100 year old, two story house, brick foundation.....

[kmart30]

I did a "visual" inspection on a 100 year old house with a brick foundation. There are many obvious signs of cracking within the doors/windows, floor settling, general sinking feeling toward the interior of the structure. I measured between 1 to 3 inches of differential settlement in the rooms all sloping towards the middle of the house. I believe its the foundation (after I crawled under the house) but has anyone came across issues with old brick foundations? I'm not big on the "oh the house has been standing for 100 years it should be good for another 100" answer I get from everyone.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

...has anyone came across issues with old brick foundations?

Yes, and there was evidence that the settlement was continuing in a 120 year old building. Five year old latex paint was stretched like chewing gum across a crack in an interior brick wall.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

http://www.VacuumTubeEra.net

 

[hokie66]

Settlement toward the center generally indicates that the footings, if any, are on clay. On granular soil, settlement is typically toward the outside.

 

[kmart30]

yes, this one has evidence everywhere of pretty bad cracking. Also, the interior footings are made of brick and appear to be deteriorating because the crawlspace is holding water. The brick has a rust color on it and there is a clear line were it starts and stops. That makes me believe there is a water issue which is probably a major contributor to the settlement over all these years.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwVPdBz1RXsrM3RHbTJ4VldVdU0/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwVPdBz1RXsrN003TTBsazlwSnc/view?usp=sharing