2023: Floor #3
A few years after the new foundation and floor, I noticed that the gaps between the floor and the foundation walls were expanding. I started monitoring them and by the fall of 2022 it was clear to me that something was going on. I also noticed cracks in the corners of the foundation.
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| Cracks between the foundation and the floor. |
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| Cracks in the foundation corners. |
I consulted with Nop's, Carrara Concrete and Earthworks excavating. The conclusion was unanimous, my barn was experiencing Pyritic Expansion. This is the process by which pyrite in rocks oxidizes and expands, causing damage to structures built on top of the rock. My fill came from rock crushed by the Wilcox Quarry in Shoreham, VT in 2008. When I replaced the foundation in 2017 we did not remove the material from the center of the building and thus did not address the root cause of the foundation failure.
I am still miffed that one of my contractors did not know about this, since it has become well known that the material from the Wilcox Quarry was experiencing pyritic expansion.
I hired Earthworks (Randy Provencher) to remove the material and replace the barn floor.
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| Digging to the bottom of the 5' footers. |
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| Filled with clean crushed stone, including my new drain. |
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| New Floor |
New Floor poured by Sargent's concrete, he also did the floor in 2017 and does nice work.
I needed to dispose of the material we removed and rather than have it trucked way, I used it to expand the parking on the north side of the barn.
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| Relocated Retaining Wall |
This required redoing the rock retaining wall. Earthworks did this and I was very pleased with the result.
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| June 2023 |
By June of 2023 the work was complete and I had my barn back.
In the end I have nearly $100K in just the foundation of the barn. I did attempt litigation with the Wilcox Quarry, but their legal team was to going make it expensive. I eventually closed the case with a payment from Wilcox that was enough to pay my lawyer. I have put it behind me, I love my barn.
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