New Foundation for Historic Brookline Mansard

For another one of our projects, we are preparing to renovate and restore a ca. 1870 Mansard roofed house in Brookline. During some early site visits, we discovered that the house was spreading. Some floor joists were literally hanging on by a thread- they were barely in contact with the beams that were supposed to be carrying them. The third floor is particularly severe: the outside walls have pulled away 3-4 inches in some places.

1870 Mansard roofed house in Brookline

It was later determined that not only was the house spreading, but it has settled about 5 inches towards the rear of the property. Sole borings confirmed that it was built on uncompacted fill. The best solution, it turns out, is to lift the house, remove the existing foundation, build a new foundation, and set the house back down. During this process we will pull it all back together and try to straighten it as much as possible.

We did a similar thing to an 18th century home in Newton a few years ago, as seen in this series of photos shown below.

18th century home in Newton 18th century home in Newton 18th century home in Newton 18th century home in Newton