Digging the Access Tunnels

Tunnels! So much dirt, so little time.

One of the things I never really counted on was the amount of dirt I would have to move. The cubic yards of hard-packed dirt moved out from under the house would fill a dump truck. This shot shows Tom and I under the kitchen in the first section dug.
The main reason for the tunnels is to pack the floor joists with R19 and re-run all new electrical and mechanical. As the dirt was removed we discovered so many jack-leg supports and beam. This resulted in the need to install new steel beam. down the center of most rooms.

The dark brown areas are the existing tunnels. The light brown areas are tunnels yet dug. I don't know if my back will make it. Most of the house is six to eight inches off the soil. In some areas it is actually touching the soil. If it wasn't as dry as a desert under the house rot and termites would have taken this home to the grave.

I have removed most of this dirt on my own. I do want to give credit to Tom, my brother-in-law who has shown up several times to belly crawl under the house and dig with a military trenching tool.

The only cool thing about all this digging finding the 100 year old bottle or plate or civil war bullet.

Here is another example of how low to the ground the house is. You can see the floor being held up with a short 3 high stack of bricks. You can even see the six inch flex duct is squished going under the center beam.