Everything starts with a good foundation!

Good morning, all! Well...I have been focusing my latest attention on the foundation of the house. I have a couple of masons who have been hard at work tuck-pointing the joints between the bricks around the garage, repairning the foundation around the basement windows on the 9th street side, and the most recent work has been on the east side of the house. The east side of the big wrap-around porch had sunk about 2 to 3 inches due to age and an over abundance of rain water from faulty guttering/downspouts. The porch's retaining walls were sagging and crumbling so I completely removed them. There was only dirt and brick/rock underneath, so I dug some of it out, reinforced it with treated 4x4 beams, rebuilt the walls with cinderblock and morter, and then refilled the voids with pea gravel. We got two walls done this weekend and once they are completely set, I will then jack up the porch roof about 3 inches, remove the back column, and rebuild the support structure underneath. Once we get all of this done, I will install a new column and base which will support the roof. Now I just need to find out who can rebuild a greek column for me. Here are some pics from some of the work.