My latest house project was, unfortunately, not one of my choosing. I was walking Milo home from school a few weeks ago when I noticed that a large piece of stucco was coming off of our foundation. I freaked out and immediately called a structural engineer to save my house from falling down… When he came he explained to me that it just wasn’t that big of a deal. In fact, it was such a small deal he would like me to find someone else to fix it. He also said that it was something that I could do myself and even explained step by step how to do it myself. I wonder if he realized what an avid do-it-myselfer I am when he was telling me that.
All the stucco on that side of the house came off easily just with my hands. My neighbors let me know that the previous owners had been out slapping that stuff on the wall pretty much right before we moved in. The structural engineer had told me that the stucco is only cosmetic, so it is not that worrisome for it to crumble off in places. I was freaking out more when large portions of the foundation blocks underneath were also crumbling. But the SE had also explained to me that a few of the foundation blocks can be compromised without affecting the stability of the house. Otherwise I probably would have fainted when I saw this:
A negative slope combined with the fact that this wall is North facing and never sees sunlight helped contribute to this crumbling cinder block. BTW, cinder block is a terrible thing to make a foundation out of.
I thought that these blocks would have to be entirely taken out and replaced. However, I consulted with a book on masonry and found an alternative. I was able to chisel off the faces and webbing of the damaged blocks and mortar in new blocks that fit inside.
This is after I chiseled out the blocks. You can see the narrower blocks that I then mortared into the wall. I failed to take a picture of any of the other in-between steps. Sorry. Jeremy and I then dug a trench along the wall in order to get the new stucco hopefully below the frost line. We covered the wall with metal lathe, attached with masonry screws. Then we applied stucco to that. During this time it was raining more days than not. On days it was raining, I duct taped a tarp over the whole thing to try to keep the rain out of it. Jeremy helped me with the first 2 layers of stucco. After the second layer, his hands became too injured for him to help anymore. Let the record show that I told him to wear gloves. I did the final coat myself. Then I applied foundation sealer.
I had 2 yards of topsoil delivered and used that to build a better slope from the house. I ended up shoveling half of it by myself before one of our home teachers came to help. He and I were almost finished when Jeremy came home. I let the men do the rest. A yard of dirt weighs between 2430 and 3375 lbs. I can testify that doing this kind of work builds in your muscles seriously fast.
I’ve spent my time since then planting it. Friday I placed the last brick for the edging. Thank goodness. Now I can do something else.
