Victorian Timber Frame Barn - Stables to Garage/Workshop

[autojumbled]

Seeing as the weather was nice at the weekend I decided to do some footings investigation - prompted by Mike's advice to bring the outside ground to below the inside floor level.

This main edge of the barn has approx 1 course of bricks (of the plinth) showing above the floor from the inside so digging the outside to the level shown here should take me where we need to be:

It's pretty grotty though from years of being under earth. Bricks are a bit crumbly in places but I guess they're still doing the job.

The rear edge is a similar story but I have a different problem here in that the inside floor level of this section of the barn is much lower. A good 3-4 courses of the plinth is exposed on the inside and the floor level has a step down from the main section of the barn. Therefore, what i've dug out in the picture below I don't think is yet level with the inside floor, or maybe just.
Either way, I need to get digging out this area to reduce the overall ground level outside (something I wanted to do anyway as part of my re-landscape of the garden):

 

[MikeG.]

Great start. Well done. =D> =D>

Honestly, it's difficult to get across how important this is, but if you do nothing else other than this and fix any leak, your building will last decades longer, and be measurably drier internally. Be careful not to form any hollows/ sumps adjacent to the building as you dig away, bearing in mind that you've probably only a day or two left before the weather goes back to normal.