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Am I being too picky?


Robert Jones

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Hi Robert,

I'd tell 'em that it would be a good idea to get it filled; only because sooner or later that ground against the foundation wall is going to slump into that hole and leave an ugly divot next to the foundation. With the amount of weight over that gap that the typical ranch or two-story foundation carries around here, I wouldn't be too concerned with the foundation unless I knew for a fact there wasn't any rebar in the footing and walls. With a 5-year old home that's pretty unlikely.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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Too, there's no way you could pack anything beneath that footer in a way that would actually support it--short of injecting concrete or something similarly expensive.

I've seen partially undermined footers beneath 50-year-old houses and there were no problems at all. Having said that, however, you run the risk of a future inspector referring out to a structural engineer who's been inside a total of 20 crawlspaces during his lifetime. Since the footer doesn't look like the one in the textbook photo, you run the risk of exposure down the road. Which is why our jobs aren't much fun at times.

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Too, there's no way you could pack anything beneath that footer in a way that would actually support it--short of injecting concrete or something similarly expensive.

I've seen partially undermined footers beneath 50-year-old houses and there were no problems at all. Having said that, however, you run the risk of a future inspector referring out to a structural engineer who's been inside a total of 20 crawlspaces during his lifetime. Since the footer doesn't look like the one in the textbook photo, you run the risk of exposure down the road. Which is why our jobs aren't much fun at times.

Good call Bain. Have it filled in to prevent confusion down the road.

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Too, there's no way you could pack anything beneath that footer in a way that would actually support it--short of injecting concrete or something similarly expensive.

A mud-jacking contractor could easily fill a hole like that and it would support the footing just fine. That wouldn't add much cost if they were already there for other work.

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Too, there's no way you could pack anything beneath that footer in a way that would actually support it--short of injecting concrete or something similarly expensive.

A mud-jacking contractor could easily fill a hole like that and it would support the footing just fine. That wouldn't add much cost if they were already there for other work.

What other work are you referring to?

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It could go either the two-sacks-of-ready-mix way or the excavate-to-determine-the-size-of-the-cavity way, depending on whether Rob can see just how big the cavity is and whether there's load bearing capacity at the bottom of it.

I'm more likely to recommend the latter if the grade beam is a shallow one.

Marc

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Am I the only guy that would suggest dumping two sacks of concrete mix in the hole?

We call it "dry packing." Dump the grout in the hole and pack it with the end of a 2x4 much like a dentist packing amalgam into a filling. I recommend it every so often.

On this one, I'd just toss some soil, pea gravel, or sand in the hole. It's not a structural concern, you just need something in there to take up space.

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.......you just need something in there to take up space.

Great Stuff with a sprinkle of sand before the surface gets dry.

Actually, I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work just fine. I'd rather carry a can of great stuff down there then carry two bags of grout down there.

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