I’m working on a proposal to level a two story home built on piers circa 1920. I’m comfortable with the leveling. My question lies on an exterior corner of the home where the main perimeter beam has collapsed/rotted/desintigrated dropping the corner of the home @ 8″ and leaving me nothing solid to push up on. I plan on exposing the entire floor system and the interior plaster around this area. I can remove the exterior siding as well but am reluctant because of the “shear” value.
Should I lift the second story releaving the weight on the first story floor or is there a way to replace the beam and lift from the bottom?
Replies
Is the beam under the floor? If so, you shore up the floor joists around the beam, remove and replace it, and then use it as a jacking point to level the building.
You have to lift from under the floor joists in order to shore it up to level with the rest of the house, at the same time you need to strip the siding off the house where this offending corner is and bolt a 2x8 horizontal cleat onto the studs where the wood is solid, (maybe 5-6 feet above the sill), and then every 3-4 feet (or where each stud is), run a post up to the cleat from your house jacks. The thing about jacking up and older house is to first make sure nothing is holding you down like an unseen cable or old pipe, and then you have to go very slowly and not over press the lift in any one place. Then stop and let it sit for a few days allowing the stresses to travel and settle themselves in. You will hear snap, crackles and pops coming from other areas as you go. Make sure you have adequate cribbing or support while the new fondation and sills are being dug and installed.
Without being there or seeing any pictures of the framing it's hard to really give you specific advice about doing this to your particular house. It would be good to have a structural engineer or someone experienced who really understands this type of thing to advise you.
Thanks to both of you. I can't see the "bones" of the problem yet because of a poured slab outside and blocking beneath the floor inside. I'll remove the slab, and source of this problem, along with the wood floor to see what I have to work with. An engineer will be involved and I'll try and get some photos for you.