MCar Posted December 23, 2020 Report Share Posted December 23, 2020 Hello! Can you please let me know your thoughts on the condition of the brick foundation in this old home in Alameda? The house sits on a brick foundation. There is a finished basement about a foot subterranean on a concrete slab. On 3 outside sides of the house(except back) there is a parge coat, and on the left side they built a concrete buttress against the brick. We have very limited access to inspect the brick from the inside as the basement is finished and foundation is encased. We were able to get under the stairs and saw a concrete cap on a small section of the brick. The mortar on the brick appears to be sandy. https://photos.app.goo.gl/sw3Eot4aczNkAS2g9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted December 24, 2020 Report Share Posted December 24, 2020 The thing in the photo looks like brick veneer. Do you have other photos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCar Posted December 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2020 (edited) Jim, yes. I added 11 photos to the link. Edited December 27, 2020 by MCar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kibbel Posted December 27, 2020 Report Share Posted December 27, 2020 Looking at small pics on my phone, I'll bet the sills have issues and not the brick foundation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCar Posted December 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2020 8 hours ago, Bill Kibbel said: Looking at small pics on my phone, I'll bet the sills have issues and not the brick foundation. Bill, thanks for the response. If the sills had issues, what would be the fix and approximate cost to correct? This house is about 3,000 sq ft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kibbel Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 On 12/27/2020 at 11:53 PM, MCar said: Bill, thanks for the response. If the sills had issues, what would be the fix and approximate cost to correct? This house is about 3,000 sq ft. Without seeing it in person, poking and probing, I couldn't offer a guess at a cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 I left comments with the pictures. One picture shows some severely deteriorated mortar. Otherwise, it all looks very typical. What you've got there will probably support the house just fine as long as gravity is the only force acting on it. This house was build just after the big 1906 earthquake and it looks like it rode out the 1989 Loma Prieta quake without any serious damage. It might not do as well when the next large one hits. If that were my house, I'd get some modern earthquake retrofit work done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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