Anyone else ever see this foundation type?

[AHI in AR]

I've run across a very few homes around here with a foundation that I'm curious about. All homes I've seen it used on were built within a few years after WWII ended. The material is a precast concrete formed in rectangular sections 6" thick and from 2'-8' long. It would appear that is was made in 1" increments and you ordered exactly what lengths you needed. Running through the center were two cylindrical voids. These were filled with mortar on the exposed ends. The sections were laid on a mortar bed with mortared head joints.

Has anyone else seen these or are they a local idea that never took off?

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[Scottpat]

I have never seen them.....

[hausdok]

Those king of look like concrete railroad ties to me.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Les]

Never seen anything close to that.

[Jim Baird]

Never seen them either.

I knew a couple that made several hundred CMU's in their back yard years ago, using a slip form that yielded an 8X8X16 block. On one face they plopped in two field stones that would show on the final product. They had maybe a cpl dozen forms and gathered the stone over time, making the blocks on weekends. I don't know the total count, but by the time they finished building they built a home, a garage, and a sturdy outbuilding. The wife, a civil engineer, learned from her father, who had done the same thing on his place. He built a lot of curved retaining walls and a two-story garage with his. The blocks drove the masons who laid them nuts, as it was hard to set them to a string line, what with the field rocks sticking out of the outsides.