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Home Repair - - If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Otherwise look here.
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Posted by TNVWBoy on July 20, 2006, 1:51 pm
Ok the subject is a bit confusing I admit. Here is the deal. This
spring we gutted our basement because of a problem with mold. The
house had been a duplex at one point and they covered up some really
shoddy block work. At an even earlier point in the houses' history
there was a single car garage in the basement. The opening was blocked
up. Sounds simple right? Apparently not.
They blocked up the opening with 4 inch blocks instead of 8 inch
blocks. They also didn't do a good job with the mortar either. There
are gaps and globs all over on the inside. Outside it looks fine.
Until we pulled off the rotting drywall we didn't even know for sure a
garage had been there.
I've had a couple 'remodels' look at it and said they wouldn't touch it
and one mason suggested that it was illegal and that they'd have to do
some major work since it was a load bearing wall. This was said to my
wife not me, I was at work, so I think he was trying to feed her BS to
make a big repair job sale ($15K to 20K). The house was safe when
there was a garage opening there so why would the structural integrity
be compromised? In any case I want to fix this. It's draffy and water
leaks in the poor mortar work. Should I just block up the inside with
more 4" block and make it look good from the inside or tear out the old
block and put in all 8" block to fill in the hole?
I'm beginning to realize that buying a former duplex, that was a single
family dwelling prior, wasn't a good idea. I'm fixing all kinds of
issues with the old duplex work (goofy plumbing, electrical, HVAC,
etc.)
Thanks!
Marc
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Posted by MDT at Paragon Home Inspection on July 20, 2006, 2:57 pm
> That they'd have to do some major work since it was a load bearing wall.
If all that was done was block up a garage door opening, there should
have been a header above the door designed to support the structure
above - not that the "remodelers" may not have modified the wall in
such a way that the header is no longer present or adequate.
Likely this was non-permitted work, if so there are a lot of code
requirements often violated when a garage is converted to "living
space" - for example light, ventilation, emergency egress and
electrical requirements - this is especially likely the space if it
is used as a bedroom.
Hate to say it, but probably the best place to start is your local
building department, to discover what modifications (if any) will be
required to bring this space into compliance with local codes.
Michael Thomas
Paragon home Inspection. LLC
Chicago, IL
mdtATpargoninspectsDOTcom
847-47-5668
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