This foundation appears to have been poured at least partially against earth and then excavated out. I know that can be bad to do with older foundations, but is it common to do with newer foundations?
Matt, I cannot really determine what this is, but no, foundations should not be excavated under.
They pour concrete bridges on soil, then excavate the soil under the bridge to make it a bridge—
But I have no idea what these pictures are, you have a bigger picture of the concern, or better explanation of just what these pictures are?
the pictures are of a concrete wall in a basement that is continually supporting a beam The wall is about 4" thick and about 7’ high. On one side of the wall the concrete appears to have been poured against normal forms, on the other side it appears to have been pour against the earth and then excavated out leave a very rough finish. I am not concerned about the finish, just whether concrete was meant to have the support of the earth.
It should be fine if it’s a plumb wall, poured with reinforcement consistent with the building standards in place at the time it was constructed.
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A little bit more detailed info or a pictures showing larger area would have been helpful.
But, i am assuming we are dealing with a retaining wall or a wall that was designed as such.
If that is the case, the earth was not the support for the wall, but the wall was the support for the earth. Hence, removing the earth is like removing the load, therefore, no problems.
I have only seen this once on a new house. A 70 year old man dug out the dirt like a six feet deep footing than poured the concrete. After about a week, he dug the dirt out in the middle, leaving two feet for a footing, and dug another six feet footing out a couple feet towards the inside and poured the concrete. Waited another week dug out the middle dirt but left two feet in the ground for the footing. Then he poured 4 inches of concrete on top of the dirt between to the two walls, tieing both walls together with rerod. Finally he poured his concrete floor.
It was pretty cool.
He even cut down the trees and sawed the lumber himself for the framing and siding. All the flooring, doors, and hardware was salved from old buildings people was tearing down.
He explained to me that he was retired and did not have a lot of money but he had plenty of time.
If that wall is only carrying a beam load it’s in compression. Unless you saw a problem… no problem for you to call unless you saw something that made you suspect that no rebar was installed or that it was not properly anchored to the floor or had some other defect.
Soil would typically only need to remain for support of some kind of lateral load. Didn’t see one in the photo.