We've run into a number of surprises, particularly in the basement, as we stripped out the old walls and the ceilings, including the supporting post that doesn't and the rather precarious crumbling fieldstone foundation (or whatever is left of it) under the main supporting post at the front of the house. Sort of looks like something that Fred Flintstone would have built.
It never ceases to amaze me how much abuse these old houses can take and still remain standing, even though by all rights it should have fallen down years ago. Suffice it to say our structural engineer was horrified.
Actually posted by James Evans.
My sense of these houses is that the old growth timber of which they are constructed is so dense (and of course it hardens even more over time..) that the structure becomes something like an indestructible 'force field' that can support itself even as parts of the foundation fail!
ReplyDeleteA good part of my house (built in 1911) turned out to have an 8 x 8 sill plate that was almost entirely eaten by rot and yet the house was still level. I like to imagine it, quietly cantilevering itself into space for 30 or 40 years, simply on the strength of its components and the logic of its construction.