Frankly, I'm leaning towards just tearing it down, but would love any suggestions out there.
I am glad I found this forum, because this is something I am about to have done to a 1930 Sears Home I bought. I think I going to raise the basement ceiling height it another 3ft, but that's not the main reason I want to have this done. The main reason is because whoever decided to install a new furnance and drainage system cut right through the main support beam in 3 locations. , some people shouldn't be allowed to own houses, especially the ones Sears use to build.Systems are getting back to normal now. Patio system should be in by end of the week. We rebuilt the kitchen entry. It was originally a porch, which then got windows added and eventually became interior. When we started tearing into it we found the walls were just clapboard inside and out. No sheathing or insulation. So we reuilt it up to the drip edge.
Also have found that the whole house does not have any wind barrier like tar paper. Suspect we'll be pulling off all the siding and filling any uninsulated wall cavities with blow in insulation, then adding a wind barrier and residing, probably with cedar shingles.
I'm going back to work on Monday. This stage has taken 4 weeks of 12 hr+ days/7days a week. Probably doesn't belong in the DIY forum. This is a huge project. We're getting real tired of living in a construction site. Can't wait to get back to normal living.
I was going to see if I could flitch another beam together, I am not sure I can do it that way because the location of the stairs. A Structural Engineer, I know suggested using a steel plate under the location of the cuts, but that would still require the use of floor jacks. I want to get rid of the use of floor jacks completely. I really hope there is another way, I will see the Structural Engineer tomorrow. I really didn't mention any other option with him, but I think he didn't realize my desire to get rid of the floor jacks, the last time we talked about this. He even surveyed the damage, what he suggested was a quick fix. I don't want a quick fix, I want it to look like those hacks were never here. I am also planning to add a 2 car garage and addition living space to the property, it may even be attached. Depending on how the architectural drawings turn-out. The addition won't have a basement, however. It will be slab on grade, for the garage area. Believe me, if there was an easy way to fix this without permanent use of floor jacks, let me know? I would rather not have to go to this extreme, but I am 6'-4" and the basement current joist height is like 6'-0". I plan to stay here at least 10 years or more. Another question, when you had this done, did you have to completely empty your house of all it's contents: furniture, appliances and etc.?Yes, don't you love contractors that come in with no structural regard for the house. What a bummer. I'm a little confused about the final goal todomi. Can't that main beam be replaced without completely raising the house? If the primary goal is to add significant height to the basement, this is the right process. But if it's just to replace the main beam(s) I would think you wouldn't have to go to such extremes.
BTW, progress update. I finally got tired of contractors saying they would show up and then not showing up. We needed to get the house siding restored. So my son and I tackled the project. It took about 9 days of steady work to add, patch and replace the beveled siding. Looks great now and we're ready to paint in two weeks. Although I've never done siding before, the results look great. I would wager my mitered joins on the long runs look better than most.
The last exterior detail is the porch stairs. They were large (8 ft wide) before we raised the house. Now about 32" higher they would be massive. So we are going to put in a wide 6 step stair that will come down to a 6 x 8 landing. Then the landing will have two 3 ft wide steps on both sides that bring one down to the ground-level gravel path around the house. The stairs will be craftsman style with side walls clad in beveled siding. That will be the final touch.
And as to the energy retrofits, they've paid off nicely. The heat pump worked well. We had an unusually cold spell in January but I used the woodstove as our supplementary heat instead of the electric resistance coils. This winter our average heating bills were under $60/month. And the floors were so much more comfortable with the newly insulated crawlspace below.
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