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WizardBill

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Sep 29, 2023
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Charleston, IL, USA
The attached picture shows the corner of the garage where the worst damage occurred. That corner is black with burnt wood. Now, I want to remove the garage door and make that a wall, as we are turning the garage into a bedroom. That corner supports the corner of the garage and roof. How do I replace the burnt wood without the house falling in?
 

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I'd recommend building temporary walls out of 2' x 4's, which are just temporary walls in order to take the weight off of the wall you are repairing. Personally, if you received any insurance money, let them do this type of construction as it can be dangerous without the right knowledge or tools. Save your money with trim, painting, insulation and if necessary, drywall, as these jobs are not as dangerous as building load bearing temporary walls.
 
If you are contemplating this as a DIY, please post a more panoramic photo so that both roof & supporting walls are depicted.
 
I will take more pictures today or tomorrow and post them when I can. I would like the insurance to take care of this part, but insurance is not very cooperative. Also, for some reason, in my area I cannot find a contractor who wants to do this part (definitely not just this part, as they want to do all the work and won't do just this part).
 
This is the SW corner just above the garage door. You can see outside where it burned through the wall and siding.
 

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Look for one of the Handyman companies and then verify their ability to reframe that corner.
They are out there it just takes some searching to find the right one.
 
Why not report this to your insurance company . They are far most skilled at this than you, you have to pay your deductible, that is all
 
Maybe the insurance payout is beyond dispute at this point but, if not, find a contractor that will give you a quote to repair this to the way it was before. If this is "substantially" more (i.e., how much is your time/the trouble worth) than the amount the insurance company is offering, you should go back to them and ask that they pay you the amount in the quote or find someone that says that they can do it for the amount they are offering. As long as the damage is covered, they have to pay you what it takes to get the entirety of the damage repaired, minus the deductible. (The catch is that sometimes they have limits buried in the terms and conditions... :/ ) You have the right to sue (or at least arbitration) if they don't resolve the issue. Be sure to record dates and names of people that you talk with.

(If I may ask out of curiosity, which insurance company is giving you grief? Feel free to PM me if you prefer.)

Now, you said that you wanted to make a change but you can work those with a contractor afterward and pay the difference.

Although this work may be doable by a DIY, I would want a carpenter contractor to do all of the structural work and would insist on permits and an inspection. The contractor might even insist on having an engineer sign-off. If so, I would do it. It is always best to have those things done by book so that problems should not arise, and your insurance company doesn't have an excuse to refuse paying. As @havasu was saying, you can always do the insulation, drywall, painting, etc. afterward. I've found that many contractors simply don't want to bother with some of those tasks that are not their specialization.
 
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