Old barn foundation repair

[Geo-TH,In]

I'm not sure I would have tried that but a pole barn is doable with a post hole digger.

I put in some drain tile on the other side for the drainage. I have old gutters from the house to put on. The broken foundation hasn't moved in the almost 50 years I have been around it.

That barn was built with studs that were milled at a standard 1 and 5/8" thick and 3 and 5/8" wide so that puts it from 1906 to the 1960s. I think it was built around 1946 and was built where a prior barn was with a loose rock foundation of Dakota sandstone. But I can't rule out that the foundation was built up to 40 years prior to that.

I'm not sure I would have tried that.
If poles can support a pole bar why can't poles set in concrete support a barn.
The barn is still standing. We installed gutters and brought in dirt so water now runs away from the barn instead of towards the concrete foundation.
I think the proof we did the right thing is the barn is still standing after 10 years

 

[stevieb49829]

I think that would be doable. Maybe use 4 6" or 8" post holes 3' deep with rebar to anchor the windmill. Wet the top of the cistern first and lay in a circle or two of rebar with 4 to 6 cross ties. After it is all set up, you could drill 4 to 6 holes through the top about the halfway point and run bolts through too help hold the top together. Use some type of backer plate on the inside as needed to support the inside. Will see what others think.

cleddy, I'd pressure wash your existing cistern top, then form up a new top, including some corner anchors for your windmill posts. I might even use some sections of 4x4 square steel tube for your corner sockets. Tie it all together with rebar in your new pour. And form up an access port in your new pour if you need it. Start a new post and show us some pictures of what you are dealing with. steve

 

[Geo-TH,In]

cleddy, I'd pressure wash your existing cistern top, then form up a new top, including some corner anchors for your windmill posts. I might even use some sections of 4x4 square steel tube for your corner sockets. Tie it all together with rebar in your new pour. And form up an access port in your new pour if you need it. Start a new post and show us some pictures of what you are dealing with. steve

My garage floor is breaking up over top the rebar, because the people who poured the floor, used rebar and only made the floor 4 inches thick.
I used wire on my 2 pole barn floors and the concrete is 6 inches thick. Not the first crack in either floor. My concrete finisher recommends wire.

 

[bc]

Completed more on my foundation repair. Got it formed up by 6 pm last night and spent the next 6 hours mixing a dozen 80 pound bags of quikcrete with a hoe. Added a drain in the corner and will cut it off after I add some more concrete to level that part of the floor. Also you can see the bent middle of half inch rebar sticking out to hook a chain to. It goes to the backside of the foundation where the crack was and extends out to both sides.

Will work on leveling it this afternoon and start sistering in some new studs. Got about 10 more feet to do where the hay is but it will wait for spring.

Have to build a 3 foot hinged door on the south where that sliding door is and then a 5 foot and a 3 foot door where the 8 foot sliding door was on the east. Cut the sliding door in half and put the halves on both sides of the opening as a windbreak. End up with the 3 foot door open for the donkey can use.

 

[bc]

I'd use some 6x6 or 8x8 for the verticals. they will be less wiggly than 2x nailed together for a vertical. Also will hold the top timber better. 25x tends to bow when weight is added to the top ends. Timbers don't the reason for the 6 or 8 x .

I looked at the 6 by 6 posts but I couldn't find any that didn't have a bow in them. They looked like Paul Bunyan used them when he plays with bows and arrows. For all the 2 by 4s and 2 by 10s that I bot, I handled twice as many more culls to get straight ones.

 

[showcrop]

I looked at the 6 by 6 posts but I couldn't find any that didn't have a bow in them. They looked like Paul Bunyan used them when he plays with bows and arrows. For all the 2 by 4s and 2 by 10s that I bot, I handled twice as many more culls to get straight ones.

Maybe even worse than that was the pile of 12 ft 2x4s that I had to move off the 12 ft 2x8s in order to be able to dig through them to find the three that I needed.

 

[rmcky]

My garage floor is breaking up over top the rebar, because the people who poured the floor, used rebar and only made the floor 4 inches thick.
I used wire on my 2 pole barn floors and the concrete is 6 inches thick. Not the first crack in either floor. My concrete finisher recommends wire.

Never place rebar in concrete less than 6 inches thick, and even then place the rebar on "chairs" to hold it in the correct position.

 

[stevieb49829]

Completed more on my foundation repair. Got it formed up by 6 pm last night and spent the next 6 hours mixing a dozen 80 pound bags of quikcrete with a hoe. Added a drain in the corner and will cut it off after I add some more concrete to level that part of the floor. Also you can see the bent middle of half inch rebar sticking out to hook a chain to. It goes to the backside of the foundation where the crack was and extends out to both sides.

Will work on leveling it this afternoon and start sistering in some new studs. Got about 10 more feet to do where the hay is but it will wait for spring.

Have to build a 3 foot hinged door on the south where that sliding door is and then a 5 foot and a 3 foot door where the 8 foot sliding door was on the east. Cut the sliding door in half and put the halves on both sides of the opening as a windbreak. End up with the 3 foot door open for the donkey can use.

View attachment 97466View attachment 97467

Man, that just looks SOOOO much better than when you started. steve

 

[Harold Hubbard]

Been fighting similar problems with my sugarhouse. Needed to clean out the old leanto bucket shed and build a heated room for my new reverse osmosis machine. Hauled out all the old buckets, and removed the compost, er ,floor that was underneath them. Shoveled out a foot and a half of mud and stone. Discovered that the original footing on one side had deteriorated badly I’m not sure if it froze when it was poured, or just didn’t have enough cement in the mix. My father had some sort of objection to steel in concrete, so reinforcement.

No way I was going to demo all of it and replace. We formed up and hand poured a Band-aid wall along the existing concrete. The rear wall had cracked and shifted on the footing. Again, no steel locking it together. A lot of jacking and pulling with a come along, and some cursing got it pretty straight again.

Laid drain pipes inside and out, then shoveled in gravel and compacted it. Got the foam board and mesh in place, temperature supposed to be 40 degrees today, concrete truck is coming at noon.

 

[bc]

Been fighting similar problems with my sugarhouse. Needed to clean out the old leanto bucket shed and build a heated room for my new reverse osmosis machine. Hauled out all the old buckets, and removed the compost, er ,floor that was underneath them. Shoveled out a foot and a half of mud and stone. Discovered that the original footing on one side had deteriorated badly I’m not sure if it froze when it was poured, or just didn’t have enough cement in the mix. My father had some sort of objection to steel in concrete, so reinforcement.

No way I was going to demo all of it and replace. We formed up and hand poured a Band-aid wall along the existing concrete. The rear wall had cracked and shifted on the footing. Again, no steel locking it together. A lot of jacking and pulling with a come along, and some cursing got it pretty straight again.

Laid drain pipes inside and out, then shoveled in gravel and compacted it. Got the foam board and mesh in place, temperature supposed to be 40 degrees today, concrete truck is coming at noon.

Looks like a lot of work. Hope your back is doing better than mine. Good luck.

 

[Harold Hubbard]

Looks like a lot of work. Hope your back is doing better than mine. Good luck.

My back ain’t too bad. One knee is trashed, and the other hurts. My helper has two blown out shoulders, and an alcohol problem. I’ve got three younger neighbors coming to help with the pour.

 

[bc]

My back ain’t too bad. One knee is trashed, and the other hurts. My helper has two blown out shoulders, and an alcohol problem. I’ve got three younger neighbors coming to help with the pour.

The alcohol problem should have fixed all the other problems for a while anyway.

 

[Harold Hubbard]

The alcohol problem should have fixed all the other problems for a while anyway.

Got it poured yesterday afternoon. Truck was only an hour and a half late. Alcohol guy had to leave for a doctors appointment before it got there, returned just as the truck was leaving. We did just fine without him.

Formed and poured in two steps to avoid either shoveling out another eight inches of muck, or shoveling in another eight inches of gravel. If I were young and dumb, it would have all been taken down to the level of the adjoining floor, but that would have meant digging it all down another foot and a half, possibly running into ledge.

 

[bc]

Got it poured yesterday afternoon. Truck was only an hour and a half late. Alcohol guy had to leave for a doctors appointment before it got there, returned just as the truck was leaving. We did just fine without him.

Formed and poured in two steps to avoid either shoveling out another eight inches of muck, or shoveling in another eight inches of gravel. If I were young and dumb, it would have all been taken down to the level of the adjoining floor, but that would have meant digging it all down another foot and a half, possibly running into ledge.

Looks good. Assume you are going to mix a little mortar or some of that crack sealer stuff to fill in that crack in the wall?

 

[bc]

Been working along. Got a sill plate down, corner post in, and a few studs in. Weather went to 19 degrees today. Have a Lazer level beam going all the way around and trying to level each loft joist even with a spot in the middle of the opposite wall. Because of the balloon framing and the loft joists nailed into the studs, I have to jack up each one now to sister in a new stud. Just the way everything has shifted, I am seeing up to a half inch variance on the 3 I've put in so far from the corner to the middle. I can live with that. It may have always been there as I am also trying to keep the seams on the horizontal siding level on the wall as well.

Here is where I need some help. On the east side as seen in the photo there is a 4 foot square opening into the loft with nailed boards to climb into the loft. I took out the center of the feed bunk out and have the two 10 foot long 2x10s stringers laid in there. I need to cut the top angle and the floor angle. I think I can take a square and a level and transcribe vertical and horizontal lines and then flip them upside down to cut the angles at the corners. These stringers will be solid and won't have stair cuts, instead I will have wood brackets on the inside for the 2 foot treads to fit into. Thanks.

 

[showcrop]

Been working along. Got a sill plate down, corner post in, and a few studs in. Weather went to 19 degrees today. Have a Lazer level beam going all the way around and trying to level each loft joist even with a spot in the middle of the opposite wall. Because of the balloon framing and the loft joists nailed into the studs, I have to jack up each one now to sister in a new stud. Just the way everything has shifted, I am seeing up to a half inch variance on the 3 I've put in so far from the corner to the middle. I can live with that. It may have always been there as I am also trying to keep the seams on the horizontal siding level on the wall as well.

Here is where I need some help. On the east side as seen in the photo there is a 4 foot square opening into the loft with nailed boards to climb into the loft. I took out the center of the feed bunk out and have the two 10 foot long 2x10s stringers laid in there. I need to cut the top angle and the floor angle. I think I can take a square and a level and transcribe vertical and horizontal lines and then flip them upside down to cut the angles at the corners. These stringers will be solid and won't have stair cuts, instead I will have wood brackets on the inside for the 2 foot treads to fit into. Thanks.

View attachment 97990

Are you saying that the building is racked so you need to match other than a 90* corner? Otherwise just cut both at 45* I would be putting my wind braces in the corner that is a little under 90* by going to the other corner and pulling it in with a come along, or just a cable with hooks and turnbuckle. I have done a lot of that in my barn.

 

[bc]

It's not racked to much. It had corner bracket 1 by 6s that have held well. The corner post is vertical and square with the walls according to my 4 way Lazer. Once I get it level as well as I can and new studs in, then I can put in new corner braces.

 

[Harold Hubbard]

Looks good. Assume you are going to mix a little mortar or some of that crack sealer stuff to fill in that crack in the wall?

Shoved a lot of mix in that crack from outside when we poured the brace wall there. Will patch the crack when the slab hardens, and the weather warms up again. There are a couple more that don't show in the picture.

 

[used red MN]

These stringers will be solid and won't have stair cuts,

Hope your a short fella, better hang a hard hat by those stairs! Maybe you intend to cut out another joist. I realize it doesn’t take much to beat the ladder rungs nailed to the wall.

 

[bc]

Hope your a short fella, better hang a hard hat by those stairs! Maybe you intend to cut out another joist. I realize it doesn’t take much to beat the ladder rungs nailed to the wall.

Yep. Just working with what I got. Will be about like a ship's ladder between decks. Probably have to spray that joist with some yellow paint.

Made some progress on the barn. Got new studs in along the walls for the part I'm doing now. This afternoon I will cut some stubs for the original studs then nail up the siding. First I have to put in some door headers and build 3 doors.