Wsarabians
New Member
Excuse the dramatic title, although I'm not sure how far off being dramatic it is. And I'm sorry that it'll be a long post, but I'll try to keep it as short as possible.
So, this house has gotten some severe water damage due to flooding (the idiots who built the place never put in a foot valve in the drain floor in the basement so you can imagine how that went..) over the course of several years and (being as I was only a teenager and didn't know and/or really care about this sort of thing as well as having a subfloor built in the basement, it was hard to see the damage until it got BAD. And my bad, I mean floor joists started breaking. Drywall around door frames upstairs started cracking. There was some serious mold in the walls.
So over the summer I've cut out half the drywall, hauled out the insulation, all the subfloor.... Pretty much gutted the basement. However, the footer on the main support wall (the only support wall) has literally just rotted away. So it dropped 2" the most to 3/4" at the least. This this was twisting on the floor joists and causing them to break. It also started pulling the support walls (if you can call them that) in the attic inwards towards the center, which started to pull the rafters apart where the join in the middle of the roof over the center wall and at the outside foundation walls. The foundation walls in the basement has walls studs being pulled out from both the footer and header boards, as well as being twisted sideways.
Now, call me crazy, but I think this is some serious issues, that needs to be address like...Yesterday. But I am literally fixing this alone. Now I am not a wimp, but I am only 5'2", pinned together with rods and bolts after being ran over by a semi, have COPD, and already have destroyed the tendons in both my elbows from strain and while I may have lots of Jesus like qualities, carpentry work isn't one. So I am struggling.
The other people I live with (ie/ my family) does not take it seriously and so far has offered absolytely no support or help in trying to save this place. I am literally at my wits end, and I just can't do it. So I have three big questions (to start!) to ask of everyone:
1 - Am I over reacting? Or is this structual damage that needs to be taken seriously? What I am hoping is, if people come down on my side saying that "Yes, your family is being a bunch of jerks" that I can show them this and then maybe I'll be taken seriously and get some freaking help around here to fix this place.
2 - As per the foundation wall, my plan was to cut out the bottom of the wall studs, put in a pressure treated 6x6x6 (that's how high the studs would have to be cut off to get to where they are good. Now my friend, who helps sometimes (and "helps" others) wants to build this thing he calls a box which consists of a 2x6 laid down, with three 2x4's placed on edge, with another 2x6 on top.
Now, I am not a carpenter, but this is probably, as far as I'm concerned, one of the stupidest bloody ideas I have ever heard of in my life. One, the 2x4's have space between them (to me that means... room to MOVE) and secondly, it's a 2x6 wall so WHY would you want to balance a 2x6 wall on top of upright 2x4's?!
Am I missing something? Or is my friend just being a retard? (See pic 2)
3 - I got to thinking afterwards, if I put ran 1/4" plywood say 8" up the support wall, could I just fill in the spaced between the wall studs with concrete, rather than cutting it out? Or would you guys not suggest this?
So, this house has gotten some severe water damage due to flooding (the idiots who built the place never put in a foot valve in the drain floor in the basement so you can imagine how that went..) over the course of several years and (being as I was only a teenager and didn't know and/or really care about this sort of thing as well as having a subfloor built in the basement, it was hard to see the damage until it got BAD. And my bad, I mean floor joists started breaking. Drywall around door frames upstairs started cracking. There was some serious mold in the walls.
So over the summer I've cut out half the drywall, hauled out the insulation, all the subfloor.... Pretty much gutted the basement. However, the footer on the main support wall (the only support wall) has literally just rotted away. So it dropped 2" the most to 3/4" at the least. This this was twisting on the floor joists and causing them to break. It also started pulling the support walls (if you can call them that) in the attic inwards towards the center, which started to pull the rafters apart where the join in the middle of the roof over the center wall and at the outside foundation walls. The foundation walls in the basement has walls studs being pulled out from both the footer and header boards, as well as being twisted sideways.
Now, call me crazy, but I think this is some serious issues, that needs to be address like...Yesterday. But I am literally fixing this alone. Now I am not a wimp, but I am only 5'2", pinned together with rods and bolts after being ran over by a semi, have COPD, and already have destroyed the tendons in both my elbows from strain and while I may have lots of Jesus like qualities, carpentry work isn't one. So I am struggling.
The other people I live with (ie/ my family) does not take it seriously and so far has offered absolytely no support or help in trying to save this place. I am literally at my wits end, and I just can't do it. So I have three big questions (to start!) to ask of everyone:
1 - Am I over reacting? Or is this structual damage that needs to be taken seriously? What I am hoping is, if people come down on my side saying that "Yes, your family is being a bunch of jerks" that I can show them this and then maybe I'll be taken seriously and get some freaking help around here to fix this place.
2 - As per the foundation wall, my plan was to cut out the bottom of the wall studs, put in a pressure treated 6x6x6 (that's how high the studs would have to be cut off to get to where they are good. Now my friend, who helps sometimes (and "helps" others) wants to build this thing he calls a box which consists of a 2x6 laid down, with three 2x4's placed on edge, with another 2x6 on top.
Now, I am not a carpenter, but this is probably, as far as I'm concerned, one of the stupidest bloody ideas I have ever heard of in my life. One, the 2x4's have space between them (to me that means... room to MOVE) and secondly, it's a 2x6 wall so WHY would you want to balance a 2x6 wall on top of upright 2x4's?!
Am I missing something? Or is my friend just being a retard? (See pic 2)
3 - I got to thinking afterwards, if I put ran 1/4" plywood say 8" up the support wall, could I just fill in the spaced between the wall studs with concrete, rather than cutting it out? Or would you guys not suggest this?
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