Beverly homes and buildings from 1600's to early 1920's all used masonry to construct the foundation. From early homes with all stone foundations, fieldstone and brick to dimensional granite stone. With the advent of cement block local builders started using concrete block in the 1950's more commonly.
Today most homes use poured concrete for foundation construction.
With all masonry the weak point is the mortar. Considering foundation construction with masonry. You have to consider years of ground water causing mortar to soften, fail and possibly leak.
To make matters more interesting all stone foundations were built with lime and sand for mortar. Completely free of Portland cement. This lime mortar found in Beverly homes today is best case scenario only 100 years old.Thats a hundred years of ground water and basement air quality.
At Thompson Crowley Masonry we specialize in the restoration and repairs of stone foundations with lime mortar working on the North Shore since the 1960's.