I took off Fred's skirt, and it's not pretty under there.

For those not familiar with the structures on our property, Fred is the name we gave to the one-room cabin 100' west of MoHo. We chose that name because it's the Swedish word for peace, we're both mostly Swedish, and the structure feels peaceful. It's 50+ years old, measures 10' x 13', and at this point has no power or water.

Even before we'd officially bought this place I knew Fred had foundation problems. I noticed that the cedar planks used as a skirt on the west side of the foundation didn't cover the...
I'm not sure how to describe the method they used for building the foundation except with the word wrong. They set pier blocks on the dirt and then used rounds - sections of a log - to support the structure.

This morning I went over to the coffee shop to work on my article and then hung around to chat with the few old-timers still there. I told them about Fred's problems and over the next 10 minutes learned that one of those guys who must be near 80 has a spread with lots of trees, and the big saw that turns logs into boards of any size he wants. By the time I left we'd talked through solutions, he'd offered to come over and supply whatever I needed to rebuild the foundation, and assured me he could put together a crew of locals to get 'er done in a day.

So I came home and took off the skirt on Fred's west side so I could get pictures to take back with me tomorrow morning. I took the first cedar board off and then realized I should take a "before" pic.
An hour later I had the rest of the skirt boards off and all the old rusty nails out. It was harder than I expected and what I saw worse than I expected.

There are three of those rounds along the west side, three on the east side, and four down the middle. Those latter are fine, as solid as the day they were set in place, because they've never seen weather. The east side looks OK, too. The skirt there completely covers all of two rounds and the third is protected by the eaves. But the west side gets the storms that come in off the ocean and is on the downhill side.

Note that the original builder didn't feel any need to level the ground. Why bother when you can just cut that log a little longer? And if you noticed that one corner of that cement pier isn't sitting on dirt you spotted another of the issues. The good news: that pier was almost completely covered by the skirt so it didn't rot.

The other two posts got more weather and didn't fare so well. I'm pretty sure if I kicked them repeatedly they'd disintegrate due to the rot that has settled in. I decided not to do that, though.

What I discovered explains why the floor inside of Fred slopes noticeably to the west. I think the pier blocs have slid due to the erosion of the dirt beneath them. And the rot of those rounds means more trouble soon if it's not addressed.

So I'll be renting some really big bottle jacks, setting them on big blocks of wood, and jacking up this side of Fred. The pier blocks will be pulled out and reset on solid ground, the rounds will be replaced with pressure treated lumber, and the whole business completely covered with new skirting.

But before I do anything I'll run this by the old guys at Robbie's Window Box Coffee Shop tomorrow morning. And if they say, "You might be better off...." you can be sure I'll follow their advice.

Once the foundation is fixed I can begin work on the inside. I'll be taking it down to the studs and floor joists, so expect more pics. But hopefully no more bad news.

Speaking of news, there are updates on the truck but those will keep. I'll be back.