The curse of the amateur underpinner
Having demolished the rear additions work has begun on the foundations. Although we have reached the very depths of despair re the 2m deep foundations we had sufficiently recovered to carry on. Well I am afraid that Sid and Kenneth would be turning in their graves now - carrying on isnot an option for now.
Some terrible fool has misguidedly tried their hand at underpinning a section of wallby the party wall line. They have in effect poured a lump of concrete, reinforced with steel bars along about half a meter and going down, who knows? Maybe to Australia. The most pitiful thing about this is that it would not have effected a repair or even stabilized a wall in any event as the concrete stops short of any wall or foundation. It is just a big useless lump that now requires serious time and labour to break out. All of which costs a lot. Of course.
Have to be grateful to our diligent builders who have brought this to our attention rather than merely covering it up, but could have done without this news today. It is wet, cold and we are all covered in thick ginger clay. Maybe I could sell it to the Sanctuary as a new beauty treatment, previously unknown beyond the far flung shores of Sarf East London, and finance the rest of the work?