Crawl space dug out

[Sam Morris]

Inspected house built in 1937 today and had some concerns about the foundation. The crawl space had been dug out to put in a air handler and water heater. What bothered me was how close they had dug out around the footers (within a foot). Is there an comments about this. Thanks

[wayne soper]

pics are hard to see.Are those dirt walls? Was the block wall never finished. Looks like POS.

[Sam Morris]

pics are hard to see.Are those dirt walls? Was the block wall never finished. Looks like POS.

Poured concrete footer, dirt has been dug out below footers. Yes a partially finished wall. This was originally a crawl space, know it a cellar/ basement.

[John Kogel]

Poured concrete footer, dirt has been dug out below footers. Yes a partially finished wall. This was originally a crawl space, know it a cellar/ basement.
That dirt wall needs to be stabilized before it all comes down. Maybe shore it up with a new block wall, but poured concrete with lots of rebar would be better.

It would be a major concerns in my neighborhood, moist with an occassional tremor.:dance:

[Garry Sorrells]

One foot out from footers is wrong. No reinforce retaining wall is also wrong.
24inch of undisturbed earth left from digging and a retaining wall is what I would want to see.

Check your local code requirements.

[James Kollhopp]

Damn.... Dont want to miss that one!! Is that space supposedly conditioned space now? Any insulation down there?

[Mark Reinmiller]

Inspected house built in 1937 today and had some concerns about the foundation. The crawl space had been dug out to put in a air handler and water heater. What bothered me was how close they had dug out around the footers (within a foot). Is there an comments about this. Thanks

Rule of thumb in engineering is that you do not excavate below a 45 degree line projecting downward from the bottom corners of the footing.

[Raymond Wand]

For reference

[Claude Lawrenson]

Rule of thumb in engineering is that you do not excavate below a 45 degree line projecting downward from the bottom corners of the footing.

I have seen similar conditions on a number of older homes.

Also known as "angle of repose". Ref - Angle of repose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_repose)

Angle can vary with material and/or condition.

[Mark Reinmiller]

I have seen similar conditions on a number of older homes.

Also known as "angle of repose". Ref - Angle of repose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_repose)

Angle can vary with material and/or condition.

The loading under a strip footing is more like about a 30 degree angle from vertical, but the 45 degree number is used to be conservative. The angle of repose defines the natural slope of a material, but it is not the same as the stress distribution below a footing.