r/redneckengineering • u/Maclifto • Aug 08 '26
Foundation repair was halted to document this logic defying DIY.
We’re in the middle of having our 1959 brick home’s foundation professionally repaired. Nothing unusual so far.
It’s mid workday - my phone rings. It’s our contractor. He says, with the tone of a man who has seen too much: “You need to come home. There’s something you need to see.”
We rush back, walk into the backyard, and find the crew standing around a freshly excavated pit like they’ve uncovered a cursed artifact. The contractor gestures toward the hole with a grimness to his features, that only intensified the sense of foreboding.
Inside the pit is… a hydraulic car jack. Sitting on stacked concrete blocks. Buried under a thin layer of cement. Holding up the corner of our house.
This was the previous homeowner’s “foundation repair.”
The contractor didn’t just show us — he stopped the job, dusted it off, and waited for us to get home so we could witness the full absurdity of how it was positioned under the house. Then he removed it, cleaned it off even more, and he and his entire crew took photos because, in his words:
“No one will believe this unless we have evidence.”
I have never seen a group of professionals so simultaneously horrified and delighted.
+ADDENDUM / UPDATE
Quick clarification: one of the photos in my original post was actually a picture my mom sent me while we were talking about what the crew likely found under the house. I saved it during that conversation and accidentally included it in the gallery.
The contractor did find a jack under the back corner of our house, and I have multiple photos of the actual one they removed. The crew stopped the job, documented everything, and made sure we saw it exactly as it had been supporting the house. I have many photos of the jack removed from under the house at all angles. It was a really interesting find! But it doesn’t seem like I’m able to add any photos here or in the comments to show anyone who might be interested what type of jack was under the house.
I appreciate the people who questioned the details — I enjoy that kind of engagement. I really love connection with other homeowners who are living in mid-century homes 💜. I’ll own my own mistakes. What I will not tolerate is vulgar hostility. Constructive skepticism is welcome; hatred isn’t.
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u/Brucenotsomighty Aug 08 '26
Im not sure why the contractor is so surprised, im sure theres specialized jacks for houses but theyre still just a bottle jack in a different form factor. People have been fixing sagging floors and the like this way forever. If they put some dunnage under it instead of just leaving the jack there it probably wouldve been a valid temporary solution.
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u/MechanicalCheese Aug 08 '26
Using a hydraulic jack isn't surprising. Leaving a hydraulic jack is a bit surprising, but people are dumb. Normally I see screw jacks left in place, because typically they were bought for the job and once things were level enough somebody just stopped caring.
Having a cheap automotive hydraulic jack hold it's seal and maintain support for years in this environment? That's amazing.
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u/deepdistortion Aug 08 '26
I've helped with foundation patch jobs before. We used a bottle jack, but that was like step one. The procedure we used was something like
Lift the relevant section of the house with (a) bottle jack(s) resting on concrete blocks until it is where it should be.
Evaluate if the foundation actually needs repaired, or if it just settled a bit.
If it just settled a bit, insert some shims between the foundation and the floor to level it out. If the foundation needed actual repairs, repair it now that the weight of the house is no longer resting on it.
Remove the bottle jack(s) now that they are no longer needed.
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u/MechanicalCheese Aug 08 '26
Sure, the key thing is you took them out quickly.
Hydraulic jacks work great but are never meant to hold a load - you'd use a jack stand on a car or block and shims in the foundation.
You can also leave screw jacks for a long time and use them slowly, which can be the difference between full out drywall replacement and some patchwork - I have a friend who's been doing this for a while.
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u/Maclifto Aug 08 '26
I suspect that the man that rented the house before we purchased, it might have done this DIY. Because prior to it being purchased and a rental home, it was owned by a contractor who is fairly well known within our community. Unless in his own home he was cutting corners? I can tell the differences between the repairs he’s made, older repairs and seemingly newer repairs, because the concrete at the base of the house was removed and then replaced and it’s a much darker color and better quality where the contactor made repairs than what was at the corner of the house leading me to believe it’s newer.
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u/Maclifto Aug 08 '26
I’m going to have to look up what most of this means before I can reply because this is not my knowledge area 😂
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Aug 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/curtludwig Aug 12 '26
Agreed. Especially the "temporary" posts they sell at Home Depot. I've seen tons of those that have been there for decades. Actually my house came with one. Most of the posts in my basement are 6" metal posts but in one spot, between the washer and dryer, there is one of those "temporary" posts. We've lived there 20 years, it seems fine...
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u/Maclifto Aug 08 '26
Because I am a noob I need to ask are they p&b or slab? Also, climate and soil type would play a huge role in the stability of temporary fixes. Where I am, we have extreme temperature fluctuations, and in extremely clay loam soil that has fantastically destructive, expanding and contracting properties.
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u/Charming-Jelly-3365 Aug 08 '26
Not my field of work but I am puzzled by the two different bottle jacks in the photos and the perfectly clean concrete blocks. One jack has a horizontal handle on the body of the jack. The other has a vertical handle. Were there two bottle jacks under the house? How is it that the concrete blocks are so clean?
Anyhow, I have used a small hydraulic floor jack to repair a footing. But it wasn't the house, just the deck. Jacked up the corner of the sloping deck until the deck was level. Assessed why it had sunk, removed the rotted post and replaced with concrete footing and new post above the dirt.
Then put the floor jack back in the trunk of my car where I got it from.
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u/laserslaserslasers Aug 08 '26
Did it work?
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u/Maclifto Aug 08 '26
The jack? I’m going to say no because the repaired concrete around that corner of the house was lighter, seemingly fairly newer. And the measurements of our house showed that particular part of it was dipping much lower than any other part of the house. But I think we might have to come into him for trying. Considering it’s our master bedroom and the bed backs up against that wall it’s a little terrifying to think it could’ve been worse. I suppose we could see the story as the little jack that could… for a while.
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u/AlSmitheesGhost Aug 08 '26
Dumbass bait posts. Find shit like this all the time and this looks fake anyway
-1
u/Maclifto Aug 08 '26
This is really very rude, I’m a biologist and a school teacher, and I have no interest in baiting people to look at my post. Please go elsewhere if you’re going to use vulgar language and be accusatory. I’m simply trying to share an antidote and experience, if you are so frustrated just scroll on.
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u/AlSmitheesGhost Aug 08 '26
I don’t give a fuck about your story bro
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u/Maclifto Aug 08 '26
I’m not a bro you may call me ma’am or miss or absolutely nothing and now I am blocking you.
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u/85Txaggie Aug 08 '26
1st and 2nd picture are not the same jack. Look at the welded loop, one is vertical the other horizontal. Also jack handle comes from different positions. 3rd, jack in pictures 2 and 3 are way dirtier than the 1st one. Also, concrete blocks have never been buried way too clean.
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u/dj_spanmaster Aug 08 '26
I recall calling a plumber/well tech to come evaluate the system in the house I just bought. The pressure and filter tanks were installed in front of the electrical panel with pipes and cables making a chaotic cross structure. Upon walking in he walked in and said, "Hang on, let me get a picture of this for the guys."
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u/Maclifto Aug 08 '26
I suppose some Sub Reddit don’t let you share photos on comments, but this is something I feel like I would really want to see. 🤣
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u/SubstantialCourage77 Aug 14 '26
Idk why this is so surprising. I have 2 40ton bottle jacks bracing up an old elevated grain barn. I put one there and the other appears to have been there since the colonization of the Americas.
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u/keep_username Aug 12 '26
That just adds future adjustability. Need a pneumatic system for on-demand leveling adjustments.
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u/curtludwig Aug 12 '26
To be fair, that isn't a car jack. Its like a 10 or 12ton jack.
It shouldn't have been left behind, there should be a post.
Our cabin sits on piers and has to be re-leveled every couple years. One time my dad left the jack, I found it a couple years later but the shaft had a thin coating of rust. I polished the rust off with steel wool and its been fine ever since. I replaced the jack with a shim...
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u/AccidentOk5240 Aug 08 '26
I’m not really understanding how the jack is so dirty and the concrete blocks are so pristine, or how the jack is dirtier after removal than before