Hello!
We need to renovate an earth cellar. The background is this: There is a farmhand cottage on top of the earth cellar, and it is actually the farmhand cottage that needs renovating, i.e., adding insulation and making it winterproof. The plan is to install heating/water through culverts, insulate against the earth cellar, and pour a concrete slab with underfloor heating.
For this reason, we tore up the rotten floorboards and then began to shovel out the soil bank that the rats have created over the past 100+ years. The beams lie loose in very dry and fine sand. Under the sand, ancestors have placed clay as a seal for the underlying vault.
Now to the challenge: When we removed one of the planks, we discovered a hole through the soil, sand, clay layer, and what had been part of the vault. In other words, a hole straight down to the cellar. The reason we haven't seen this from the cellar is that previous owners have built a support for the vault in the form of a "box" made of Leca blocks. In the middle of the "box," the hole is now located. Despite several years having probably passed since this masonry, the vault is intact, i.e., no more stones have fallen.
What I want to do is repair the hole and thereby strengthen the vault before we lay a lot of concrete on top. How do I do this?
I have a couple of ideas that I want to test on you;
1. Lower a wooden pillar through the hole, carefully place a board at the exact spot under the hole, and pour concrete to seal the hole.
2. Fill the box with stones, finishing with gravel. An operation I believe will result in more stones falling — in the worst case, the entire vault. If it were to collapse, it would take a lot of stones to fill the crater.
I should also mention that the earth cellar consists of two vaults. The wall that separates the two vaults is also the foundation for both the chimney and an iron stove and a bakeoven. I fear that if the vault collapses, these will follow down into the depths as well...
Ideas are very gratefully received!
We need to renovate an earth cellar. The background is this: There is a farmhand cottage on top of the earth cellar, and it is actually the farmhand cottage that needs renovating, i.e., adding insulation and making it winterproof. The plan is to install heating/water through culverts, insulate against the earth cellar, and pour a concrete slab with underfloor heating.
For this reason, we tore up the rotten floorboards and then began to shovel out the soil bank that the rats have created over the past 100+ years. The beams lie loose in very dry and fine sand. Under the sand, ancestors have placed clay as a seal for the underlying vault.
Now to the challenge: When we removed one of the planks, we discovered a hole through the soil, sand, clay layer, and what had been part of the vault. In other words, a hole straight down to the cellar. The reason we haven't seen this from the cellar is that previous owners have built a support for the vault in the form of a "box" made of Leca blocks. In the middle of the "box," the hole is now located. Despite several years having probably passed since this masonry, the vault is intact, i.e., no more stones have fallen.
What I want to do is repair the hole and thereby strengthen the vault before we lay a lot of concrete on top. How do I do this?
I have a couple of ideas that I want to test on you;
1. Lower a wooden pillar through the hole, carefully place a board at the exact spot under the hole, and pour concrete to seal the hole.
2. Fill the box with stones, finishing with gravel. An operation I believe will result in more stones falling — in the worst case, the entire vault. If it were to collapse, it would take a lot of stones to fill the crater.
I should also mention that the earth cellar consists of two vaults. The wall that separates the two vaults is also the foundation for both the chimney and an iron stove and a bakeoven. I fear that if the vault collapses, these will follow down into the depths as well...
Ideas are very gratefully received!