I'm staying at a friend's place, while working nearby. Anyway, last night, he asked me to find and correct the cause of a springy bit of his living room floor. So this afternoon, I crawled under the house. The springy floor is an easy fix (bowed joist, probably been like that from when the house was built) a 4x2 sistered on the side and the subfloor fixed to it will do the job.
However, the concrete driveway has been a known issue for years with regards to sloping the wrong way (towards the house!) There is a stainless steel flashing along the wall, which I had assumed kept the concrete separated from the wall, but when I was under the house I noticed water stains and rotten wood where the driveway meets the house. Closer inspection outside reveals that the stainless flashing is only mortared into a shallow saw cut in the concrete, and beneath it, the concrete is hard up against the hardboard siding.
Lucky for us, the joists are pressure treated (CCA) so they aren't rotten, though the blocking between them, the end of the sill plate, and the edge of the subfloor, is, as is the siding in the area. I suspect the bottom plate of the wall likely needs replacing also.
My query is, what is a workable way to keep the surface water away from the house wall, ripping up and lowering the driveway is not an option (code is 150mm below the siding which means it, and the floors of his and the neighbours' attached garages would need to be 450mm lower)
However, the concrete driveway has been a known issue for years with regards to sloping the wrong way (towards the house!) There is a stainless steel flashing along the wall, which I had assumed kept the concrete separated from the wall, but when I was under the house I noticed water stains and rotten wood where the driveway meets the house. Closer inspection outside reveals that the stainless flashing is only mortared into a shallow saw cut in the concrete, and beneath it, the concrete is hard up against the hardboard siding.
Lucky for us, the joists are pressure treated (CCA) so they aren't rotten, though the blocking between them, the end of the sill plate, and the edge of the subfloor, is, as is the siding in the area. I suspect the bottom plate of the wall likely needs replacing also.
My query is, what is a workable way to keep the surface water away from the house wall, ripping up and lowering the driveway is not an option (code is 150mm below the siding which means it, and the floors of his and the neighbours' attached garages would need to be 450mm lower)