beams,
tear out old foundation system, and start over. See my comments above about
not spending a dime on a house unless and until it has a good foundation
under it. Is porch foundation actually part of house foundation, or grafted
on? If he had to jack center part of house, need to make sure something is
under the columns that hold the centerline beam.

aem sends....

On May 19, 2:30 pm, "aemeijers" wrote:
"Rich Greenberg" wrote in message

...

In article . com,
stasya wrote:
Ok so I bought this old house and have entirely renovated the
interior.

Chuckle. Saw this several times when I was house shopping a couple years
ago. Interior upstairs was remodeled, acres of fresh drywall/carpet/tile/oak
trim, but I go in the basement, and the foundation and/or floor structure
hasn't been touched, and wouldn't pass muster for a chicken coop. One
memorable place had 2x6 joists, and a literal forest of lally columns in
basement, holding up short pieces of timber to keep floor from flexing. I
passed. Note to new homeowners planning renovations- 1. foundation, 2. roof,
3. mechanicals. Then and only then, make the inside pretty, or you just
****ing your money away. Either the house will be worthless, or you will
have to rip out part of your work to go back and do what you should have
started with.

Before my original contractor left halfway through his
contract in a snit, he'd jacked up various parts of the basement and
braced it so that the walls and floors are now more or less level.
This didn't affect any part of the foundation except under the front
porch where the foundation doesn't actually meet the wall in one
corner. He put in wedges to keep it all level. How exactly would I go
about sealing the crack between the wall and the foundation?

Find another contractor and don't **** this one off.

I '****ed' this one off by refusing to sign another contract to add on
bits of stuff like a front porch, laminate flooring, bathroom tile,
etc etc, until he actually finished things in his original contract
like insulation and drywalling.


You don't 'fill the crack'. You fix the foundation as needed to hold up
whatever is above it. Are you sure it is through sagging? If house had to
be jacked at multiple points to level it up (versus, say, a low corner or
wall section that got undercut by water), that tells me entire foundation
needs a looksee by a real engineer. In some cases, such as improper or
missing footers, the cure is to jack the house back up, support it on beams,
tear out old foundation system, and start over. See my comments above about
not spending a dime on a house unless and until it has a good foundation
under it. Is porch foundation actually part of house foundation, or grafted
on? If he had to jack center part of house, need to make sure something is
under the columns that hold the centerline beam.

aem sends....

I learned a lot about house renovation. Most of it expensive. The
porch foundation is actually an add-on, many years later. The original
floor plan had that portion of front foyer as a bit of open to the
outdoors porch, and at some point, they closed it in as it is now, a
foyer. I got carried away. This house was built in 1912, and is in the
town's history books. I should have left it there!

Stasya