Ok, I misread your post on the other thread a bit. I was confused by the word logs, I incorrectly assumed you meant literal logs with bark still attached, but now I think you mean hand-hewn (with visible adze or tooling marks) timber framing members. One of the reasons for the wide spacing is that large, often hand-hewn, beams are so massive they don't need to be spaced so closely together to be structurally sound. So don't assume the floor defects are only because the logs are too far apart. With framing members like that you are most likely talking about a timber-framed building that was fit together with mortices and tenons and all held together with wooden pegs or trenails. Very nice and very sturdy; and more important to you maybe, utterly dissemblable and moveable. Whack or drill out the pegs and the pieces can be taken apart, generally without damage. I get the impression your building is in the Mid-Atlantic area, but there are some good books on timber-frame construction that though geared to the NE, would give you some clues. A quick sketchy recall of some titles: Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn; The Impecunious House Restorer and one other with a lot of info, but mainly about Canadian timber frame buildings, but whose title I can not dredge up. I am away from home for several weeks, but would look those up for you when I get back if you haven't turned them up sooner. Work on timber framed structure requires somebody who knows what they are doing. And vigilance when subs are working there so they don't compromise the structure while installing modern services. My own house is framed with 14 X 14 oak pieces, and all timber framed (as are all six of my two-story barns). Remarkable structures, and all bearing the marks of careful handworking, with each piece marked with a Roman numeral indicating which rafter, joist, etc., it was in the assembly sequence. You can look for these marks with a raking flashlight beam. Do you have any contemporary reports of the sequence and provenance of the structure's present form? I know I've been told a lot of total twaddle about by well-meaning, local, semi-experts about the which part of my house came first. It was only when I went back to contemporary public records that I finally winkled out the truth. Timber-frame buildings are relatively easy to disassemble and move, compared to modern structures. And making them was highly labor intensive so wasting an unwanted building was unthinkable. Molly~

" Just curious, if a "full basement foundation" is built on grade, how is it a foundation rather than a first floor/ground floor?" If you can dream it, it can done. My intention was to artificially raise grade, by grading up to the 13' higher second floor, making the second floor appear as a first floor, which would no doubt require thousands of yard of dirt but I had access to free dirt; the size of the lot made it feasible. Visually it would appear as a raised home or on a hill, with a driveway leading up; not an uncommon sight when I lived in NJ. I was keen on a full basement to accommodate a couple of bowling lanes, something I may vaguely consider building as a separate inconspicuous structure somewhere on the lot, however there are other important things at hand now, like completing interior design and renderings; these are close to getting finished, just need to complete designing builtins around the fireplace then the walkin pantry to DW's specific requirements.

If the beam cracked but did not deflect, the crack is most likely due to age and normal checking from. If the strength of the beam had been compromised it would have deflected enough to be noticeable. So put a string along the bottom edge of it and see what has happened. And post a photo; there are different kinds of cracks. Is there some reason a new steel post and footing can't be installed?

She said there is a second story. I am assuming the second story is above this, since this looks like the main living area, kitchen, living etc. I would assume, second story is the bedrooms and this wall was the support for the upper floor. In any case, neither floor needs to collapse down on a lower one. Since she has had an engineer and the beam is not sufficient, hopefully, now it will be repaired, whether it is the first floor or the second floor. The sad part is that everyone now thinks they need this open floor plan, and a lot of load bearing walls have been removed and not supported properly. Some will not even realise it until the ceiling starts sagging, or collapsing. Sabrina is lucky, she spotted the sag in that beam right away, and she did get an engineer in to check it out, before things got worse. Its unfortunate that there are so many contractors out there that do this type of work, that really, just dont care about the safety of those that live in the house.