Fixing the Foundation

I'd love to dive right into redecorating the Van Buren, but I would also love it if it stops falling in on itself. So here's how I (hopefully) fixed the foundation.

First, the before shot;







^^^^^   Check out the flaky, broken piece.

Glued the main floor back into the walls. This wall is a little warped and flaking apart, so the tape held it until the glue dried.



Put in some slabs of balsa wood to replace the missing pieces. And that should keep the floor from falling out again.



After the walls dried I sanded all the old foundation pieces, and then added more balsa wood for extra support.



Some of the pieces were still pretty weak looking and flaking apart, so I decided to re-enforce them with paperclay.



So here's the finished foundation, which appears to be working out. All it needs is some paint, that might have stopped this from happening in the first place, and maybe some craft foam so it doesn't scratch up the table it's on.

And as for the old basement smell I've been having issues with...I think I found a solution for that too. Not to drop a plug for any specific brand, but a lemon scented All-purpose cleaner seems to be doing the trick. Scrubbed down the foundation area before and after working on it a couple times-days later and the smell hasn't come back. I think I'll repeat the process with each part of the house as I work on it, and hopefully that's the end of the smell for good. Yay!