Went to job site today; mercifully job’s delayed because boss wasn’t expecting a permit process from Hell. Anyway, he shows me what the HO wants: addition to garage tacked on behind garage. Inspector is requiring footings and stemwall below frost line (42″). The addition is to be 12′ wide. About 16′ from the back of the garage is a walk-out basement sliding glass door in a “well” (open to daylight on one side, retaining walls of concrete block about 10′ tall.
So, the rear wall of the addition will run parallel to the rear garage wall, and parallel and about four feet away from the retaining wall which drops ten feet to the window well. This seems like a really bad idea to me. I think our digging for the footings will compromise the retaining wall and once dug, the load on the soil right next to a retaining wall can’t be good, no?
Furthermore, the garage is sort of one leg of an ‘L’ and the house and the basement under it are the other leg. The addition will start about six feet away from the house “leg” and so will block a bathroom window.
I suggested building the addition at the end of the garage, basically extending that leg of the ‘L’, rather than increasing the width of that leg. Hope you all can follow what I’m saying. Then we could use the existing outside door from the side of the garage to get into this new workshop we are building. Boss was very luke warm (is that possible?) to my suggestion.
What would you all do?
Edit: Boss called and we are now building a shed in the back yard instead, but I’d still like to know what you think about the attached addition so close to the widow well.
Edited 5/10/2005 8:12 pm ET by Danno
Replies
bump
This is purely a case of alien identity
That bump did absolutely no good.
Sometimes that's the breaks.
"I can't say I was ever lost, but I was bewildered once for three days."
Well, thanks for trying! I was surprised no one had a response. Maybe I needed a snazzier title to catch people's attention. Oh, well....
I thought I'd have to write again today because we rerouted a furnace flue that was double walled and boss didn't want to bother double walling the elbows he added, but finally did. Earlier, I had to convince him it was a flue and not just a hot air duct. Even when I told him I could see where it went up through the roof, he was reluctant to believe me (also didn't believe it was double walled despite my saying I was really sure that "Metalbestos" pipes were). Anyway, that it one thing I won't have to stay awake nights wondering how much harm we potentially did someone!
Let's see - Your boss wanted to start building an addition without having the permit in hand yet, and without a well thought out plan from a decent designer.
Then he wants to use single walled elbows for Class B or better flue pipe ( label should be affixed to the outside of the pipe) - does he know that the elbows will restrict the draft and could cause CO build up in th ehouse to kill th e occupants? He is a twit. Keep your eyes open for a real job.On the original issue, I sawa less problem with the foundation question - as I understood it - than with the rain drip line. The resulting valley for the addition junction would mean a lot of runoff at the drip line in a bad location. Where would all that water have gone? Over the edge and into the daylight entry?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
All valid points. The "elbows" aren't 90 degrees and the offset is only 3" (I wouldn't have bothered, but either he or HO wanted to fit the flue into a 12" deep cabinet instead of 24" as previous) so I'm not real worried about restricted flow. When he put his hand on the pipe to prove to me it was just the hot air supply duct, I knew it was double walled (or his hand would have been burnt). Yeah, I'm looking for other work. Took the builder's license course last weekend and I'm studying the workbook and code book. Hope to take the test and get licensed soon so I can do my own work.
On a similar note; boss wanted to remove the front of the dishwasher to paint it. I suggested looking at the instruction sheet which was in a bag taped to the kick plate. He said there wasn't one. I saw that there was a slot in the top and once you undid two screws at the bottom, you just slid the panel up until the little ears could slide out the slots. He didn't believe me until after working at it for several minutes he looked for himself and saw what I had been trying to tell him. I'm not a real glib talker and I don't exude self confidence, so lots of times people don't hear what I'm saying, but I would think after working with me for two years, he would think, "Gee, he's been right 90% of the time, maybe he could be right this time!"