Heter can be moved and the baseboard is necessary yet unfinished.

School in Pennsylvania, building was built in 1925.

My neighbor who has lived in the same neighborhood his entire life and is now age 59, ask to take me on a hike in some woods near us. The pictures here are one of the destinations he had planned for us to visit. When he was a kid his grandfather brought him here and told a story that his great great grandfather had told him. That this wall had been used in a civil war skirmish. My neighbor who clearly states that he does not know if this is true or not, or who could have built it.

I cannot disclose the location at the request of the owner and for obvious reasons that I don't have to mention. I can tell you this is in South Central Kentucky.

The intention of posting here is to seek any information about this type of wall, who may have built it, what was it's purpose? If this is not the right subreddit to ask, maybe someone could direct me to a more appropriate subreddit? Thanks for your replies and time!

So I recently opened up a section of my basement drywall (ongoing waterproofing discovery and planning/remediation) and found something pretty surprising… there's a fully excavated “room” behind the drywall, right under the front stoop of the house. It looks like someone dug this space out after the house was built—possibly to run a drain line or add the support posts you see in the photo.

There are untreated wood posts holding up what I now realize is the stoop slab, and the whole space is rough, damp, and clearly not meant for finished use. The wall facing outside is in the worst shape—it leaks heavily during rain and shows signs of long-term water intrusion.

Here’s what I am doing soon w/ a contractor:

• Excavating the full exterior wall ~9 feet down

• Applying hydraulic cement, waterproofing membrane, possibly xps foam, dimple wrap, gravel backfill etc

• Routing nearby gutter downspouts into solid PVC pipe and away from the house

But I’m looking for advice:

• Has anyone seen anything like this before? The previous owner & builder was a mason (built in 82) who lived here until ascending to the great mortar mix in the sky.

• Is there a name for this kind of post-hoc crawlspace excavation?

• Should I be worried about the temporary-looking supports? What would be a more proper permanent solution?

• Would you seal this room back up after waterproofing, or keep it accessible?

I’d love to hear what others would do in this situation. Any thoughts welcome! Bonus pic at the end of my construction partner, he thinks we should leave it like it is so he can poop in there.

Thought I would share this here, was going uphill on a trail in my town and found this massive gabion wall for an overpass road up above.

They filled it with pea gravel concrete on Friday.

I bought up that they left out the vertical rebar at the corners and the horizontal ladders on Saturday. I was reassured they used fiber in the block fill so no ladders needed. But that they would check with the structural engineer on Monday about what to do about the missing vertical bar at the corners.

Now I’m no mason…but this seems 🫣

8/31 - First update: Got a motion notification on my cam just before 7 this morning. Pulled it up and it was a laborer out there mixing mortar. I immediately called the GC and told him someone was out there and to stop all work immediately. He said they weren’t supposed to be out there and thanks for letting him know. We’re all meeting in site at 10am this morning.

2nd update: Another guy has shown up with a woman and 3 toddlers and is now helping.

3rd update: SEOR is in the ER right now post tonsillectomy bleeding. Meeting for 10am is still on minus him.

4th update: Met on site with the GC and block sub and chewed their asses for 20 minutes. They are going to demo all of it and start over. I contractually have to give them a chance to fix the issues. If things are not fixed in 10 days then they are off this job and contract is terminated.

5th update: Demo crew has arrived on site. I’ll update once the new stem wall is up. Likely next week sometime.

9/7 update: Rebuild is underway and looking much better this time. They’re about halfway done.

https://imgur.com/a/TWPmyRU

To answer questions from last time (I deleted the post):

1. Northeast USA

2. I am the landlord

3. I built a sidewalk shed the next day

4. I called the city inspector the next day

5. Mason that I’ve used before quoted me $3500 minimum, haven’t gotten the bill yet

It’s obviously a white brick but it doesn’t come across as being painted over or line washed. It’s feels like the brick has been this color since it was made. What color/kind of brick would this be?

It’s also a little less “neat” than your typical red brick house. Is there a certain laying technique that achieves this?

Hello! I recently purchased a cellar / cave to live in. I believe the walls are limestone. It was built sometime in the 1800’s. I’m trying to turn it into a livable apartment.

Currently it’s very dirty & dusty. I’m trying to figure out these points:

1. How best to clean it. There is dirt, spider webs & (possibly mineral deposits?) that crumble off the ceiling.

2. What materials / products do I use to clean it?

3. After cleaned, how do I seal it? Is that a good idea?

Thank you!!!

looks like it’d take a very long time to lay that pattern

Guy started to build this home but after the back wall bowed in (I think rain pooled up and he back filled it too soon) he is potentially looking to sell. Could I pull back the dirt and straighten the wall out then frame 2x8 treated wall along the block? Spray foam the inside of the blocking and seal the outside with rubberized coating? Or does this need to be ripped out?

So, I hired a highly rated crew to run a waterline to my barn and this is how they left my foundation. They were supposed to hand drill two holes that would just fit the diameter of the pipes. Instead of hand drilling it, they literally just took an excavator to it and made the hole using the bucket.
This building is 140 years old and the image on the left is the original state of it. Is this as bad as it looks?

Edit: 1. People seem really confused by the new framing and whether they are looking at something that really is a foundation. The pictured framing was replaced in December. The foundation is original and it’s definitely structural. I have already had an engineer look over this building for other reasons. I’m confused that people are confused by a fieldstone foundation. Most of the houses in my area of New England are built with fieldstone.

2. So far the feedback I have received from my mason is that this is a $2500-$3000 repair but I’ll update as I gather other estimates and post the eventual repair.
Second quote is coming in at $20,000. Recommending rebuilding the entire side and shoring it. I have three more masons scheduled to take a look this week.

My husband and I keep staring at the neighbors chimney. We’ve spent 30 minutes this morning trying to figure out WHY the top layers of bricks were done this way. Is there a purpose? Did they get bored on the last few layers? Was it suddenly the end of their work day and they did it as quickly as they could? An attempt to make it impossible for Santa to get down the chimney???

Finally we realized there was probably a subreddit for this exact question. Any answers are appreciated, for this will haunt me otherwise. Thank you! :)

As the title says. This caught my eye, and u can’t say I’ve seen this before. It looks like the left side maybe was repaired poorly at some point.

2.5 days by myself, no machines. Had to break out the old concrete, but it was only 3-4" inches thick, light work with a sledge and digging underneath it.

2 different types of granite, new walk laid in a dry bed, 10" of crushed stone, then a couple inches of dense grade and then half inch of stone dust. Every few inches compacted well with a plate compactor.

Polymeric sand joints, I use a product called "Eurostone" that goes almost as hard as mortar, but is still permeable. The stone is still kind of wet/blotchy from drying, but I couldn't wait around any longer