Great video, and very familiar work. I did the same work at our cabin in northern Ontario - 11 piers in total. I managed to get all 11 down to bedrock, even if the hole had to be 6 ft deep. Pinned rebar into bedrock, then built pier posts out of 12x12 bullnose pier blocks, filled with concrete and rebar. The area surrounding each pier was backfilled with gravel. What I've learned is that frost jacking/heaving needs three things: 1.) Lots of moisture below the frost line, 2.) Fine silt or clay soil, 3.) Freezing temps. Eliminate any one of the three, and problems go away. I added french drains to try to address #1, and kept the clay soil away from the piers by backfilling with gravel for #2. Not much I could do with #3. So far, 5 yrs in, all is well. You've done fine work with a miserable job. My only suggestion would be to not backfill with native soil, but bring in some pourous sand/gravel. I hope you have steady piers for years to come.
Thanks! so far so good I did put a drain all the way around the camp which I’m sure helped tremendously. Once I get skirting put around it that should help keep the frost from running real deep as well. Sounds like u had quite the project as well.
Hey thanks Nick much appreciated. Yeah that’s why I haven’t put a video out in awhile I’m always going in 50 different directions all the time. I’ve got some material recorded just have to sit down and put some content together it’s been hard with all the travel restrictions. Once hunting season is over I’ll put out some content. Thanks again Nick.
Unbelievable the amount of work you did bud! Like you said, an investment for sure, not to mention the $ you saved doing that bull work yourself and doing it right. Awesome video Hans!!!
Yup 100% Glad that job is done!!! Filming it was a lot of extra work , it slows your progress down. I have new found respect for all the peoples videos I’ve watched on RU-vid over the years until you do it you don’t know how much work goes into it. It has been fun and frustrating learning the whole process thanks for pushing me into it brotha!!!
God Bless you - that was a HUGE PROJECT. The new look and stability is fantastic - I know you did those wood side supports for support, but they add an aesthetically better look to the cabin! Take the next month off!
Gotta say - this video is gonna help me tons. I, like you, purchased a cabin about 3 hours north of Toronto (so about the same climate as Vermont) that was cheap, because of leaning or busted piers. We've enjoyed it for about 18 months now, but it's time to do something about it. I got quotes for about $100K +, which isn't going to happen. We had so many questions about doing it ourselves, like: - piers MUST have rebar, don't they ? :-) - how far to dig down - how to get them out of the ground - we don't have a pickup, so might invest in an electric winch - what to do with the old ones. - how to dig with about 1-2 feet of clearance - was there any magic tricks - do we set the posts INSIDE the sonotubes or not - 8X8 posts or 6X6 - 45 degree supports I think you've answered everything here - I'm gonna save this one, for sure!! Ya, it's a lot of work, but the money you saved AND, probably more important, is knowing that it was done right!! Thanks Mike
Thanks Mike!! Glad it helped you out. There are a ton of options to jacking and leveling a camp one option depending on the the size of your camp is to find a couple I-beams and Jack and crib the whole camp up higher to give you more room to dig I was lucky that my cabin was up high already except for the front. Just remember one you start replacing them to finish before winter. Unless you do the I beam method then you won’t have to worry about frost jacking. I like to over build things a little bit rebar is just cheap insurance to me it only added a couple hundred bucks for piece of mind. Also remember if you ask builders or inspectors questions about building codes or what not they are just minimum standards I personally will spend a few extra dollars to build things a bit more rugged with in reason where I see they could use a bit more than minimum standard. Also look around in your community maybe you have a neighbor with a tractor or truck and you can barter or trade something in return for use or assistance with pulling out the old piers. It’s sad that now a days we are all led to believe we can’t do things for ourselves any more we need experts and professionals to know how to live. Wish I was closer to you I’d lend a helping hand. Keep me posted on your progress. I promise you that you will have a lot more satisfaction doing the job yourself than just paying someone else to do it. Look forward to hearing how you made out.
Wow! Very nice! Much respect for the hard work, and the time commitment you put into this project. I can't even imagine how long that took, and the struggle digging those holes! That camper looks to be in great condition for it's age! So what a coincidence, I live in NC. but am from Oxford County ME. And hope to have some land and a cabin in Maine one day.
wow. i have never seen anything like that. Tks for showing it. I live in Estonia and soon I have to rip up my entire floor to replace all under floor joists etc due to our poor construction.
Thanks Phil!! Nothing is better than fixing something yourself and knowing it’s done right. Even though at time it may seem like a daunting task. I hope your project brings you much personal satisfaction in the end. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Remember measure twice cut once the cost of materials are not cheap these days and good luck.
Great video. My wife & I have planned on leaving our nations capital (Ottawa) and moving to rural northern Ontario in an unorganized township where we have a small parcel of land surrounded by crown. The local tradesmen in the area are not very eager to work apparently so we have decided to take on the project ourselves to build our foundation. We will be building a vertical (stockade) style log house 28x32. We have all been made to believe that you need to be hooked up to the grid, hire professionals and work a 9-5 job until your 65 and retire. You don't. My wife and I are both 36 and own a legal secondary dwelling and another house which will be sold once we are to crippled to walk. Time to GTFO. Appreciate the details in your video and will be checking your other ones shortly. Thank you!
Sounds like you have a solid plan. Wishing you the best on your new journey. We only get on trip on this rock might as well make the best of it. Nothing more satisfying than doing it yourself.
Yeah some years we get some wild weather like we have coming for Christmas 2in of rain and upper 50’s to low 60’s all our snow will melt the frost will let out of the ground then we drop well back below freezing so the frost will run deep with all that moisture in the ground.
Hans WTF!!! I think you should work on America and get this side ways country straight...😂...with some string I think you could do it...God bless brother........Amazing job..👍
Thanks Robert I’m in the process of buying another project that needs a motivated individual lol. Once I close on the camp I’ll be making videos of it start to finish. Thanks for the kind words.
I have a cabin in Western Massachusetts some of the same issues need to replace 2 sono tubes mine is from water run off only have half the post left {bad cement I'm thinking} my question is what size bottle jack did you use 20 ton? And did you make a video of what you did with the water running under cabin ? Thank you for the video I learned alot...
Hope you got a good batch of premixed concrete we built a retaining wall with 8x8 post 4 ft in the ground cemented in after it dried the concrete had so little cement in it that it just crumbled we noticed when we went to put the 2x8 in place had to remove them all redig the holes and replace the post so you were wise to add more cement to the mix
Thanks Doug. It’s always better to over build than under build things. Code is minimum requirement so why not do it a little better than code if it’s reasonable to do. That’s what I try to do anyway for peace of mind
What a big job you tackled! And what a poor job the builders did originally! I gotta wonder if someone told them they need 6 foot sonotubes but didn’t tell them they need 5 of those feet into the ground? I really like your solution, the 6x6 posts look much better. Would it help if you blocked off and insulated the crawl space from the weather? Would there be less frost under the house then, and less potential for any shifting? I’ve got 4 leaning piers at our cottage up here, north of Lake Ontario, and I learned a lot from what you did. A bit of a different situation, the piers are concrete block stacked and filled with concrete. Originally placed on rock, they still shifted after 40 years of water, cold and ice, and that’s why code now says they need to be tied into the rock with rebar. But seeing what you did, especially on lifting and supporting the cabin, I think I can fix this now. Inspirational!
Thanks Ed. Glad I could help. I defiantly think Skirting the camp keeping the cold weather out will help keep the frost from running deep causing any more issues. Sounds like you have something solid to work from I would get a masonry bit and drill the the rocks and put threaded bolts in and use 6x6 post plates and 6x6 post. Let me know how you make out
@@offgridcabinaddict6314 hi, I went and dug the weakest one out, it wasn’t even bearing any load anymore! Took about 2 hours but got it out and down to solid rock. The original one was moved aside by tree roots! Keeps those trees away from your cabin! They moved the 500 pound concrete column and footer 10 inches over 30 years. The new footer is getting tied into the rock with rebar, and I’m digging the rest out and cutting all tree roots near them. I’m lucky we’re on rock, but in this situation the footers need to stay exposed and not covered in soil otherwise the trees can grow around them, as happened. 3 more to fix over the summer.
Amazing what Mother Nature can accomplish over time. Sounds like you have a good handle on it. Sounds like you have a busy summer ahead of you. No better feeling than when you finish it and know it’s done and done right.
I am wondering about the added benefit of digging holes deep enough for a solid gravel base below sonotube placement and then back filling with gravel, so no soil or moisture makes contact with pier. I learned a lot in this video. Thank you!
I think the gravel base is a added benefit. Are you talking processed gravel with stone and dirt for backfilling around the piers? If it’s just stone gravel I would worry about it just allowing water to fill up the hole and freezing. Thanks for appreciating the video it was a lot of work to film the process on top of all the work replacing the piers.
@@offgridcabinaddict6314 I am talking about gravel with no soil or dirt content as a backfill around a sonotube extending a foot or so below frostline. It is best if the sonotube rest on a bed of gravel atop a concrete footer, i.e., gravel, footer, sonotube . It is very important to add a french drain, a foot or so bed of gravel running all the way around your cabin with a porous conduit pipe running below ground draining off water downhill from your cabin. If your cabin is on level ground, you will need to fashion drain pipe at a downward sloping angle. You may study everything I have said in you-tube videos. Earthbag videos will show french drain concept. Water may well fill up in porous gravel around hole. That is why a porous french drain is a must running besides your piers to drain off water. But if your piers come in contact with soil or moisture, it may well expand your piers in freezing weather and break up your concrete piers. Understand gravel offers a porous benefit, where soil or dirt around pier does not. Check out videos re the harm and severe damage freezing weather can have on piers surrounded by soil and dirt. Good luck.
You should have had a consult with an engineer to get a design on the pier before you did anything. I hope you installed a footing sized for the load and soil bearing capacity.
@@offgridcabinaddict6314 will do I just got back from there. I am now remotivated to fix the place up my dad and grandpa built it in 1975. I also have to work on drainage the the soil is always saturated. You dig a hole and it fills with water.
Theres not enough foot to hold up that weight in that soil. I consider a log cabin to be like a 2 story when it comes to foundation. The 30*60 Log cabin I built had a 2 foot by 16 deep foundation. I also put in docks and piers in lakes and swamps. I make a living keeping stuff from sinking and shedding water.
Very nice! hard work. In southern Ontario, large outdoor room built. Holes dug down to 48" and sonotube piers. 6 legs 4 of them are sitting well on the piers but a couple are just off on the corner of the sonotube footings. How would recommend fixing those or is that good enough?
I’m trying to picture in my head what you have going on without seeing it. It’s hard to recommend a solution without seeing it. Do you have room to jack and crib the room to dig and either pull out the old one or dig around it and move it over? Did you pour them yourself?
@@offgridcabinaddict6314 can't post pictures but to explain better, post are not centred on piers but that's fine except 2 of them have corner of post peaking from the cement pier by an inch or so. The metal bracket has a metal pin that sits into the pier and the post is bolted into it like your's. That is all secure. Just not happy that they couldn't place the piers to align perfectly with the posts. It passed municipal inspection so I'll accept it as safe and within specs I guess. I didn't do this, contractor did. If passed inspection, I guess no need to redo.
Causa: me atrevo a decir que un temblor de tierra fracturó las columnas (que no tenían estructura de hierro ) y el cemento, posiblemente preparado al calculo no quedó con la suficiente resistencia y se meteorito); la solución? Pues, quedo muy bonita pero también la pongo en duda! sinembargo, admiro a quien la está realizando !
Amazing all around! I’m inspired now to tackle a similar project at our camp. Did you use crows feet or big foots on the new piers? How long did the whole project take you?
This is awesome. Thanks for all the valuable info! I have a similar project that I am about to embark upon. What concrete did you go with? I recognize the brand, is it quikrete? Can you tell me the specific bag? I am in rural Ontario and our frost line is also 4 ft deep.
Hey Fred thanks for watching They are for stability and for wind sheer. At some point I will put skirting around the perimeter which will add some more strength to it as well
I guess to save some money on concrete and not having to hire a foundation company. The builder could’ve put the sauna tubes in also save money on taxes is my guess.
Not trying to be smart. I’m moving to Alaska and want to build my own cabin. Even if you set the footing below the permafrost wouldn’t the section of the concrete in the permafrost crack from the movement?
I’ve never built on permanent frost but if it stays permanently frozen I would assume if you drilled into it a foot or two you shouldn’t have to worry because it’s permanently frozen ground so it shouldn’t move unless it gets extremely warm and melts it away you could always use adjustable posts in case it moves. One thing you could do is build off pads right on the ground so the whole thing moves at the same rate
I dont know if you are still active but hope so. When you redid the piers, did you create a wider footer than the sonotube ... somewhat like the plastic base was supposed to do for the original tubes?
Hey Hans, love your vid’s! I have a camp in Hornepayne On, 70 yrs old and real close to the water, problem is it’s half on bog and keeps sinking, looks like they just kept adding a railway tie or two and jacked it up year after year, if I dug down it would be a mucky mess, other then moving it away from the water(which it’s so old and dry, don’t think it would make it) any thoughts? Cheers Paul
Thanks Paul, with our knowing how deep of muck your dealing with you could try driving some heavy walled pipe down into bedrock and weld a plate on top to build off or if you have a lot of rocks around you could try Binding up the muck to give you firmer ground to pour a bigger pad to level off of. You could find plastic 55 gallon barrels cut the tops off fill 1/2 way with rocks and pour concrete the other half and level off that. With out knowing what you are working with it’s hard for me to say. I always look for free stuff to recycle and put to use and is budget friendly. Hope that helps Paul.
No because the old piers would have frost heaved up causing issues. If you live in the south where there is no frost you could get away with doing that. There was 18 piers so adding 18 more wouldn’t have been pleasing to look at for me. If you have squirting you could hide them all so I guess it all depends on what you want to do
How is it after a year? Could use a swale in front and on sides to divert rainwater. Quite a few piers. I need to replace 4 piers in back of my cabin in PA.
Hey Dave I will let you know this spring after the thaw I just finished it in august. I dug a Perimeter drain around it Fabric and stoned it to keep rain water and melt water away. I replaced 18 of them so I feel your pain. Good luck on your project
I used timer lock screws 8” on the posts and 6” on the braces I was going to cut some 1/4in plate steel and lags and put it from the rim joist down to the posts but never got around to it
Lance can you explain this to me a little bit what kind of strap and how to position the tire ? Basicly I'm having to do this in similar way with telephone poles set into concrete about 4 feet into ground id like to do it the best easiest way thanks
@@clintstenger1626 use a wide ratchet strap fastened as far down as you can on pole then stand a tire next to pole with strap over the top of the tire so it rolls as you pull on it. Changing the pull on the strap upwards. Two tires on an axle would work better yet, keeping it from tipping as you pull. Hope this helps
Drainage, grade and soil composition are all considerations for pier design. Looks like you had to repair extensively as a consequence of poor construction and a builder's lack of ethical standards. No rebar in those tall piers merits a flogging with rebar. Good work, I'd hire you.
Thanks Hans!! It was an undertaking with just some hand tools and a pick up truck. I can’t Believe they didn’t put any rebar in them doesn’t cost much for a few pieces to put in them. I guess if they had done it right I wouldn’t have got a deal on it. I basically bought the land and got a free log cabin. Talking to a neighbor he said the old owners got to frazzled about it. They went up to the cabin in the spring and couldn’t get in the door because the frost jacked then cabin so bad. I could only imagine the next season after having it built you have foundation issues. It only took 2,500 in materials and a few months of spare time to fix it myself. I’m sure it would have been a 10 to 15,000 dollar job to have someone fix it. Cool name by the way I share the same one.
Thanks Pat. I could have rented a mini excavator but I figured I could use my truck to show people that you don’t need expensive equipment to tackle a project like that. Where there’s a will, there’s a way they say. Glad you enjoyed watching it.
I would build block columns to run 2 wooden headers the whole length. Thats awful. Steel beams would be better. I dont ever see 100+ year old buildings that bad. If your in MI or northern WI or MN I would like to help you.
Hey thanks Eli I appreciate that what I did solved the problem. After two winters it didn’t move not sure if it was a concrete issue. I’ve since sold the property and am in the process of buying another camp with issues. I need projects to keep me busy. I’ll be making more videos when it’s a done deal and I own it thanks again for your insight and offer to help
I will I’ve got some footage I need to put together it’s just been tough with all the stuff going on in the world right now. I appreciate you checking in means a lot.
Yeah I’m not sure what they were thinking. the spray foam I had done just before doing the piers. But that’s why I got a smoking deal on it. A little elbow grease and its all good now.
Hmmm.....what r the chances same thing won't happen again in 5-10 years in this water reach environment/soil. Just a quiet repair and resale make a quick buck?
With the control us virus being they way it was I had do something as the camp was starting to heave over. To do a foundation I would have had to source some I-beams to lift it up high and crib it to dig it out and form it which would have been a big undertaking. Not to mention the cost of building materials and stuff are ridiculous right now. The easiest option for me was to do what I did for now. Plus I only had to rely on myself to do it. A full foundation would be nice that’s for sure. It only cost me $2,500 for all the materials so it wasn’t to bad.
What’s crazy is where I live if you hire a company they bring in 20 “migrants” and it’s done in literally a day or two. Hahaha pay for the speed around here.
