House without complete foundation

[bforeman]

I inspected a small house maybe 20' x 50'. On one side of the house it was resting on a 4x4 beam being held up by concrete blocks piers, at the edges of the home and in the middle. The center had a solid concrete block wall. The left side was inaccessible but looked like the other side. The rest of the home perimeter had 2x4 framing so the vinyl could be attached. Is this a normal building practice for older homes- not to have a complete foundation? Should it be strapped or anchored to the foundation somewhere?

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

I'm not sure I understand all you are asking, but I do know that in older homes the only thing that holds the house to the foundation is gravity. The lack of anchorage is normal in an "older" home.

Pictures would help.

[Bruce A. King]

Even with the typical strapping on new homes (20-60 percent missing or incorrectly installed) that good ole gravity sure works.

Strapping or j-bolts started showing up around here in the 90's I think.
Just a few masonry nails if lucky and gravity on the rest.

M first house was built in 1986 and was held down by gravity. Hurricane Hugo 1989 was clocked at over 90mph about 10 miles from me at the airport so that house saw close to 90mph (gusting 50-90) for several hours.

I could feel the house shaking, it was one level cedar siding built on a brick crawlspace with a 8 in 12 pitch roof.
Trees fell away from the house and you could see the glass flexing in the windows but everything held together. The code here is for 80mph rating and I think it was the same in 1986 even though the strapping was not required or not enforced.