Replies

1. 
   davidmeiland | Mar 17, 2004 07:04am | #1

   You cutting through any rebar? Maybe he wants some steel in there to try to make up for the loss.

1. 
   hanlonk | Mar 17, 2004 07:57am | #3

   No steel circa 1923. Sure it's load bearing, it's the foundation.....

2. 
   BungalowJeff | Mar 17, 2004 07:08am | #2

   How big is the window? What is framed above it? A gable-end or load-bearing wall? How are the loads above distributed without a header?

   Basement walls are different than retaining walls. Did you ask the engineer why, or are they avoiding hat jokes?

   ...that's not a mistake, it's rustic

1. 
   hanlonk | Mar 17, 2004 08:00am | #4

   I take that back. Multiple windows on both gable and load bearing walls. Will header off all windows. This issue is soil retaining (fairly non expansive)

1. 
   brownbagg | Mar 17, 2004 03:08pm | #5

   the engineer does have a point.

2. 
   davidmeiland | Mar 17, 2004 04:38pm | #6

   It doesn't sound like a soil retaining issue to me, it sounds like load bearing. You've cut out concrete and left a hole and that interrupts the load path from above. Sounds like the engineer wants a header and 'trimmer studs' to support the concrete above the opening. You learned about that in Load Bearing 101, right?

3. 
   rjw | Mar 17, 2004 05:06pm | #7

   Sounds like a soil retaining issue to me - you are removing part of the structure which is resisting side loads - even though those loads are below the cuts, the forces are exerted across the entire wall system.

   If he is concerned with side loads, there is a new product which looks like fiberglass but is supposedly some space age material which can't stretch which will stiffen walls.

   I couldn't find it with a google seach, but ask your engineer about it. It might be less expensive than steel.

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1. 
   davidmeiland | Mar 17, 2004 08:28pm | #8

   I'm not disagreeing, but how would a header in the opening help with side loads? Seems like you'd put something on the inside above the window and extending past...

1. 
   rjw | Mar 17, 2004 09:10pm | #9

   I wasn't thinking about the header, but had the impression (perhaps inaccurate) that he wanted vertical steel reinforcement for the whole whole (something I often see in my area because of the prevalence of basements and clay soil.)

   _______________________

   Tool Donations Sought

   I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in (now it looks like) April and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.

   Thanks to Jeff and David and Jim and Rich and Steven and Mark and Jason and Shep and Jen and Mike and Joe and Bill and Ken for their offers!

   Several donations have arrived! Thanks and God bless!

1. 
   davidmeiland | Mar 19, 2004 09:19pm | #10

   My bad--I think you're right, the steel he's talking about isn't in the opening, it's on the face of the wall. Kinda ruins the aesthetics...