OK, playing catch up here.
We met with our HVAC guru, (www.PeakHVAC.com) and we'd been trying to figure out the best way to heat and cool the house. We at first thought we'd head a vent and return on each side of the dining room fireplace, but it turns out we'd need a lot more space for a second vent to carry air to the 3rd floor and it would make the dining room all.... wonky. Also, it would mean branching out in the basement and taking half of the vent-age (my word, not Chuck Phaeler's from Peak HVAC, heh heh) to the north side of the house and half to the rear, and we'd be talking uber-soffets like an encompassing, but warm, octopus.
So we determined we could fit the HVAC main ductwork up from the basement, up through the northeast corner of the kitchen (practically unused space), into the northeast corner of the bath/laundry room, and then into the 3rd floor. This way, the ductwork stays in a central location, and only branches out from the 'trunk' at the level it is needed.
There was one problem though with the return that was planned for the kitchen wetwall.
Yeah.
Well, we planned the location of the kitchen wetwall ever so carefully, making sure that the wetwalls on the second and third floor would all like up and even distribute some weight. I'm, not kidding, we spent HOURS trying to determine the exact location for premium placement and ease of use. But did we go into the basement and check out the ceiling to make sure that the joists that ran throughout the house also matched up in the basement? Nooooo, that would have been way too smart. Way.
Yeah.
So we built the kitchen wetwall not only right on top of a joist, but to make it all the more painful, it was a double joist.
The plumbing that we so carefully planned for had to come up through the wetwall on the west, then back across over the kitchen to the east, then back up through the floor to meet the bathroom on the second floor. OK, plumbing disaster averted... but the HVAC? Not so easy.
A few days after we made the plumbing work-around, Chuck (the HVAC boss) made the call that we'd have to either move the wall, or we'd have to have an angled return in the dining room that stuck out about 3" on the floor and sloped back to the wall to get around the joist screw up.
We moved the wall.
Now I'm halfway tempted to tell the plumbers that we can now run the PVC up the wetwall the way it was supposed to go in the first place-- just to see the looks on their faces.
Today's agenda: Replace last two rotted floor joists on the first floor with 2x12" PTL (Pressure treated lumber), and start pulling up the rest of the old tongue and groove 1" flooring (wearing a mask this time so as not to kill myself by inhaling the mold on the underside THIS time.) Then overlay with two full sheets of 1/2" OSB ( laid out so as to overlap and not have the edges on the second layer line up with the edge of the sheets underneath, aka staggered layout) and finish sistering 2x6's to the rotted joists on the 2nd floor for floor supports, fix the holes with OSB, then laying single sheets of OSB for the final subfloor prep.
Unless I have to move another wall.
Showing posts with label joists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joists. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Wetwalls going up
First, as mentioned before, we blocked in the walls and the ceiling joists in between the furring strips and the ceiling joists where the wet wall was to be located. (We're planning on having the wet wall continue above onto the second floor for the second floor bath as well, to make things easier.)These blocking areas are to help support the freestanding wall that we are putting in. The blocking will act as nailers and the sucker shouldn't move a millimeter once it's up.
I measured the length of the wall from our floorplans, double checking that we'll have enough room for the kitchen counter tops, double sink, dishwasher, etc... then cut the 2 lengths of 2x6's for the top and the bottom.
I measured each distance from the ceiling joist to the floor, then subtracted 3" for the boards at the top and the bottom of the frame, then I subtracted another quarter of an inch for maneuverability when raising the wall from horizontal to vertical. (You will need that extra 1/4" for room to set it up, otherwise, it won't fit.)
Then I cut each length and marked each board with its position and the measurement for layout on the floor.Since the length of the wall was not a multiple of 16" but we needed to have the 16"OC measurements for the drywallers, we just started the measurements from the open end of the wall (the right side in these pictures) and measured in 16" towards the attached wall, then marked both the header board and the footer. Then I lined up each board on the floor and nailed it into place at the top and bottom, according to the 16" mark.
There's an extra 7" space away from the attaching wall where we had leftover space from the last 16" measurement. No problem.
Then we raised the wall up, maneuvered it into placed with a little jostling and kicking, then secured it to a ceiling joist with a single screw.
Since this wall is going to be attached to a full 2x4 framing wall in the kitchen and we're going to hang kitchen cabinets on both of these walls, it is imperative that these two walls be square with each other in order to avoid shimming and a lot of cursing down the road.We're already building the framing wall in the kitchen, but I don't have any pictures yet. Maybe it has something to do with that bottle of wine in the last picture... heh heh. Okay, so we toasted our first built wall. It was a long day.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
ceiling joists reinforced, wetwall plans.
I just wanted to update the progress on the joists between the first and second floors and toss in a picture or two.
We just finished completing the reinforcement of the joists with 2x4s at the bottom of each of the 2x8 joists with a nail gun (nails about every 12" - which may be overkill, but should be stable) and in areas where there was bowing in the boards, we pre-drilled holes through the 2x4 and the joists and reinforced with lag bolts, then tightened the bejezzus out of them. After a few days, we climbed back up and tightened them again for the pure joy of it. In the case of a couple split and damaged joists, we also sistered 2/8 stock to them as well and used carriage bolts through joist, 2x4, and 2x8.
How much of the cross bridging we decided to pull down and what pipes are still existing in the joists determined which side of the joists we attached the 2x4's to, so they're not all on the same side of the joists. As you can see from the image, some are on the North side of the joist, some are on the South side, but they're all reinforced.
As a side note: we attached 2x6's to the floor joists that will be directly under the shower and tub on the second floor to handle any additional load from all the water while taking a bath. Overkill, I know, but when you have the opportunity to avoid disaster-- you take it.
The fun part is getting up on the second floor and jumping up and down. No more bouncy floors.
We still have to figure out how much room the HVAC guy is going to need to the left and right side of the chimney for the 8" round duct work he wants to install -- we have an idea, obviously, but we don't want to cut it too close and we don't want to lose any additional space if we can avoid it.
And of course, we can't finish the furring out on the rest of the West wall until we know exactly where the end of the chimney wall will be for us to measure out the 2' increments for the furring strips. So we wait until we hear back from our HVAC guy.
In the meantime, we started furring out the second floor, putting in the horizontal firebreaks at the top of the walls, just under the ceiling joists, and then attaching the vertical furring strips to the wall underneath.
Learning Moment: On the first floor, we tried attaching the vertical wall furring strips first, with the intent to attach the top horizontal firebreak/furring strip after the fact, which was, in the end, a bad idea. We discovered that just because you measure down 3 1/2 inches from each joist doesn't mean you can then insert a 2x4x10 evenly across the tops of the furring strips.
What we did originally was, after positioning each 2x4x10 against the wall (on top of the jig I made to adjust for the 2x4 to be attached horizontally across the flooring, plus an additional 1 1/2" gap for wiring) I used a 2x4 cut piece of block and held it up against the board, just under the ceiling joist to mark the length of the board to cut. It was a good plan, except that the ceiling joists weren't equal or level.
Since we used construction adhesive as well as tapcons to attach the furring strips to the wall, we ended up having to take the circular saw, adjusting the depth to 1 3/8 (just below the width of the 2x4) and cutting of the tops of a couple of the furring strips to make a long 2x4 fit above it. So, always fit in the top firebreak/furring strip in first.
We're now also preparing to frame in the wet wall on the first floor. We've decided to adjust the plans to allow for an additional 12" of space in the kitchen, so we're moving the wet wall to the South by one joist. Since the wet wall will only be 6" deep (with additional 5/8" drywall on each exterior surface) we'll be placing one edge of the wall on one floor joist and will need to add blocking under the floor to support the other side of the wall (since it won't be on a joist, which are approximately 14" apart.)
Also, in building the wet wall, we'll be using 2' x 2x4 horizontal furring strips on the West wall to make sure the wet wall and future dry wall has something to be attached TO. This means, starting from the top of the horizontal furring strip between the joists where the wet wall is to be built, we will need to measure down 2" and mark that point as the center of the next 2x4. This allows us to attach the wet wall anywhere vertically between the 2 ceiling and floor joists.
In the drawing (sorry, no pictures YET) I'm trying to show that (C) is the new wet wall to be built, (B) is the 2x4 horizontal furring strip/firebreak (that is always installed before the vertical furring strips) and (A)is the joist under the floor that will NOT have part of the wet wall built over it.
(1) shows the gap from the vertical furring that will allow for electrical wires to pass horizontally without having to cut through the furring. (2) is the horizontal blocking we'll install before building the wet wall, so we can attach the wet wall to the WEST wall. And (3) is the additional blocking we will need to install from the basement to support the side of the wet wall that is not over a joist.
More images to come soon....
We just finished completing the reinforcement of the joists with 2x4s at the bottom of each of the 2x8 joists with a nail gun (nails about every 12" - which may be overkill, but should be stable) and in areas where there was bowing in the boards, we pre-drilled holes through the 2x4 and the joists and reinforced with lag bolts, then tightened the bejezzus out of them. After a few days, we climbed back up and tightened them again for the pure joy of it. In the case of a couple split and damaged joists, we also sistered 2/8 stock to them as well and used carriage bolts through joist, 2x4, and 2x8.
How much of the cross bridging we decided to pull down and what pipes are still existing in the joists determined which side of the joists we attached the 2x4's to, so they're not all on the same side of the joists. As you can see from the image, some are on the North side of the joist, some are on the South side, but they're all reinforced.As a side note: we attached 2x6's to the floor joists that will be directly under the shower and tub on the second floor to handle any additional load from all the water while taking a bath. Overkill, I know, but when you have the opportunity to avoid disaster-- you take it.
The fun part is getting up on the second floor and jumping up and down. No more bouncy floors.
We still have to figure out how much room the HVAC guy is going to need to the left and right side of the chimney for the 8" round duct work he wants to install -- we have an idea, obviously, but we don't want to cut it too close and we don't want to lose any additional space if we can avoid it.
And of course, we can't finish the furring out on the rest of the West wall until we know exactly where the end of the chimney wall will be for us to measure out the 2' increments for the furring strips. So we wait until we hear back from our HVAC guy.
In the meantime, we started furring out the second floor, putting in the horizontal firebreaks at the top of the walls, just under the ceiling joists, and then attaching the vertical furring strips to the wall underneath.
Learning Moment: On the first floor, we tried attaching the vertical wall furring strips first, with the intent to attach the top horizontal firebreak/furring strip after the fact, which was, in the end, a bad idea. We discovered that just because you measure down 3 1/2 inches from each joist doesn't mean you can then insert a 2x4x10 evenly across the tops of the furring strips.
What we did originally was, after positioning each 2x4x10 against the wall (on top of the jig I made to adjust for the 2x4 to be attached horizontally across the flooring, plus an additional 1 1/2" gap for wiring) I used a 2x4 cut piece of block and held it up against the board, just under the ceiling joist to mark the length of the board to cut. It was a good plan, except that the ceiling joists weren't equal or level.
Since we used construction adhesive as well as tapcons to attach the furring strips to the wall, we ended up having to take the circular saw, adjusting the depth to 1 3/8 (just below the width of the 2x4) and cutting of the tops of a couple of the furring strips to make a long 2x4 fit above it. So, always fit in the top firebreak/furring strip in first.
We're now also preparing to frame in the wet wall on the first floor. We've decided to adjust the plans to allow for an additional 12" of space in the kitchen, so we're moving the wet wall to the South by one joist. Since the wet wall will only be 6" deep (with additional 5/8" drywall on each exterior surface) we'll be placing one edge of the wall on one floor joist and will need to add blocking under the floor to support the other side of the wall (since it won't be on a joist, which are approximately 14" apart.)
Also, in building the wet wall, we'll be using 2' x 2x4 horizontal furring strips on the West wall to make sure the wet wall and future dry wall has something to be attached TO. This means, starting from the top of the horizontal furring strip between the joists where the wet wall is to be built, we will need to measure down 2" and mark that point as the center of the next 2x4. This allows us to attach the wet wall anywhere vertically between the 2 ceiling and floor joists.In the drawing (sorry, no pictures YET) I'm trying to show that (C) is the new wet wall to be built, (B) is the 2x4 horizontal furring strip/firebreak (that is always installed before the vertical furring strips) and (A)is the joist under the floor that will NOT have part of the wet wall built over it.
(1) shows the gap from the vertical furring that will allow for electrical wires to pass horizontally without having to cut through the furring. (2) is the horizontal blocking we'll install before building the wet wall, so we can attach the wet wall to the WEST wall. And (3) is the additional blocking we will need to install from the basement to support the side of the wet wall that is not over a joist.
More images to come soon....
Monday, February 25, 2008
Rehabbing an Old house Manual Step 2: Selecting a Property
This installment follows Rehabbing Manual Step 1.
Once you figure out where you want to do your rehab, then you need to pick your property.
The first thing that you need to do in the selection process is to set your priorities. What are the deal killers and what are the deal makers. That will allow you to quickly cut through a lot of marginal properties.
For us, we wanted more space than we had currently (easy), a passable space for a garden (at least 20'x5' of decent sun), off-street parking, and some minimum level of security (remember we've already figured out what areas we were OK with living in). There were a lot of pretty places that otherwise fit but we could quickly move on once we saw that there was no chance of off-street parking. We could also determine likely/unlikely properties with a google map. That would allow us to see the exposure and possibility for a garden.
Other factors you might want to prioritize are room for kid(s), nearness to schools or amenities, and similar issues.
Another thing to consider is your hard boundaries for the work. If there are things you simply can't or won't do, you need to keep that in mind to quickly eliminate candidates. You should also have a pretty good bead on how big a project you can manage. Can you only do some renovation, but not a full gut? That changes the type of property you can manage. More care must be taken when you won't be doing a full gut, if you hope to stay on budget. There are lots of stories about folks who fall in love with huge mansions and they end up slaves to the project. Sure, they can buy them for a song, but the work involved, even if not extensive, becomes overwhelming when the house is huge. Often the choice becomes either living in dust and construction debris for years, or going way over budget. Don't overreach. The house is supposed to make your life better, not wear you down to a fine paste.
One absolutely key factor to consider is overall quality of the home. We decided that we wanted a brick Victorian. This is because they are rather simple and tend to be pretty sound, and are so common here and that there are lots of folks who have experience working on them. The first thing you look for is soundness. You want good straight walls with NO bowing. Get your face up close and look along the wall for bows. If you can't easily see, get up on the roof with a plumb bob. Look for settling. Take note of any cracks and their nature. Some settling is fine, but if there's a lot, call in an expert to evaluate it. In fact, you should have a trusted evaluator go through your rehab candidates with you. Find someone who has some experience with these old homes. Many things (like a bit of water in the basement) freak out inspectors or folks who are new to old homes, but aren't a big worry.
Check the floor beams from the basement for insect damage. A little is probably OK. Over a century or so, bugs might have infested a place and then been dealt with. If the damage is minimal and not ongoing, it's probably fine. If there's extensive insect damage, you probably want to pass. Also, can an awl and poke the floor beams at the foundation. Look for signs of rot. Again, a little isn't horrible. A lot rot can be a big problem--especially if you're not doing a full gut. Repairs of a few joists is easy. Hidden water damage, however, can get very costly, if you're trying to retain as much of the original work as possible. There's a continuum of easy and hard to deal with issues that changes relative to how much restoration you intend, vs. how much removal of old material is planned. Water damage in a wall you intend to remove is irrelevant, after all.
Do check to see if a property you like is in a historic preservation district. If so, get in touch with the historic preservation officer and fine out what is allowed and what isn't. Get a good grasp of the general guidelines. If you know what you can and can't do and the general cost factors, you'll be able to determine more readily which properties are uneconomic and pass on them. Nothing is worse than buying the property and making plans, only to have them shot down by historic preservation and zoning.
Next: Rehabbing Manual Step 3: Estimating
Once you figure out where you want to do your rehab, then you need to pick your property.
The first thing that you need to do in the selection process is to set your priorities. What are the deal killers and what are the deal makers. That will allow you to quickly cut through a lot of marginal properties.
For us, we wanted more space than we had currently (easy), a passable space for a garden (at least 20'x5' of decent sun), off-street parking, and some minimum level of security (remember we've already figured out what areas we were OK with living in). There were a lot of pretty places that otherwise fit but we could quickly move on once we saw that there was no chance of off-street parking. We could also determine likely/unlikely properties with a google map. That would allow us to see the exposure and possibility for a garden.
Other factors you might want to prioritize are room for kid(s), nearness to schools or amenities, and similar issues.
Another thing to consider is your hard boundaries for the work. If there are things you simply can't or won't do, you need to keep that in mind to quickly eliminate candidates. You should also have a pretty good bead on how big a project you can manage. Can you only do some renovation, but not a full gut? That changes the type of property you can manage. More care must be taken when you won't be doing a full gut, if you hope to stay on budget. There are lots of stories about folks who fall in love with huge mansions and they end up slaves to the project. Sure, they can buy them for a song, but the work involved, even if not extensive, becomes overwhelming when the house is huge. Often the choice becomes either living in dust and construction debris for years, or going way over budget. Don't overreach. The house is supposed to make your life better, not wear you down to a fine paste.
One absolutely key factor to consider is overall quality of the home. We decided that we wanted a brick Victorian. This is because they are rather simple and tend to be pretty sound, and are so common here and that there are lots of folks who have experience working on them. The first thing you look for is soundness. You want good straight walls with NO bowing. Get your face up close and look along the wall for bows. If you can't easily see, get up on the roof with a plumb bob. Look for settling. Take note of any cracks and their nature. Some settling is fine, but if there's a lot, call in an expert to evaluate it. In fact, you should have a trusted evaluator go through your rehab candidates with you. Find someone who has some experience with these old homes. Many things (like a bit of water in the basement) freak out inspectors or folks who are new to old homes, but aren't a big worry.
Check the floor beams from the basement for insect damage. A little is probably OK. Over a century or so, bugs might have infested a place and then been dealt with. If the damage is minimal and not ongoing, it's probably fine. If there's extensive insect damage, you probably want to pass. Also, can an awl and poke the floor beams at the foundation. Look for signs of rot. Again, a little isn't horrible. A lot rot can be a big problem--especially if you're not doing a full gut. Repairs of a few joists is easy. Hidden water damage, however, can get very costly, if you're trying to retain as much of the original work as possible. There's a continuum of easy and hard to deal with issues that changes relative to how much restoration you intend, vs. how much removal of old material is planned. Water damage in a wall you intend to remove is irrelevant, after all.
Do check to see if a property you like is in a historic preservation district. If so, get in touch with the historic preservation officer and fine out what is allowed and what isn't. Get a good grasp of the general guidelines. If you know what you can and can't do and the general cost factors, you'll be able to determine more readily which properties are uneconomic and pass on them. Nothing is worse than buying the property and making plans, only to have them shot down by historic preservation and zoning.
Next: Rehabbing Manual Step 3: Estimating
Sunday, February 17, 2008
It's still raining.
And the wind has kicked up and oh, yes, tore off all of the felt paper the box gutter fellas put down. It's all over the yard now.
And I think they must have pulled off some of the flashing from around the chimney and the apex of the west roof line, because we're getting as much water inside as the Titanic.
I did take a picture of what I rigged up in the meantime to scuttle the water outside instead of pooling (or freezing) on the floors of both the first and second floor. It's rather rudimentary, but it's working like a charm so far.
If you ever have a REALLY leaky roof and need to divert some moisture out a nearby window, I suggest buying a large roll of plastic and grab your staple gun.
We were told that the Benchmark guys would be back when the roofing materials came in (should be another week, week-and-a-half or so) but I really hope we don't have to wait the entire time with no flashing on the roof.
The winds were howling and we noticed that every once in a while, we'd hear the existing metal roof being picked up and off the sheathing. Hubby wanted to get up on the roof and secure the roofing materials so that we didn't have an even bigger problem than we have now, but I wasn't about to agree to that. Gusts were recorded between 47-50 mph. Yeah, go on, Gidget. I dare ya.
Not on my watch.
The next problem to tackle is the rear door. Everyone seems to think that replacing an exterior door is no big deal. Yeah, that's if you already have a framed in door. -----We don't.
The rough opening for the door is 39" wide by 101.5" tall and 9" deep. The transom was covered over in 1x6 and painted white. The door is
hanging on by a few nails. There's a 6" gap between the 1" door frame on the left side of the door (where the hinges are) and the rough brick exterior wall. If we pull out the door and frame, I fear the lintel above the door will collapse.
I think we'll need to carefully pull the door apart, temporarily support the lintel with a 2x8 and 2- 2x4's on each side, and rebuild the hinge side of the door frame with some connected 2x8's tapconned to the exterior brick, and seal up the gaps with expanding foam sealant. Once the lintel in once again supported, then we can work on the door frame itself.
As you can see in the image here, the pink area is where the lintel is (behind the white painted wood covering). The lintel is supposed to deflect the downward pressure of the wall above the opening towards the side walls left and right of an opening. That's not happening here and explains why there's a small crack in the exterior brick just above the doorway.
You can also see the gaps above the door and on the side. What a pain in the @ss.
On to better news: our first shipment of lumber is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. We bought from Riemeier in Norwood, Ohio and delivery cost is only $35. The lumber is a little bit more versus Home Depot, and I just found out why.
First, the price comparison:
Lumber Size: Riemeier Prices vs. Home Depot $
2x4x10 :......... $2.99........................ $2.69
2x4x16 : ........ $5.69 ........................$4.67
2x8x8 :..........$5.87 ........................ $5.25
So Riemeier is about 5-10% higher in prices, but from what I've seen and what I've been told, unlike the other lumber yards where the toss in about 10% of grade 3 lumber in with their grade 2 lumber and use 5 year old growth, Riemeier uses much older growth lumber (25 years?) so the lumber doesn't twist as soon as you cover it with drywall like the stuff from Home Depot.
I've also been told that the grade 2 lumber is as good quality as grade 1 lumber from Riemeier. I've walked through the drive through (Yes, they have a drive through!) and from what I've seen, the lumber yard is packed with high quality, no warping, no knots, no split lumber.
Also, Home Depot's delivery charge was $65, so if you're getting lumber delivered, overall, it's about the same cost for a small shipment from Riemeier.
But don't take my word for it. Check it out yourself. I'll let you know how it goes from this side when the lumber shipment arrives tomorrow for the reinforcing of the ceiling joists (see bouncy floors previous post) and for furring out the walls with the tapcons.
G'night.
ADDENDUM from M:
We were still shipping a ton of water around the chimney. Actually, because flashing and the cricket were disturbed/destroyed by the roofers and box gutter guys in the process of doing their work and diagnosing the situation, we're bringing in much more water than we were before. I'm getting worried about deterioration of the brick at this point.
Sooooo, I gambled on a bit of spray foam. This isn't a solution, of course, but it is a stop gap measure. I sprayed AMPLE foam between the brick and some goofy framing at the roof line from inside. It took a lot of foam, but it seems that the fast majority of the water is no longer eroding my brick. That should hold if we get some more snow or rain between here and when the roof arrives.
I'm sweating bullets about that roof popping up with high winds, too. I'd rather not lose that, thank you very much. That's a water leak that I can't patch with spray foam. I'll be checking on it this morning.
M
And I think they must have pulled off some of the flashing from around the chimney and the apex of the west roof line, because we're getting as much water inside as the Titanic.
I did take a picture of what I rigged up in the meantime to scuttle the water outside instead of pooling (or freezing) on the floors of both the first and second floor. It's rather rudimentary, but it's working like a charm so far.
If you ever have a REALLY leaky roof and need to divert some moisture out a nearby window, I suggest buying a large roll of plastic and grab your staple gun.
We were told that the Benchmark guys would be back when the roofing materials came in (should be another week, week-and-a-half or so) but I really hope we don't have to wait the entire time with no flashing on the roof.
The winds were howling and we noticed that every once in a while, we'd hear the existing metal roof being picked up and off the sheathing. Hubby wanted to get up on the roof and secure the roofing materials so that we didn't have an even bigger problem than we have now, but I wasn't about to agree to that. Gusts were recorded between 47-50 mph. Yeah, go on, Gidget. I dare ya.
Not on my watch.
The next problem to tackle is the rear door. Everyone seems to think that replacing an exterior door is no big deal. Yeah, that's if you already have a framed in door. -----We don't.
The rough opening for the door is 39" wide by 101.5" tall and 9" deep. The transom was covered over in 1x6 and painted white. The door is
hanging on by a few nails. There's a 6" gap between the 1" door frame on the left side of the door (where the hinges are) and the rough brick exterior wall. If we pull out the door and frame, I fear the lintel above the door will collapse.
I think we'll need to carefully pull the door apart, temporarily support the lintel with a 2x8 and 2- 2x4's on each side, and rebuild the hinge side of the door frame with some connected 2x8's tapconned to the exterior brick, and seal up the gaps with expanding foam sealant. Once the lintel in once again supported, then we can work on the door frame itself.
As you can see in the image here, the pink area is where the lintel is (behind the white painted wood covering). The lintel is supposed to deflect the downward pressure of the wall above the opening towards the side walls left and right of an opening. That's not happening here and explains why there's a small crack in the exterior brick just above the doorway.
You can also see the gaps above the door and on the side. What a pain in the @ss.
On to better news: our first shipment of lumber is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. We bought from Riemeier in Norwood, Ohio and delivery cost is only $35. The lumber is a little bit more versus Home Depot, and I just found out why.
First, the price comparison:
Lumber Size: Riemeier Prices vs. Home Depot $
2x4x10 :......... $2.99........................ $2.69
2x4x16 : ........ $5.69 ........................$4.67
2x8x8 :..........$5.87 ........................ $5.25
So Riemeier is about 5-10% higher in prices, but from what I've seen and what I've been told, unlike the other lumber yards where the toss in about 10% of grade 3 lumber in with their grade 2 lumber and use 5 year old growth, Riemeier uses much older growth lumber (25 years?) so the lumber doesn't twist as soon as you cover it with drywall like the stuff from Home Depot.
I've also been told that the grade 2 lumber is as good quality as grade 1 lumber from Riemeier. I've walked through the drive through (Yes, they have a drive through!) and from what I've seen, the lumber yard is packed with high quality, no warping, no knots, no split lumber.
Also, Home Depot's delivery charge was $65, so if you're getting lumber delivered, overall, it's about the same cost for a small shipment from Riemeier.
But don't take my word for it. Check it out yourself. I'll let you know how it goes from this side when the lumber shipment arrives tomorrow for the reinforcing of the ceiling joists (see bouncy floors previous post) and for furring out the walls with the tapcons.
G'night.
ADDENDUM from M:
We were still shipping a ton of water around the chimney. Actually, because flashing and the cricket were disturbed/destroyed by the roofers and box gutter guys in the process of doing their work and diagnosing the situation, we're bringing in much more water than we were before. I'm getting worried about deterioration of the brick at this point.
Sooooo, I gambled on a bit of spray foam. This isn't a solution, of course, but it is a stop gap measure. I sprayed AMPLE foam between the brick and some goofy framing at the roof line from inside. It took a lot of foam, but it seems that the fast majority of the water is no longer eroding my brick. That should hold if we get some more snow or rain between here and when the roof arrives.
I'm sweating bullets about that roof popping up with high winds, too. I'd rather not lose that, thank you very much. That's a water leak that I can't patch with spray foam. I'll be checking on it this morning.
M
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
A look at the roof, boxgutter, and floor joists.
Well, the roof work has begun and last Saturday the fellas from Benchmark started working on the box gutters. Woot!
Much of the framing that the gutters sit on was just total rot, so the first thing was to firm up the supports.
The guys made quick work of replacing the bad wood and set up these new frames, seen from the inside of the third floor at the roofline.
I gotta say, they worked all day and into the night when they couldn't work any longer due to darkness taking over.
So far so good. There are actually 2 gutters that need repaired, one on the East side of the house, which is shown below (nice work on the molding, guys!) and the second is perpendicular to this one, and just above the left side of this box gutter where the two angled rooflines meet in the center of the house. That one's still a work in progress... (but what isn't?)
At this point I want to point out that the box gutter on the front of the house is still in decent shape, but we did have one little problem: The electric lines coming into the house from the street were intertwined with the downspout at the front of the house. Matt Maynard (of Benchmark Roofing) pointed out that this could possibly be a danger to him and his crew, justifiably so!
So off we went to put a call in to Duke Energy to resolve the problem. After a quick conversation we were assured that they would send someone out to inspect the lines. Well, I gotta give them credit, they were quick about it.
They came and took down the downspout while we were out.
I think we'll be calling Duke back.
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OK, now on to the floors:
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On the first floor, in the Northeast corner of the house (red arrow in above image), we have a pretty bad rot problem due to a defunct (aka rusted through) vent stack between the first and second floor.
In case I'm not being clear here: Hole in roof --> cast iron vent pipe--> hole in pipe dumping water into the wall and onto the second floor joist, down to the first floor joist, maybe for years now.
After pulling up the floor boards on the first floor where the rot started (trying to preserve as much as I could fo the good sections for use in the repairs we'll be doing in the front 2 rooms) I discovered this:
The top center of this image (Northeast corner of the house) is where the vent stack was dumping water into the house. You can see that the far left joist is gone and some previous repairs were attempted to shore up that corner, but they forgot to fix the problem (the stack pouring water into the house) so it's all still a mess.But here's the killer.... the floor joists themselves.
Let me start with the history of the house. The east side of this room (about 6'x15') was once an outdoor area with basement access from the outside. (see image below) You can see the framing for the door in the floor in the Northeast corner of the room. Since this was once an outdoor area, the floor joists are pretty stable where they once stood under the exterior wall, about 6 feet in from the current East wall.
To support the floor when the original owners decided to expand the back room and encompass the basement access, (expanding the room by 6'x15') they sistered some beams to the existing joists and supported them on the existing foundation.But then, someone decided to dig.
They dug out a lot of the dirt and half of the wall that was once supporting the exterior wall. They put in some lovely duct work that now is total cr@p.
So now we have this:
Yes, these joists (a solid 3"x10" beams) are only connected by three nails each and overlapping by only 4 inches with no support whatsoever underneath.The scary thing is, they're REALLY stable.
We'll be shoring these up with a 2x6 crosswise underneath where the joists are joined together and support them with a metal post underneath.
The we'll be placing 2 layers of .5" OSB on top for the flooring.... as soon as we have a roof that doesn't dump water back into the house. :-)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Bouncy floors
OK, so the third floor is as solid as a rock. The FIRST floor is also solid and sturdy. So what the hell happened to the second floor? Did the builders just get lazy?
This is an image of the joists under the third floor, the stable one. The floor I'm standing on to take the picture bounces as I walk across it, enough to make a Yankee seasick.
And of course, I have the 'heights' thing, so I'm constantly thinking I'm going to fall through and kill myself, at which point I know my husband will immediately make plans for building a large, (nay, massive) brick and stone outside grill monstrosity at the rear of the house, and I just can't have that, now can I?
So we need to stabilize the second floor. All of the original criss-cross joist braces in the picture above, are oddly missing on the underside of the second floor. I think we'll just add in 2x8" blocking, staggered by 8-10", and then, since we're not planning on having wood floors on the second floor, we'll just overlay the whole floor with 3/4" plywood or OSB and screw it to the subfloor.
Update: We just bought a 90 degree drill attachment for the cordless drill to fit in between the roof joists, a 3/8" drill bit and a lot of 3/8" bolts to attach 2x8's to the sides of the joists for reinforcing (called "sistering"). The drill bit seems to work well in cutting through the joists, a lot easier than I was expecting, actually. I've heard stories about the old joists being close to petrified wood and going through a lot of drill bits.
The only thing I wish was that we had taller ladders. Those joists are way up there and a tricky balancing act on two ladders holding up a 2x8. Something you may want to consider.
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