Adding Foundation Support

[Daniel H.]

I am planning on adding more support to the main support beam in my two buildings. I am planning on using 6x6 wood beams that are graded for ground contact. I will put them on concrete supports. The support beams are currently sagging so I will jack it up some before putting in the new posts. I have two 30-ton jacks that I will be using.

I am wondering if there is a safety risk here and what I need to know to do this as safely as possible? The buildings are over 100 years old and there is some damage from powder post beetles.

[David Niles]

You also cant simply put your new support post on the concrete floor, it wont hold the weight, you need to cut out a section and poor a deeper footer for the support.

If you only have a crawl space or on dirt, you still need to dig and put a footer there as well, the depth will depend on your area and conditions.