Questions tagged [structural]
Questions about the structure of a building (i.e. moving, adding or repairing walls).
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Im going to be building 20x20 carport off of my Garage and wondering how far i have to dig for the 4x4 posts and will fill with concrete?
For building off of my garage I'm going to build a 20x20 carport for winter. I will enclose building the walls during winter. My questions are is how far down do I gave to dig for the 4x4 posts, how ...
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What should I do about a gap over a header due to short trimmer studs?
I found a doorway in a load bearing wall that was widened to a 6' opening without adding a header. The studs were just cut and trim added around the edges. I narrowed the opening to 5' and added a ...
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House shakes subtly every so often [closed]
my house shakes subtly every so often, and it doesnt seem like there is any rhyme or reason to it. We dont live close to public transportation, theres never an earthquake reported in the area, and as ...
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ground deck structure
We are building an ipe wood deck in our patio - on the ground. The landscaper had originally said he'd use 4x6 pressure-treated pieces, long side up - so 6" high, to create at least 6" ...
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Question the structure weight capacity
previous owner built an attic above the garage w/ a ladder plus shelves on all walls. heaviest items in attic is a container (L24xW16xH12) <20lbs. side wall is holding drums evenly dispersed. ...
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Installing door in a basement window to make a basement walkout
I am making a basement walkout. The door will be installed where there currently is a window. Currently there are 10 inches of concrete on top of the Window, but in order to fit an 80x36 inch door, ...
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How do I repair this joist? [duplicate]
Previous homeowner cut a big notch into a joist in the basement to vent a gas water heater. I had the water heater replaced with electric, and now I want to fix the joist. (Photo below, with annotated ...
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Can I mount a light fixture on an electrical outlet box? [duplicate]
I have a backyard with no light but we do have an outdoor outlet. I would like to know if I can mount a light fixture using the electrical outlet box. The mounting plate comes with the light fixture, ...
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Is the front closet wall load bearing? [duplicate]
Closet in question we are trying to remove for a custom closet. Not sure if this wall is load bearing. House is a town house and the back wall of the closet is a shared wall. Wall to the right is an ...
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Is this wall load bearing? Was removed 1.5 years ago [duplicate]
Trying to see if this wall is load bearing. On the left, the wall went all the way up to the ceiling but the beam was not connected to any joist/beams in the attic. Also have vaulted ceilings but it ...
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Trying to see if wall I removed 1.5 years ago was load bearing [duplicate]
We bought a house awhile back and removed a wall we think was there to divide the kitchen from the dining room. We wanted a more open concept. Just want some assurance the wall was not load bearing. ...
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Tips for installing jack post below joist
I'm looking for some tips installing a jack post. For some background, I recently purchased a house. The previous owners covered a lot of issue and ended up with a terrible home inspector which didn't ...
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Dirt mound in center of crawl space - Why?
There is a dirt mound towards the center of my crawl space area, and it drops of towards the foundation wall. Is this common, and what is the reason for it? My thoughts are possibly for flooding ...
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What is the correct tuck pointing mortar ratio for a 1907, St louis brick main support column in basement. Lime? Portland? Sand? Water? [duplicate]
The owner believes the bricks are softer bricks due to the age of the house. All the research i have done say's after 1900 most houses in this area used Portland cement, lime, and a sand mix. I just ...
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Should I replace, repair, or leave this OSB?
Removed some drywall next to the garage door opening and found a couple of large holes in the OSB.
Water main enters the wall on the other side of the lower hole and it looks like some water pipes ...
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Slanted Stairs Structural Issue?
First post, I'm interested in purchasing a house but the one hold up for me is a set of stairs going to the third floor of the house. They are noticeably slanted and I'm concerned that it could be a ...
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Why is it sufficient to shore up a ceiling on 1 side of load bearing wall?
I'm looking up information about temporarily supporting a ceiling to make an opening in an interior load bearing wall. Wooden stud and joist framed house. For the most part, the materials that I'm ...
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How Do I Frame an Opening in My Bathroom Floor
I am fixing termite eaten and improperly spaced joists in my home. I need to create space for the bathtub drain fixtures, which are currently riding right up on a joist that runs under the bathtub, ...
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How can I jack up a header for replacement?
I am trying to replace the header of a load bearing wall above some pocket doors. I have already done the header over the other set of doors on the other end of the room with no issues. However, when ...
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Is running a porch column all the way to ground footer instead of using posts underneath a bad idea?
My current porch is like this
The columns are rotting and the deck was poorly built, posts aren't directly under columns and most are just on dirt.
I intend on doing a rebuild. With the columns I was ...
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Can I create two or three more cutouts in my 6' Load Bearing Knee wall to build a closet System
I have a 1927 Tudor. The second floor owners bedroom has a 17 foot long knee wall that is clearly load bearing (holds up the rafters). It has two doors in it currently that open into the pretty large ...
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How can I get some idea of how much a cracked foundation would cost to fix? [closed]
I can't get a structural engineer to evaluate this because the housing market is too active here. Does this sort of thing seem fixable? Am I looking at like $50k to fix something like this?
The house ...
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Is this a load bearing column?
I’m trying to determine if a column in my house is load bearing. It’s at the corner of 2 pony walls and if it isn’t we might take out the column and the pony wall. There’s an extension of the 2nd ...
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Header required for 2' wide window on 1st of 3 stories?
The walkout basement has 2x6 walls, 9' tall with double top plate, and there are 2 floors above it. There is an 11' wide steel header above a large, folding patio door on the exterior wall in question....
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Accidentally drilled partially through the top of a 3 2x10 beam - what now?
I was drilling a 1 3/8 hole through the bottom plate of a 2x4 wall in order to run a 1 inch conduit from that wall into the crawlspace for a media cabinet. I realized after a certain depth when the ...
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Is it safe to remove wall framing around washer/dryer closet?
We bought a 100+ year old shotgun style home (single level) about a year ago that has had several frankenstein like additions made to it which is pretty typical for the area we are in.
One of the ...
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Building a supporting structure for a 600L (160 gallon) aquarium
I have acquired a used 600L (160 gallon) glass aquarium. Leak test has been a success. Now I need to build a supporting structure to keep it lifted from the ground. Conceivably, it will weight less ...
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Are these roof members structural support?
I’m fairly new to DIY home improvement. Are these arrowed parts structural support? I’m looking to vault the ceiling below but I’m not sure if I need to involve an engineer.
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How should I enlarge 2 holes in the top plate of a lally column to match beam holes. The four holes were incorrectly measured. See Photo
GC removed rusted lally column, but they screwed up and only 2 holes aligned enough to bolt. Remaining 2 holes have to be drilled out to align with my beam that holds up the house. Told GC not to ...
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Adding storage above garage ceiling
I'd like to add some storage space in the ceiling of the garage. It looks like someone got a start on it already. There looks like a 16 foot 2x4 nailed into the top of the wall on both sides with one ...
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Roof Structural Issues
We are in the process of buying a house and our inspection report came back with some separation in the trusses of the roof on one side of the home.
I don't anything about roofs. Can someone provide ...
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Shall I/How to Repair Falling Subfloor? [closed]
I happened to find the one piece subfloor under my dishwasher is falling. Shall I repair it? If yes, how to do that? The most professional way I suppose is to remove the cabinet and floor in the ...
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Replacing foundation piers. How's this temporary shoring/support of our home?
We're having piers underneath our house replaced. Temporary shoring is the responsibility of the contractor.
Any thoughts on this? For perspective, this is holds 2 stories, 14' span. My biggest ...
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Is this old wooden basement beam actually structural?
So this beam is in a sort of annoying location for a remodel and trying to figure out if this is actually doing anything. It spans roughly 8 feet and is attached to the sill plate of the foundation ...
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Freestanding Shelves Stability
I recently built this set of shelves for my basement. Because of the insulated walls I do not plan to anchor them.
The shelves are not as solid as I hoped. After doing some research, I think one main ...
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Drilled vertically through LVL
I made an absolute fool of myself and drilled a 3/4" hole vertically through Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) when trying to run wires into an attic above an 30" wide exterior window. I ...
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Should this door opening have a header and supporting framing?
I'm moving a door over about a foot on a wall that runs through the middle of my whole house. I have a friend helping out who insists that this is fine, but I am not so sure. Doesn't there need to be ...
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Floor sinks 7 inches to the center over 25 feet
I found out the floors in my condo sink 7 inches to the center over a 25 foot space.
I am wondering if maybe the floor joists are beyond repair ?
They want to put a pilar and beam under this to “stop” ...
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What are the requirements for housing an exterior gas water heater?
Recently, I had to remove the housing/stand for our 60 gallon exterior gas water heater for reasons I'll get to. The housing was integrated into the exterior wall of the house, and while initially it ...
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Flooring issue in a house we just sold, new owners want us to foot the bill for the repair [closed]
We recently sold our 36 years old house to two brothers in their 20s. Two weeks later, we get an email from them telling us that the varnish of the floor in the bedrooms was not done properly and ...
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Is this wall load bearing? Blueprint attached
There was a partition wall added to close to where the blue line is.
The original blueprint looks like there may have been a wall.
Is it a load bearing wall?
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House moved a bit more than I'm comfortable with
Until a couple years ago, we had an operating quarry nearby, with regular blasts. Smaller movements between the drywall plates were normal at the time and didn't worry me. (I got this confirmed by ...
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Questions on structural eng drawing for egress window
I am installing an egress window in my basement to make it a legal bedroom. I am going to be doing most of the work myself (outside of cutting the concrete) but doing it by the book (permits, ...
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Is this small perpendicular wall load bearing to the structure?
Curious to if this wall is load bearing or not. The ceiling joist span 16ft and the only interior wall that runs perpendicular is this small one here. All other interior walls run parallel and don't ...
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Discovered a vertical hole drilled in what I assume is a structural support beam
Want to remove two small 'wing walls' that I know were not original construction (from the plans). Simple job I think, until I remove the drywall and reveal someone drilled a vertical hole to route ...
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Sharing a Post Between 2 Beams (Deck)
In my deck design I have some beams (triple 2x10) that meet at posts (6x6). If I align the angled beam with the edge of the post, then that would allow the remaining 1" of the post for the ends ...
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Beam positioning for deck with an angle
So I'm working on the design for a deck and I'll be having a long angle in it. I've used Home Designer Pro to work on the design, and it generates all the framing.
My question is concerning the beam ...
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Main condensation line drilled and left inside 4"x12" main structural support
Latent defect found by new licensed HVAC technician after original installer of unit said call somebody else. Ten year Carrier warranty now out. Not servicing my area. I called a new company out since ...
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Is 1/2 inch OSB strong enough for subfloor
We just found out that the subfloors in our rental property are only 1/2 inch thick OSB. It has some moisture damage but we fixed what caused it and are replacing damaged ones.
We can't really afford ...
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Mold remediators removed portion of house frame - how to repair?
We are currently having all of the windows in our house replaced with new construction windows. We knew the old ones leaked, and we knew we had moisture and probably mold in the walls. We have mold ...
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