Hello, cruising the search engines led me to several well considered responses on this forum so I joined up!
We bought our house in 2006, and the inspector said that the cracking in the drywall and various other things were just the house settling. He missed some serious issues in a sunroom addition (doors wouldn’t open, framed on 2x6s, only 2 support posts, … ), but I’m afraid he may have also missed some serious issues with the house.
We have some remodeling in mind, and I checked out Taunton’s Framing Floors, Walls & Ceilings from the library in order to make sure that my initial sketches at least pass the sniff test. After reading through, I think I need smelling salts.
I am now concerned that the entire design and build of the house is not in keeping with the laws of physics. The front wall of the house is cantilevered 2’ above the basement, however the build doesn’t appear to take this into account. I am now glad that we have delayed the vast majority of our projects inside the house, as I am questioning its safety. I will hire a structural engineer as soon as I can arrange, but I would appreciate some insight into the issues that you see with the way my house is built. I know that building it today would not be up to code, but was it even up to code when it was built? Can I find the building code in force during the time of construction? Does it even matter?
Bear with me as I describe the house - I switched away from an architecture major because I realized designing without real world experience is a big problem. I’m trying to build that experience designing and building outbuildings and working through the details of potential remodel contracts before working with pros.
I have a house built in the mid 1980's in New Hampshire. It is a bastardized split-level colonial facing roughly south with a garage in the western side of the basement and a hill built up for the leachfield and septic on the eastern side which raises the ground level about 6' from the driveway. Its foundation is a walk-out basement with 2' to 6' walls (measured from poured basement floor) with walls framed with 2x6s over the 2' sections and what appears to be sandwiched 2x12's over the 6' sections. The basement dimensions are 24'x36'. The first and second floors, which are cantilevered 2' in the front of the house to give 26'x36' floor dimensions, appear to be supported by the same first floor joists that measure 7" tall and are 16" on center. Beyond the cantilever issue, the dimensions give me concern that they were cut down from standard stock for some reason. The cantilevered support area is covered by drywall or exterior finish, however in the areas that are exposed there does not appear to be any doubling up of the joists, and over the 2 linear feet of 6' tall cement walls in the front of the house, I see the same 2x12 I see in the other places the foundation wall is 6’ tall. There is a center beam roughly in the center of the house that measures 9.5"x4.5" though it has been so long since I've seen it exposed that I'm not sure if it is 3 2x10s built up or an actual beam. (I would guess whatever was cheaper in 1986/7.) The wall dividing the garage from the basement is approximately 13.5' from the east exterior wall. The garage door begins roughly 3' from the east wall, and is 8' wide. The beam above this opening is concealed.
The first floor has a wall running above the center beam, though it is not continuous. There is an 8' break in the center for the landing for the stairway, as the middle southern section of the house is the stairway with landings at the front wall. The wall between the kitchen and dining room has a 3' opening to pass through. On the second floor, this wall is the divider between 2 bedrooms. The wall on the other side of the house has a roughly 7.5' opening with 2.25' of wall adjacent to the exterior wall and 4.5' running to the center landing. The center span is sagging. There is no wall in the same section on the second floor.
The bathrooms are in the middle northern section. There are walls that run from the foundation to the attic above the garage/basement dividing wall, broken by a walkway just north of the center beam wall to access the kitchen and dining room on the first floor and 2 bedrooms on the second floor. On the other (west) side of the stairway/bathroom section there is a wall that runs from the foundation to the attic on the stairway (south) side but is only on the first and second floors on the bathroom (north) side.
The ridgeboard is a single 2x10 that is not continuous. I did not walk to the other side of the attic, but 12’ in from the western end of the house two 2x10’s are butted together with only toenailed rafters holding them together. The ridgeline is roughly 4’ south of the center beam wall of the home. The peak is 92’ from the decking placed on the 2x6 joists. The southern rafters are 2x6s, the northern rafters are 2x8s. There are 2x4 collar ties on every other rafter 52" from the deck, and the rafters are 16” oc. The rafters are toenailed to the ridgeboard, several have OSB sandwiched in to make up for too-short rafters, and I counted 12 nails poorly driven in to toenail one of the rafters. There is no meaningful overhang to the roof, and there is no vertical bracing other than where it intersects with the exterior wall. I can’t easily see that detail, but I could investigate it if it was worth scooting over and pulling some pink insulation to the side. Bridging the beam area of the center landing on the second floor, there are 3 2x8s sandwiched together.
The gable walls are “framed” with 2x6s that are cut on an angle to meet with the end rafters. There is no top plate. They are not notched. They simply end at the rafter. I could investigate the nailing method if it is relevant.
Our chicken house is built better than the house. Is this potentially salvageable? Does it likely need major retrofitting? Is it fine to limp along as is but shouldn’t see any major improvements because it would be gilding a cowpie?
The work we have done on the house is: replacing all windows with better windows, switching from an oil boiler and hot water baseboard radiators to ducted propane heating and cooling and on-demand hot water, moving the laundry from the first floor bathroom to the basement and changing the wall that previously enclosed the boiler and tank to a rectangle vs. the jagged wall that was previously there. It was not in the original design, or else they would have designed the basement to not have a window with an angled wall directly behind it that only gave the illusion of a window. (Or maybe they would, given their skill.) What little we have done ourselves has been deemed far better than the original house per knowledgeable folk.
We bought our house in 2006, and the inspector said that the cracking in the drywall and various other things were just the house settling. He missed some serious issues in a sunroom addition (doors wouldn’t open, framed on 2x6s, only 2 support posts, … ), but I’m afraid he may have also missed some serious issues with the house.
We have some remodeling in mind, and I checked out Taunton’s Framing Floors, Walls & Ceilings from the library in order to make sure that my initial sketches at least pass the sniff test. After reading through, I think I need smelling salts.
I am now concerned that the entire design and build of the house is not in keeping with the laws of physics. The front wall of the house is cantilevered 2’ above the basement, however the build doesn’t appear to take this into account. I am now glad that we have delayed the vast majority of our projects inside the house, as I am questioning its safety. I will hire a structural engineer as soon as I can arrange, but I would appreciate some insight into the issues that you see with the way my house is built. I know that building it today would not be up to code, but was it even up to code when it was built? Can I find the building code in force during the time of construction? Does it even matter?
Bear with me as I describe the house - I switched away from an architecture major because I realized designing without real world experience is a big problem. I’m trying to build that experience designing and building outbuildings and working through the details of potential remodel contracts before working with pros.
I have a house built in the mid 1980's in New Hampshire. It is a bastardized split-level colonial facing roughly south with a garage in the western side of the basement and a hill built up for the leachfield and septic on the eastern side which raises the ground level about 6' from the driveway. Its foundation is a walk-out basement with 2' to 6' walls (measured from poured basement floor) with walls framed with 2x6s over the 2' sections and what appears to be sandwiched 2x12's over the 6' sections. The basement dimensions are 24'x36'. The first and second floors, which are cantilevered 2' in the front of the house to give 26'x36' floor dimensions, appear to be supported by the same first floor joists that measure 7" tall and are 16" on center. Beyond the cantilever issue, the dimensions give me concern that they were cut down from standard stock for some reason. The cantilevered support area is covered by drywall or exterior finish, however in the areas that are exposed there does not appear to be any doubling up of the joists, and over the 2 linear feet of 6' tall cement walls in the front of the house, I see the same 2x12 I see in the other places the foundation wall is 6’ tall. There is a center beam roughly in the center of the house that measures 9.5"x4.5" though it has been so long since I've seen it exposed that I'm not sure if it is 3 2x10s built up or an actual beam. (I would guess whatever was cheaper in 1986/7.) The wall dividing the garage from the basement is approximately 13.5' from the east exterior wall. The garage door begins roughly 3' from the east wall, and is 8' wide. The beam above this opening is concealed.
The first floor has a wall running above the center beam, though it is not continuous. There is an 8' break in the center for the landing for the stairway, as the middle southern section of the house is the stairway with landings at the front wall. The wall between the kitchen and dining room has a 3' opening to pass through. On the second floor, this wall is the divider between 2 bedrooms. The wall on the other side of the house has a roughly 7.5' opening with 2.25' of wall adjacent to the exterior wall and 4.5' running to the center landing. The center span is sagging. There is no wall in the same section on the second floor.
The bathrooms are in the middle northern section. There are walls that run from the foundation to the attic above the garage/basement dividing wall, broken by a walkway just north of the center beam wall to access the kitchen and dining room on the first floor and 2 bedrooms on the second floor. On the other (west) side of the stairway/bathroom section there is a wall that runs from the foundation to the attic on the stairway (south) side but is only on the first and second floors on the bathroom (north) side.
The ridgeboard is a single 2x10 that is not continuous. I did not walk to the other side of the attic, but 12’ in from the western end of the house two 2x10’s are butted together with only toenailed rafters holding them together. The ridgeline is roughly 4’ south of the center beam wall of the home. The peak is 92’ from the decking placed on the 2x6 joists. The southern rafters are 2x6s, the northern rafters are 2x8s. There are 2x4 collar ties on every other rafter 52" from the deck, and the rafters are 16” oc. The rafters are toenailed to the ridgeboard, several have OSB sandwiched in to make up for too-short rafters, and I counted 12 nails poorly driven in to toenail one of the rafters. There is no meaningful overhang to the roof, and there is no vertical bracing other than where it intersects with the exterior wall. I can’t easily see that detail, but I could investigate it if it was worth scooting over and pulling some pink insulation to the side. Bridging the beam area of the center landing on the second floor, there are 3 2x8s sandwiched together.
The gable walls are “framed” with 2x6s that are cut on an angle to meet with the end rafters. There is no top plate. They are not notched. They simply end at the rafter. I could investigate the nailing method if it is relevant.
Our chicken house is built better than the house. Is this potentially salvageable? Does it likely need major retrofitting? Is it fine to limp along as is but shouldn’t see any major improvements because it would be gilding a cowpie?
The work we have done on the house is: replacing all windows with better windows, switching from an oil boiler and hot water baseboard radiators to ducted propane heating and cooling and on-demand hot water, moving the laundry from the first floor bathroom to the basement and changing the wall that previously enclosed the boiler and tank to a rectangle vs. the jagged wall that was previously there. It was not in the original design, or else they would have designed the basement to not have a window with an angled wall directly behind it that only gave the illusion of a window. (Or maybe they would, given their skill.) What little we have done ourselves has been deemed far better than the original house per knowledgeable folk.
