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Basement support beams question jonpoi 08-03-2006
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Posted by jonpoi on August 3, 2006, 12:33 pm
I live in a 35 year old split level home.
Currently in the process of having the kitchen totally redone and an
old addition torndown, rebuilt & expanded. Basement is under the
kitchen; attic is over the kitchen. Old addition butts up to the
kitchen. Old addition has it's own cinder block foundation wall.

When the kitchen floor was stripped down the to subfloor, you could see
a slight dip in the floor over the last 4 feet as you proceeded to what
was the dividing wall to the old addition. If you looked at the wood
beam in the floor at the end of the kitchen (where the old addition
started), you could the the kitchen floor sag down towards the middle
part. I didn't measure the sag but it was on the order of
three-fourths of an inch.

In my basement the foundation wall doesn't extend to the back wall of
the house, but ends 4 feet earlier. The basement beams extend past the
wall. If you looked under the old addition you'd see a plywood
enclosure. I imagine if you removed a piece of that you could look
into my basement.

The new addition was already done at this point. My contractor said it
was the weight of the house must be pushing the end of the beams down.
He said today they'd either have to be double beams or spaced closer
together. They are spaced 16 or 18" apart believe.

So I was wondering what to do (or if anything should be done). The new
addition was already built by this point. The old kitchen was there
when we bought it 15 years ago. We never saw a problem with the old
countertop (i.e water never ran to the back of it) It seemed to have
stayed level over the years.

So I don't know if I need to reinforce the support beams. But if I
wanted to what would be options? I do have a crawl space under the new
addition. I wouldn't be looking to jack anything up; just support it
from sagging further. thanks.


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Posted by Goedjn on August 3, 2006, 1:20 pm
Much editting for volume

>part. I didn't measure the sag but it was on the order of
>three-fourths of an inch.
>
>In my basement the foundation wall doesn't extend to the back wall of
>the house, but ends 4 feet earlier. The basement beams extend past the
>wall. If you looked under the old addition you'd see a plywood

>The new addition was already done at this point. My contractor said it
>was the weight of the house must be pushing the end of the beams down.
>He said today they'd either have to be double beams or spaced closer
>together. They are spaced 16 or 18" apart believe.
>
>So I was wondering what to do (or if anything should be done). The new
>addition was already built by this point. The old kitchen was there
>when we bought it 15 years ago. We never saw a problem with the old
>countertop (i.e water never ran to the back of it) It seemed to have
>stayed level over the years.
>
>So I don't know if I need to reinforce the support beams. But if I
>wanted to what would be options? I do have a crawl space under the new
>addition. I wouldn't be looking to jack anything up; just support it
>from sagging further. thanks.


4' is a really long cantilever.
The simplest thing to do, depending on what's under the
actual edge of the house, would be to dig a trench under
than edge, put in a footing, and 4 posts up to
a crossbeam under the sagging section.

But the thing is, since the area is enclosed, why did
they cantilver it like that in the first place? There
may be something there that makes trying to put in
a footer unwise.


Posted by jonpoi on August 3, 2006, 1:59 pm
The previous addition was done later after the house was originally
built.
Digging a trench would be tough because of the crawlspace.

I was wondering if maybe the plywood face could be removed then slide
new support beams in for extra support?


Goedjn wrote:

>
> 4' is a really long cantilever.
> The simplest thing to do, depending on what's under the
> actual edge of the house, would be to dig a trench under
> than edge, put in a footing, and 4 posts up to
> a crossbeam under the sagging section.
>
> But the thing is, since the area is enclosed, why did
> they cantilver it like that in the first place? There
> may be something there that makes trying to put in
> a footer unwise.


Posted by Goedjn on August 3, 2006, 3:27 pm

>The previous addition was done later after the house was originally
>built.
>Digging a trench would be tough because of the crawlspace.

Start from beyond the corner, and dig from inside the trench.
It will be awkward anyway, but so what? Work is good for you.


>
>I was wondering if maybe the plywood face could be removed then slide
>new support beams in for extra support?
>
>
>Goedjn wrote:
>
>>
>> 4' is a really long cantilever.
>> The simplest thing to do, depending on what's under the
>> actual edge of the house, would be to dig a trench under
>> than edge, put in a footing, and 4 posts up to
>> a crossbeam under the sagging section.
>>
>> But the thing is, since the area is enclosed, why did
>> they cantilver it like that in the first place? There
>> may be something there that makes trying to put in
>> a footer unwise.


Posted by Banty on August 3, 2006, 2:09 pm
>
>Much editting for volume
>
>>part. I didn't measure the sag but it was on the order of
>>three-fourths of an inch.
>>
>>In my basement the foundation wall doesn't extend to the back wall of
>>the house, but ends 4 feet earlier. The basement beams extend past the
>>wall. If you looked under the old addition you'd see a plywood
>
>>The new addition was already done at this point. My contractor said it
>>was the weight of the house must be pushing the end of the beams down.
>>He said today they'd either have to be double beams or spaced closer
>>together. They are spaced 16 or 18" apart believe.
>>
>>So I was wondering what to do (or if anything should be done). The new
>>addition was already built by this point. The old kitchen was there
>>when we bought it 15 years ago. We never saw a problem with the old
>>countertop (i.e water never ran to the back of it) It seemed to have
>>stayed level over the years.
>>
>>So I don't know if I need to reinforce the support beams. But if I
>>wanted to what would be options? I do have a crawl space under the new
>>addition. I wouldn't be looking to jack anything up; just support it
>>from sagging further. thanks.
>
>
>4' is a really long cantilever.
>The simplest thing to do, depending on what's under the
>actual edge of the house, would be to dig a trench under
>than edge, put in a footing, and 4 posts up to
>a crossbeam under the sagging section.
>
>But the thing is, since the area is enclosed, why did
>they cantilver it like that in the first place? There
>may be something there that makes trying to put in
>a footer unwise.
>


Jimmy Hoffa.

Banty


--

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