Horrible mudroom dilemma – what would you do
When we bought our house four years ago, I didn’t notice how horrible our mudroom (5′ x 13′) was – at first. It was built a long time ago by someone with no knowledge of basic construction concepts. It’s pretty old: the studs are a full 4″ and the sheathing is 1″ t&g planks.
– the subfloor projects *past* the siding so water runs onto the subfloor from the siding (???)
– the “foundation” consists of block resting on a 1″ concrete pad that used to be a patio.
– The floor consists of 4x4s on roughly 4′ centers supported randomly by posts that run down to the old patio. Coupled with the rotted subfloor it is SPONGY.
– uninsulated (but with heating ducts!)
We did the sensible thing and got a quote on tearing the whole thing down and building a new one (albeit just a shell): $30k. I hope you guys can understand that in the current economic conditions that cannot happen. Also trashing the lawn with overdig is a non-starter for me. . .
. . . so I think I’ll do new floor framing with piers, dug inside the existing shitty foundation. If I get a permit they’ll require a full 4′ foundation (Canada), so I’ll just be doing this without one.
I dunno. This whole thing goes against my grain – my insides are screaming that the whole mess needs to be torn down, but I don’t have the time to do it myself and I can’t pay for it. Meanwhile we’re about to plunge through the floor at any point. D’ya think some piers would be the right approach? I used to work for a custom home builder so I’m far from clueless here.
I might post some pictures soon. . .
Replies
Remember that any supports on the interior of your foundation don't have to be buried and can be cast on the surface since the frost line doesn't extend into the perimeter of the house. If it were me I'd rebuild the floor correctly, using as many footers on the interior as are needed to support the floor completely (including an interior footer just inside the exterior wall. There is nothing shady about this and it would even pass code as far as the floor goes, albeit a little strange.
If the exterior foundation walls are not being rebuild at this point you want to at least make sure the walls are at the level they should be, and you may want to adjust them every spring after the ground thaws out. You might look into shallow-frost-protected foundations so you don't have to go down to 4'. Rather than putting the footer below the natural frost line, this method uses a layer of rigid foam near the surface to bring the frost line up from 4' to essentially the level of the foam. You don't even have to do the entire foundation at once....simply keep the exterior walls level over time and replace small sections as time and money permit.
In many areas this is technically a proper course of action and would pass inspection even though you are only retrofitting the entire floor and a small section of the foundation. I don't know how the rules are in your area, but I've heard of at least one person who had a similar type of permit and it was left open for a number of years - as he would get ready to replace another small section of the foundation there would be an inspection on that partial portion and on and on. I don't know how special his treatment was, but I want to say it took him 4 years to complete the retrofit. Often remodels retrofiting/upgrading existing structural deficencies can justify approaches that aren't heard of in new construction.