Day 2 cont'd

This is taken facing west with the door to the outside behind me and the sump pump just to my right. Having revealed the west foundation, which had the same kind of patchwork as the N/S/E, I asked Mike if he thought it made sense to re-do just the North/South walls. My concern was that we may make the place structurally solid and waterproof on the N/S sides, but leaving the E/W sides still open to potential leakage. Not ideal. Mike had a great suggestion. Given that the foundation has a footer that sticks out 6" from the existing wall, he suggested 'pinning' rebar into the existing foundation horizontally, and boxing in the entire foundation with vertical rebar as well, then pouring concrete, essentially adding 6" to the existing concrete - all but eliminating water as a concern on all four sides. He promised to check on the possibility of that alternative - to see if it would still handle our structural concerns.