Foundation and brick work in Vermilion County, Illinois

Vermilion County runs north to south along the Indiana border. Hoopeston is at the top. Route 1 runs down through Rossville to Danville, the county seat, on the Vermilion River. West of Danville, Interstate 74 passes Oakwood and the Kickapoo State Recreation Area along the Middle Fork. Potomac sits in the farm country north of the Middle Fork, and Rankin is west of Hoopeston on Route 9.

The north end is flat, open farmland. Toward Danville the land breaks up along the river valleys and gets more wooded.

Across the county you find the same kinds of older houses: frame and brick homes from the railroad and farm era on stone or soft brick foundations, with brick chimneys and, in Danville and the bigger towns, whole blocks of older brick buildings. Vermilion County also has a long coal mining history, and some of the older homes in the south half of the county date from that era.

Most of the trouble comes back to water and frost. Heavy, wet soil against old foundations, and freeze and thaw winters working on brick and mortar.

• Stone and brick foundations under older houses
• Brick chimneys that take the weather hardest
• Older brick downtowns, Danville most of all
• Farmhouses with old foundations and additions

The Vermilion River and its forks cut through the southern part of the county. The Middle Fork runs past Kickapoo near Oakwood, and the Salt Fork joins near Danville. Houses on the slopes along those valleys deal with a different kind of foundation pressure than the dead flat lots up north around Hoopeston, because one wall holds back more ground than the others and takes the water running downhill.

Brian is based in Hoopeston. Rossville is a short drive south, Rankin a short drive west, and Danville, Potomac and Oakwood are farther. If you are in Vermilion County and have foundation, brick or chimney work, call or text with your town and Brian will tell you if he can get to you.

• McFerren ParkHoopeston's city park at the north end of the county, home of the National Sweetcorn Festival.
• Vermilion County MuseumCounty history museum on North Gilbert Street in Danville.
• Kickapoo State Recreation AreaState recreation area by Oakwood, along the Middle Fork.
• Middle Fork State Fish and Wildlife AreaState land along the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River south of Potomac.