My contractor will be lifting our house in a few weeks, 3 feet. He wants me to remove the porch, but says I can cantilever the porch roof with 2×6’s to the ledger board of the porch. Birdsmouth on the roof end of the 2x and angle cut to join with the ledger. I was figuring on a 2x every six feet. Porch is a “L” shape approximately 15 feet wide and 20 feet long, about 7 feet deep. Roof is cedar shake on 2×2’s on trus2x6 rafters. Did a search of the messages and could’nt find anything on this. Any suggestions will, as always, be appreciated.
Thanks
Kevin
Edited 1/25/2006 7:55 pm ET by dockelly
Replies
Whoa, Nellie!!!
You called him a contractor but he wants YOU to do this?
you are talkin about a portion of the the job that contains liabilities and mixing responsibilities here like this increases the liability for both of you. If I were he, I would not accept having you do a part of it. If I were you, I would not accept doing a part of his job. He should do it all or none.
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It's sort of crazy. Originally we agreed I'd demo the porch and decking underneath. He'd than lift the house and I'd reinstall. He came up with the idea of leaving roof up, decking gone. If it is not easily done, supported during lift, I'll demo whole thing and reconstruct after the fact. As usual, I can rely on you Piffin to be the voice of reason. Incidentally, I fixed the sheetrock crack as you instructed.
Many Thanks
Kevin
The porch roof can 'possibly' be saved that way, but it's the liability mix I don't like. I'd rather do it myself - as a contractor - and charge you for it, than to have you do it. My men will be working under it, and I am responsible for getting them home in one piece every night. Knocxking on a widow's door is not my cup of tea
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Our house has a smaller porch than yours, but I did not want to demo it when we had the house lifted. The roof of the porch is supported primarily by a corner post that would not be well supported by the beams and cribbing, so I installed some diagonal bracing to help things out. You can see it in a few of these photos:
http://www.bailerhill.com/316
A good house mover should be able to support the parts of the house that you want to keep, or at least coordinate with you in advance so that you can do it. You may need to bolt ledgers to the walls thru the siding, hang temporary beams under the floor joists, etc.
I think you're overdesigning this sucker. Propping up a porch roof with diagonal braces down to the ledger is done all the time, and doesn't require fine carpentry. Use doubled 2x4s every 4-6 feet. Just make sure they're bearing on something substantial at the top -- if necessary scab a horizontal member to the underside of the roof to carry them.
No need for birdsmouths or angled cuts if the ends are fastened well, and arranged so that the force is applied to the end of the brace vs the fasteners. Generally a couple of 16ds or 20ds toenailed will do it, but you can add some Simpson angles if you want to be sure things don't move on you.
happy?
No birdsmouth or angle at ledger. Probably work well for doubled 2x4's, I wouldn't think so with 2x6's. I'm going to try and post a few pictures of the porch so it's easier to see what I'm up against.Thanks for the reply,
Kevin