Home improvement nightmare
Pandora's box
The story of our guest bed & bath rooms remodel
We need to cut back the second story floor joist and insert a new larger beam that will be hidden in the ceiling. The new beam has to be supported by 2 new posts which go to the floor and transfer the load to the foundation The photo on the left is of the beam we made for the kitchen that will support the second floor. The beam is made of three 2x6 boards bolted together and has joist hangers (the metal brackets) which support the second floor joists.
The photo on the right is of the post which is UNDER the beam and transfers the load down.
February 6, 2016
Now the first floor properly supports the second. The first floor is not supported to the basement under the kitchen, dining room and guest bedroom. Basements are rare in southern California as most houses are built on concrete slabs because there is no frost line here and it is cheaper to build. The basement, we have been told, was put in after the house was built. The dining room, kitchen and guest bedroom were jacked up and a basement dug underneath, then placed on steel I-beams and lowered to the concrete block walls. Unfortunately, the ceiling is only 7 feet high and the walls leak water when we have lots of rain. This only happened the first 2-3 years we lived here. While they were not smart enough to put a moisture barrier on the outside of the block wall, at least they did thankfully put a submersible pump in the floor that is sloped so all the water goes to it and is pumped outside.
Remember the house of cards analogy? A building is only as strong as its foundation.
Anyhow, weight bearing points of the first floor did not sit above the I-beams in the basement. Neal spent a week putting additional beams and joists in the basement to properly support the first floor. Since the load for the second floor and the roof were not properly supported on the first floor and down to the basement foundation walls, the first floor has more waves than the ocean. We hope to flatten the floor where possible by shimming it from below. It is impossible to lay tile or wood flooring on a sub-floor that is not flat.
This is a photo of the basement showing the I-beams that support the house. The new lumber is additional supports we put in to strengthen the floor and properly transfer the load to the I-beams and the foundation.
