My nearly two hundred year old home.....I am laughing........is so out of plumb there isn't a straight wall or rectangular door or window in the joint. The foundation, however is pristine. It is nothing but huge stone slabs, and doesn't even appear to have any type of mortar or cement to it. Prolly why it's been able to tolerate the expansion and contraction. I live in clay country. I am not afraid of this old house, and just plan to touch up plaster as an on going project and do one room a year as and if needed. I would really want a foundation assessed however if it were block before any problems got too far out of hand. The proper time would have been proactively, before purchase. Foundations scare me because I cannot see "minor" repairs where they are concerned. The big problem is getting somebody in who does not stand to profit from your problem.....if you know what I mean. It's very hard to take somebody's word about the severity of a problem if they can make more money based on how bad you need help. That's what some of these other threads have been about. Two contractors with totally different stories and estimates. Who can you believe? My ex.......a civil engineer........used to do home inspections. He stood to gain nothing if something was minor or major. The fee was modest and he knew what he was doing. I even asked him to come with me when I was considering a property for investment a few years ago. I'd rather hear the estimate then than later. LOL. Good luck.

We just moved a 1300 sq ft old frame house 8 months ago. We moved it 13 miles. The moving company also built the foundation. It was 2' wide by 2' deep concrete chain walls with cinder block pillars. We wanted the house raised 3 1/2' off the ground. The move took 9 hours and had its drawbacks due to our parish and city authorities being the usual #$#holes they are. The problem involved low hanging Oak tree limbs and no utility companies showing up to raise the wires. Out house had to be cut in half to move it down our narrow country roads. The company did an excellent job and unless you're looking at the floor between the door jamb of the hall/den, you can't tell it was ever cut. We're in the process of totally remodeling the house right now and adding on an additional 500 sq ft. I'm having a blast and would love to do it again! Here is a link to all my Haulin' House pics and the inside of the original house. Here is a link that might be useful: Haulin' House

As a clarification, our house is 120 years old and the existing foundation is showing it's age. I doubt it's going anywhere, but adding to it is questionable at best. The idea of the mushroom footings and columns is to avoid adding stress to the existing house. The new piers would replace existing piers along the back wall of a one story addition which started out as a porch. My initial description is incorrect. Thanks mightanvil for pointing that out. There would be four mushroom cement blobs buried 4 feet under supporting typical 10" cement columns along a 14 foot wall. The columns would support 4' lengths of lally (exposed to the elements), then 4X4 wood columns would run through the first floor wall and carry a beam for the second floor 2x12x18 24" o.c. joists. The 4X4's would continue to the roof line and support another beam for the flat roof 2x10x18 16" o.c. joists. Maybe those are called rafters, but it's a flat roof so they might be joists. The structural engineer designing this is the architect, designer, and owns the contracting company. It's a design/build outfit that's been around a long time, and the city inspector relies on his stamp of approval. I'm concerned about minimal requirements. For instance, we had some options to upgrade from 2X10's to 2X12's for an 18 foot span. I thought that was a good thing. So as part of a $3,000 work order change I was surprised to see the plans had the 2 X 12's at 24" o.c. After he explained that his plan met Massachusetts building code, he wants another $300 to make them 16 o.c. and thinks it's a needless change. If he didn't have our 1/3 deposit ($8k) and a ($3K) change order to beef things up, I'd move on. I've only seen piers supporting decks, and some houses along oceanfront properties. Been searching the building codes and haven't seen much written about this design. Code is linked at end of posting. Any assistance or words of wisdom appreciated. I will pay attention to the bracing within the walls of the 4x4' columns as suggested above by early1. Here is a link that might be useful: Mass Building Code online

If the surface water runs along side parallel to the wall, shouldn't be a problem because the slabs should be slightly sloped away from the wall anyway. It is when the surface water hits the wall perpendicularly is when you have huge problems. I don't know what you mean "cover the foundation area," you have painted block walls. You can seal the joint where the slab meets, no need to cover the block. If you have basement water, that can be a detailed issue and deserves much more investigation and information.