Repair of the old foundation of a wooden house: the choice of material, types and types of foundation, necessary tools, work tips

The article will talk about how to repair the old foundation of a wooden house with your own hands. After all, houses that were built 50 years ago and more, still regularly serve many homeowners. But time does not spare buildings - windows and doors begin to warp, the base sags, the walls slope. And the reason for this behavior of the building, as a rule, lies in the dilapidated foundation. But it can be restored, the building will take on a new look, will cease to crumble. Of course, all damage to the walls, ceiling, floor will also need to be repaired after the restoration of the foundation.

Why is the foundation damaged?

Before you start repairing the foundation of an old wooden house with your own hands, you need to figure out what leads to destruction. And there are only a few reasons:

1. Hydrological or geological changes - this leads to the fact that the soil under the house sags or moves.
2. During construction, the technology was not followed, or poor quality materials were used.
3. The drainage system is not working properly.
4. The drainage system is completely absent.
5. Aging - even materials that have high quality, will eventually lose their properties.
6. As a result of the construction of additional superstructures, the mass of the building increased.

It is very simple to determine the presence of a drawdown at home - for this, lighthouses made of drywall need to be installed at the most loaded points. If the material begins to crack and crumble, then this indicates that the foundation is deformed.

Types of deformations

The most important thing in research is to correctly determine the degree of destruction. Depends on how difficult the restoration work will be. It is possible to divide all types of deformations into four groups:

1. Small damage, manifested in a slight peeling of the foundation. Durability usually does not suffer, all problems are eliminated quite simply.
2. Medium damage is the presence of cracks in the base itself, which appear when the foundation is displaced. To identify the strength of the progression of the subsidence of the foundation, putty should be applied to the problem area. During deformation, a crack begins to appear, which will show the rate of destruction. In addition, you will learn about the direction and nature of the displacement.
3. Catastrophic or significant damage. They can be caused by subsidence, destruction or displacement of the foundation. You can identify the violation of the geometry of the walls of the house, the formation of cracks between the crowns, as well as the distortion of the door and window frames. If you do not resort to repair or restoration of the foundation, the house can not be operated.
4. Irreparable damage - if you have not done the repair, then restoration at this stage is useless. Demolition of the structure and the construction of a new one will be much more profitable. In order to save money, resort to the construction of the same project as before.

After analyzing the nature and extent of the damage, you can decide on the method of carrying out restoration work. If the destruction can still be eliminated and subsequently prevented, then it is allowed to strengthen the foundation.

If it cannot be eliminated, then the base will have to be completely changed. Pay attention to the fact that you need to strengthen the foundation not only when it is destroyed, but also during the construction, for example, of the second floor or the attic. After all, the foundation, which is available, was not designed for increased load.

Restoration of the strip foundation

And now let's look at how the repair of the strip foundation of a wooden house occurs. It must be said right away that a small number of cracks that appear during sedimentary changes in the soil can be closed with a solution of concrete. But only under the condition that the subsidence process has stopped. It is necessary to dig the foundation to the depth of the defect, clean all cracks and fill with a mixture of sand and cement.

More serious damage will have to be removed in complex ways. The most popular method is the construction of a reinforced concrete structure foundation next to the tape. It must be combined with the base, using rods and shtyrabi. The repair structure is being erected on a sufficiently stable sand cushion. In addition, the load is redistributed over a large area. Due to this, the deformation process stops, the foundation acquires its original solidity.

What is shrab? This is a recess, groove or groove that is made at the base. Cables and other engineering communications, fittings for combining or reinforcing the reinforced concrete structure are laid in it.

If the foundation sags evenly

In some cases, it is necessary to replace crowns and repair the foundation of a wooden house. The fact is that the lower crowns begin to rot when the waterproofing layer is destroyed.

And if such a misfortune has occurred, the following manipulations will be required:

1. Dig a trench around the perimeter of the house. As a result, you must completely expose the old foundation. This will greatly facilitate the work. Consider when carrying out work that the foundation will be thicker. In the event that the subsidence occurred due to miscalculations in the preparation of the project, it is necessary to take into account all the errors and build the supporting structure much better. It is possible that the house began to sag due to the fact that the groundwater is too high.
2. Next, it is necessary to thoroughly clean the surface of soil residues, remove all crumbling parts of rubble or brickwork.
3. At the bottom of the pit, gravel should be poured - the thickness should be 10-15 cm. The layer must be carefully rammed. Please note that such work does not need to be done if the foundation of the wooden house is repaired with screw piles. Their installation does not cause difficulties, but special equipment will be needed.
4. Drill holes in the old foundation for mounting the rods. It is recommended that this be done so that the reinforcement bars enter the holes with a slight stretch.
5. In a checkerboard pattern, the boreholes need to be drilled, this will allow you to expand the inlet openings to 10 cm. When pouring the foundation, you need to fill the voids with concrete, so that the old and new foundations are combined into a single structure.
6. Do a reinforcement belt. The rods driven in in advance must be welded to the volumetric grille from the reinforcement.

To strengthen the reinforced concrete base, it is necessary to use not a welding, but a special wire. Firstly, connecting the rods is easier. Secondly, you will avoid displacement and damage to the reinforcement belt when pouring concrete.

The final stage of repair

Now you are doing the formwork along the entire outer contour, any lumber is suitable for this. The ideal option would be bars, boards, boards. Be sure to cover all walls with foil before pouring. Then carry out the following actions:

1. Gradually fill the concrete, the areas should be no more than 2 m. In this case, the solution will penetrate the shabra much better and fill the voids in the old foundation. To limit the length of the repaired area, it is necessary to install panels across the mounted formwork.
2. When the concrete sets, all the wood elements can be removed and waterproofed.
3. Fill all the free space with soil. Tamp the soil carefully, sprinkle new gradually.

To divert water from the foundation, you need to make a blind area. If the humidity of the area is too high, it is necessary to protect the base with drainage.

Repair of a separate section of the tape

In the event that only corners or small sections of the base are damaged, spot repairs are allowed. This is done as follows:

1. Near the defective place you need to dig a small trench that exposes the surface of the old foundation.
2. At the bottom of the pit, pour crushed stone and ram it thoroughly.
3. On the sides you need to increase the brickwork or equip the supporting block of concrete. The width of the repair structure should cover approximately 20% of the damaged area. The main thing is to provide a quality bunch. To do this, drill the base, drive the reinforcement rods into the holes.
4. Protect the masonry with waterproofing.
5. Fill the trench with soil.

If during the inspection of the base it turned out that it was weakened around the perimeter, then you can strengthen the foundation with a reinforced concrete clip about 20 cm thick. It must be connected to the old foundation with anchors. Then install the reinforcement and formwork. After this, pour concrete.

Pile or column foundation restoration

And now let's find out how to repair the pile foundation of a wooden house. There can be several problems with this type of base:

1. Separate columns may heel due to the fact that the ground is heaving. The consequence of this phenomenon is that the building begins to lean towards the columns, which were destroyed.
2. The subsidence of individual pillars leads to the fact that the walls begin to warp, the lower crowns approach the surface of the soil.

During repair, it will be necessary to replace the individual supports. The most effective recovery method is to install bored piles. First you need to raise the house, as in the case of the strip foundation.

Then the entire building must be fixed in order to unload the columns as much as possible. The column on which traces of destruction appeared should be dug up and completely removed. Then the pit must be expanded so that its size is 40 × 40 cm (if you plan to use columns with a diameter of 20 cm). It is also necessary to deepen the pit by half a meter.

Installation of bored piles

The procedure for repairing the foundation of a wooden house with bored piles looks like this:

1. Equip a pillow of crushed stone and sand, compact it as much as possible.
2. The hollow column is laid at a slight slope to the surface. A column is a pipe made of metal or asbestos.
3. Make a sole for the pile, for this you need to pour two buckets of cement mortar through the pipe.
4. As soon as the concrete begins to thicken, it is necessary to install a grating from the reinforcement in the column, and completely fill the entire trench with mortar.
5. Install the pillar vertically and wind it under the lower crown of the house.
6. Fill the pit with soil and tamp, after which you can lower the house.

This is how the old foundation of a wooden house is repaired using bored piles. If the column is simply skewed, but there is no damage on it, then it can be straightened. From the side that is opposite to the slope, you need to make a dig. After that, install vertically pile, fill the entire space with a solution.

How to avoid problems afterwards?

If you have replaced the crowns and repair the foundation of a wooden house, then you need to take care of how to increase the service life of all restored parts. Durability and reliability depend both on the design and on how well the waterproofing is made. Most of the problems that arise with subsidence of the foundation are associated with errors in choosing the depth of the underground part. Be sure to lower the foundation below the freezing line of the soil. If this is not observed, then you will often have to do the repair of the foundation of a wooden house with your own hands.

Water protection must be carried out in this way:

1. Creating a wide blind area to divert rainwater.
2. Waterproofing must be done both horizontal and vertical.
3. If necessary, you need to make a quality drainage system.

At the first stage, it is necessary to complete the rise of the house. Repairing the foundation of a wooden house without a basement is a little simpler - you do not need to do vertical waterproofing, quite horizontal.

Vertical waterproofing

With vertical waterproofing, you can prevent moisture from entering the basement. These actions must be carried out both during the repair of the columnar foundation of a wooden house, and during the restoration of the tape. There are several ways to carry out the work:

1. Installation of rolled or film material on mastic.
2. Coating the surface with mixtures based on bitumen, rubber and polymers.
3. Installation of geotextile membranes, arrangement of a waterproof lock with bentonite type clay panels.
4. The use of penetrating compositions based on cement and polymers.

But on this repair of the foundation of a wooden house with his own hands is not over. It is recommended to make a system of drains. It must drain water at least 2 m from the edge of the base. In the event that the walls of the basement are exposed to moisture or fungi, it is also necessary to do insulation. To do this, it is allowed to use plates that are resistant to moisture. They need to be glued to a layer of mastic from bitumen, then sealed with plastic protective materials.

Complete replacement of the foundation: workflow algorithm

We examined how to repair the foundation of an old wooden house with our own hands, and now we will talk about a complete replacement of the foundation. If the damage is so strong that it makes no sense to restore, you need to resort to a complete replacement. Wooden houses have a relatively small mass, so it will be enough to use jacks with a force of up to 10 tons.

When repairing the strip foundation of a wooden house, the order of work must be observed:

1. Determine the mass of the building. To do this, you need to multiply the cubature by the density of the wood from which the house is built.
2. To reduce pressure on the base, you need to take out all the things from home. If necessary, you can even remove the stove and floor.
3. Fix the door and window openings with the help of bars.
4. Dig a trench around the perimeter.
5. Remove the brick or rubble masonry in the places where the jacks are installed.
6. Install the jacks. They must be supported by a reliable and solid foundation.
7. Carefully raise the house.
8. Near the jacks you need to install temporary supports. A channel or a steel corner is suitable.
9. Lower the house on the supports and you can proceed with the dismantling of the old foundation.

Replacement is carried out in the same way as the repair of the foundation under a wooden house. Only there will be much more work - you need to restore the entire foundation completely, and not its individual sections.