1910 concrete foundation

[John Kogel]

This was a one storey with livable attic space "Arts and Crafts" built in 1910.

I've seen a few like this with the concrete that looks like it was mixed in a tub with a hoe and poured in stages.

What is the term for this type of honeycomb texture and how badly is the strength of the concrete affected? Would a shortage of sand in the aggregate have been partly to blame?

Question 2. The deck which was added many years later is sitting on a fractured corner. Would you repair it by drilling and adding pins, or simply pour a new corner?

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[Jim Morrison]

That's what poured concrete foundations looked like before vibrators were invented (pause here for Bain's giggling to subside). If you didn't see any noteworthy cracks, don't worry about the strength of it.

As for the corner, I'd let a contractor figure out how he wanted to repair it, but I doubt it would involve pinning. Seems to be it should simply be repoured.

Jimmy

[Tom Raymond]

I can tell you from experience that the foundation likely doesn't have footings. I know a contractor that dug out one side of a 1907 house to prep for an addition. There was a light rain over night, and when he arrived the next morning the foundation wall had broken off at the corners and was tipping out from under the house. When the cribbing went in to hold the place up and the outside was dug out, the remaining walls rolled out from under it like a house of cards.

[Bain]

That's what poured concrete foundations looked like before vibrators were invented (pause here for Bain's giggling to subside). If you didn't see any noteworthy cracks, don't worry about the strength of it.

As for the corner, I'd let a contractor figure out how he wanted to repair it, but I doubt it would involve pinning. Seems to be it should simply be repoured.

Jimmy

Sadly, my reputation precedes me.

It may interest you to know, however, that in my collection, there's a manual vibrator--the wooden handle, when rotated, moves the spindle and chuck vertically AND horizontally, parallel to the axis of the shaft--that dates back to the mid 1800s.

[Jerry Simon]

I've seen a few like this with the concrete that looks like it was mixed in a tub with a hoe and poured in stages.

Like you, I call it honeycombing.

Lack of vibrator probably why it was mixed with a *hoe*.

[John Kogel]

I've seen a few like this with the concrete that looks like it was mixed in a tub with a hoe and poured in stages.

Like you, I call it honeycombing.

Lack of vibrator probably why it was mixed with a *hoe*.

Well they may have had a primitive cement mixer, powered by ??

But the pour was pretty much a 'hand job', eh? []

I don't know, Jim. I poured many a basement wall in the 70's, and we would just rod the concrete a bit so there were no big voids, maybe thump the forms here and there, no vibrator needed. Sometimes the concrete would slump too much, and I recall going and adding a little to some low spots. We'd blame that on the truck driver adding too much water.

Tom, I'm certain you are right. The concrete just went into a trench, or onto the bedrock, like in the second pic. No real cracks anywhere, and 3 tall chimneys haven't moved an inch in 100 years.

In contract, the concrete work that was done later, probably ready-mix, was cracked so bad, I had to warn the clients about trip hazards. Go figure. Well, there's been some drainage problems.

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[Gibsonguy]

No control joints...?