2nd Foundation in cellar?

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Permalink Reply by David Harris on October 26, 2009 at 9:09am

I am not exactly clear on the design you describe but it was common for early houses to be build without a basement, just a crawl space. Much later someone had the money and inclination to build a basement so it would be dug out by hand, The original foundation would generally be left in place with a stepped out berm (2 feet or so) at the bottom of the foundation. The berm would slant steeply to the new basement floor and brick would be laid up on it's side to help hold the earth back. Leaving the earth under the original foundation was much easier than jacking the whole thing up and replacing it.

We had the foundation repaired on our 1870 farmhouse and one of the bidders explained how that process was used on our house.

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Permalink Reply by evan j andriopoulos on October 27, 2009 at 3:23am

Thanks. This I had not heard before but it does make sense. We originally thought that it may have been to store coal but checked the brick and there were no signs of coal , coal dust etc...

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Permalink Reply by Sean Maher on October 26, 2009 at 2:39pm

Another possibility was that the house was moved. Moving houses around used to be very, very common, so it's possible you are seeing the remnants of where the house used to be, an old outbuilding, or a previous house. Granite is fancier than brick, so maybe the owners of the house built in 1801 were "trading up" from a previous structure, replacing an earlier house with something fancier or more "modern."

Interesting thing about digging out the foundation. Haven't seen that yet. Do you have some pictures that show it, or is it all still buried?

Sean

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Permalink Reply by evan j andriopoulos on October 27, 2009 at 3:28am

Had thought about that as well however when checking out the land records there was no structure there prior to 1801. The road was opened in 1787 and the neighboring house lot was purchased around that time and a house built in 1792-95. Our lot was purchased by that man (Douglass) for 100 some odd dollars which was not enough for a house especially for an area that was booming economically at that time.

The house also has relatively "high" original ceilings and open rooms. Using the later method (non central chiminey) for warming 2 smaller chimineys. We have not found any signs of the lean to (kitchen) yet. We assume this was off the back of the house where a 1930s garage was added. There is wainscoting throughout the house. It was rare that a kitchen at that time had wainscoting.

The builder was a well known cooper. his son about 22 at that time of the home construction was later a Whaling Master and had great means. Granite blocks are VERY large (foundation).

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Permalink Reply by jane on October 29, 2009 at 12:02pm

north of you, (in rural areas and north of Boston on the seacoast, where I know construction the best,) brick isn't used for foundations at all - brick chimney bases, brick columns, brick floors in basements, brick cisterns in the 1900's, not in foundations. Brick is sometimes used in Victorian houses above grade.

Stone is used as it comes from the ground up though the 1920's, when it is usually rubble with a smooth face toward the basement until it comes out of the ground and is finished both sides. Cut stone becomes the choice after we have the tools to cut and move it - c.1820. Cut stone is mostly for fireplaces and grave stones before that.

Your area may have been ahead in terms of the Industrial Revolution and because so much could be shipped by water. We don't have local brick yards here in my part of Vermont until the 1820's. But brick is being made in Haverhill, Mass. in the 1600's. I know Greek Revival stone fireplace mantles are common in Boston a decade before they are seen in the small towns.

I too have seen basements lowered to allow for heating systems and cisterns, from less than 5' to 8' or more, with the stepped berm described by David Harris.

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Permalink Reply by evan j andriopoulos on October 30, 2009 at 9:59am

Hi. We have in New London,CT many homes from the 18th and early 19th century with brick foundations and ofc. brick chimineys and lolly columns. The brick wall we found in the basement is seemingly either a support wall for a previous berm that may have existed after they dug out the cellar or another structure that was there prior to the home's construction. However seeing the no official street was laid out until 6 years after the cities burning by the British in 1781 and according to maps there were not any buildings on this plot until about 1792 or so... we are well stunned.

we examined the existing structured and it is original to about 1801. there were not any signs of it being enlarged some years later to support the granite & stone foundation.
interesting what history leaves for us to find.

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