Or lack thereof. The last couple of weeks have seen a decent amount of work continue inside the old part of the house to keep it from falling down. Putting headers over windows and doors where they
did not exist before was an obvious course of action once the plaster came off the walls. However, additional review by the structural engineer and the city building inspector has led to the need for more fundamental work to be done.
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| Not Supporting Much |
For example, the wall separating the main parlor from the entry hall and library was almost comically underbuilt. The top plate of the wall was a 1x4 laid flat, and the structure above the arch to the library both lacked a header and wasn't resting on the trim itself. In short, the entire archway supported nothing at all on the upper floors. As a result, the 2nd floor had roughly a 3-4" sag in the middle from the outside walls to the center. In addition, some of the studs had been notched or removed to make way for forced air ducts that were added much later.
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| Done Correctly |
We were left with little option but to replace the entire wall with one built from modern materials and approaches. We aren't huge fans of replacing old structure, but the good news in this case is that we were able to save all of the studs and cross pieces of old timber to be used for future furniture and decorative projects in the interior. Had we just covered the old studs with finished walls, we would not have been able to "see" the old wood anymore. Now we have accumulated enough old timbers, dimensional boards and original cedar shingles to satisfy the woodworking bug for quite some time!
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| Now Supporting Upper Floors |
While the new parlor wall, now load-bearing, was being built, a number of level lines were strung to check before and after elevations of the floor. Once the structure was in place, the 3" sag in the 2nd floor was removed. We didn't believe we would be able to accomplish that because of the risk of cracking the settled structure, but the poor condition of the flooring above that area anyway allowed it to flex rather easily back into a (mostly) level condition now.
A further indignity was the way in which the old (not-so-load-bearing) wall was supported in the basement structure. The wall itself ran parallel to the joists underneath, and also fell in between two joists. In short, the wall was only supported below by the soft yellow pine flooring nailed across the joists! This of course could not remain as is, and a modern engineered wood beam was put directly below the bearing wall supported by the foundation at one end an an engineered post at the other end. Shown above left is the beam running beneath the new parlor bearing wall, the engineered post and a temporary support to be replaced later.
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| New Beam Across Media Room |
Another problem that has been resolved is the steel I-beam supporting the second floor over what is going to be the media room. A post doesn't work so well in the middle of a media room, so the original steel post was removed, with the assumption that additional steel could be welded to either side of the existing beam to reinforce what was in place. The structural engineer vetoed that, of course. Instead, the steel beam had to be replaced by a quad-sistered engineered beam. Given its 14" width the existing joists had to be cut and hung from the new beams so it didn't block half the room.
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| Old Meets New |
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| New Meets Old |
Finally, on the second floor as the first addition to the old house meets the addition on the new, a structural splicing of old and new walls has taken place. The pictures here show how the existing structure was retained yet reinforced with new structure, providing sufficient heft to support the new roof. At left is the exterior wall in the upstairs hallway. At right is a view of the laundry room entrance and a look down the hallway into the boarded-up darkness of the original house.
Some framing and structural work remains, including replacing the temporary posts with permanent ones, rebuilding the sill plate around the side porch, and other relatively minor items. The brickwork is 90% complete, just at the right time for someone to buy out a huge stock of the supply such that the last 10% is back-ordered. The holes for the piers to support the new porches have been dug. The electrical rough-in starts this week. Over the next 3 weeks the systems work will be completed, wall insulation will be installed throughout, and drywall installation will get going. Progress.
