[Mogli]

Hi All,

I built a two-story addition to my house. The addition is attached but mostly independent of the existing house structurally speaking. With one exception...

On the existing first floor, there is a reach-in closet that I made into a walk-in closet by extending it into part of the addition. I had a shell contractor build the foundation and framing, and they are now long gone.

Today I discovered a problem wherein the double jack studs under the header that creates a bigger closet are not bearing on a decent foundation. The first pic shows the headers and jack studs. on the left side the jack studs are resting on the new foundation+sill plate. on the right side, however, the jack studs are resting only only an 85 year-old 2x4. I want them to bear on the existing footer. And I need to remove the 2x4 that is traversing the closet floor.

I figure I can either stack a bunch of PT wood on top of the footer to mate up with the new jack studs, or use a screw jack . Just looking for what is better or other ideas.

I guess my short question is whether a bunch of stacked lumber is sufficient to hold up a very structurally significant jack stud/header?

the first pic shows the header & jack stud situation. the second pic shows that the new jack studs are almost exactly 12 inches higher than the existing footer/stemwall.

Thanks.

 

[carpdad]

Lumber shims are ok but use dry lumber and the endgrains up. Average 2x lumbers shrinks less in that direction. Moisture separation between untreated lumber and concrete.

 

[Nealtw]

I agree just add a couple squash blocks straight done onto the slab below.

 

[Mogli]

Thanks for responding. My GF is an engineer and agrees that lumber is fine (though a jack would be better). I will orient them vertically to mitigate shrinkage.