Year: 2012

Permits!

permit

Some good news to report. Finally past Zoning, our permit was approved by the remaining departments and our architect came by with the paper to put in the window. We are official, legal, and in a few weeks our stamped, approved plans will be delivered.

The process, from hiring the architect to receiving the piece of paper (not including time I spent designing the  plans we gave to the architect), took approximately eight months. In yet another “best in show” accolade for our house to put with “worst cockroach infestation ever seen by our exterminator” we have added “longest permit approval ever seen by our architect” thanks in no small part to the two months of waiting around while the city decided whether we could have a green permit or not.

We gave up waiting for the permits back in August when we demoed the first floor, so at this point it doesn’t make a ton of difference, but it’s one more thing behind us and it clears the way for us to demo the foyer and front stairs and start making a proper mess of things without fear of some city official putting a stop work order on the front door and sticking us with a fine.

Looking forward, our immediate focus is still the beam project. Once we have our new beam, columns, and footings, we’ll get another dumpster to clean out the piles of scrap wood on the first floor and demo the foyer. Then we can start work on the LVL beam and columns in the first floor and the new first floor subfloor, followed (eventually) by new framing, windows, and the previously discussed first inch of spray foam. With Sarah going back to school in just a couple weeks, it’s hard to estimate how long any of this will take. I can’t plan anything past the structure work until I get a sense of our rate of progress.

New Electric Service

New Electric Panel

New Electric Panel

Let’s take a break from the beam project for a moment. I often post incremental progress on our many simultaneous undertakings, but I’d like to be able to have each post be about one topic. It was that line of thinking that had me holding off on posting about our upgraded electric service. See, it was supposed to be simple. For one, we hired someone to do it. To be more specific, we hired someone in July. I held off posting about it because I was waiting until it was finished, so I could have a start-to-finish post on one topic. I didn’t realize we were in store for an epic saga of electric company obstinacy. If I had, I’d have posted along the way. Instead, here in December, I’m going to give you one big post about how we got our electric service upgraded. Unfortunately, I don’t remember all of the dates.

The story starts with us selecting contractors. We had met Percy, our electrician, at an open house hosted by Marcus and Cathy. They had hired Percy to do their work and from what we could see of it, he’d be perfect for what we needed. At the time we were hoping it would be possible to get the radiant heat installed this fall, and so getting new electric service was a priority. Percy quoted us the new 200 amp service with a new breaker panel and whole-house surge suppressor and we hired him.

Right on time, Percy and his assistants arrived and spent a day and half installing the new equipment, moved all the breakers into the new panel, and put the service pipe on the side of the house for the new service to connect to. Everything was done very well. Lots of clamps securing everything, neat connections and professional work all around. We originally had two meters (for the two flats) on the side of back porch. Because we’re eventually removing and replacing the whole back porch, we wanted to put the meter on the house itself. After some discussion with Percy, he put the meter box about three feet from where the old one was.

Percy told us that ComEd (our power company) would be out in a couple of weeks to hook up the new line from the pole. Two weeks came and went but there had been some storms that had knocked out power for people so we waited a bit longer. Then, one Saturday morning I got a phone call that someone from ComEd would be there to perform an inspection in a few minutes. I met the inspector along the side of the house and he succinctly told me that the location of the meter wouldn’t work. It was too close to the neighbors house, too close to their meter, and it was too close to the property line. I should explain here that we have a sidewalk along each side of the house. One (on the South side) is our sidewalk and one (on the North) is our neighbors’. The meter box was along the neighbors’ sidewalk, and our house sits right on the property line. It never occurred to us this was a problem because the old meter was along that side as well.

The inspector left and we called Percy. He said he would call ComEd and get it straightened out. He explained that he could appeal but it might take several weeks. We told him that was fine and waited. Eventually, in late August or early September, he was told that it would in fact need to be moved more than three feet from the neighbors’ meter. That meant that Percy had to come back and spend a whole day moving the box and the pipe three feet over and re-run the cable.

A week or so later the inspector from ComEd came back and this time Percy met him there. He said that while it was now far enough from the other meter, and he could forgive the distance to the other house, once a meter was put into the box it would be over the property line (by approximately three inches), and he couldn’t pass it. The only place the meter could go was the other side of the house, along our sidewalk. With no recourse, Percy came back and spent another day and a half again moving the pipe and meter box, this time to the opposite side of the house, adding a cutoff switch in the basement because the meter box was now more than five feet from the breaker. Because the line from the alley was still connected on the other side, he had to run temporary wires around the back of the porch to connect to the new pole.

The inspector was due out, but we never saw any sign of him. Instead we got a letter from ComEd that because we no longer had a working meter (just the box for it) they were going to disconnect our electricity. Sarah called ComEd and we were told not to worry about that. They said the inspector had not approved it because the wire that would connect from the house to the alley would run past the window on the porch. She explained that the porch was going to be removed, but they said unless we could tear it down now, that didn’t matter. Finally, they agreed that if we boarded up the window it would be acceptable.

The inspector finally came back out and reluctantly, as if searching for any excuse to deny it, approved the work. We thought that now, finally, we were in the clear. By now it was October. The next visit from ComEd was supposed to install the new wire to the alley, but the guy that arrived looked at the house and told us they couldn’t do it because there wasn’t enough room to safely put a ladder against the side of the house, and then left. A few days later a man arrived from ComEd to install the new meter and told us he couldn’t because the wiring around the back of the porch wasn’t safe. We explained it was temporary, but he said he couldn’t install the meter and left.

A series of phone calls to ComEd got a visit from the foreman who reiterated that they couldn’t safely put a ladder against the house and the only way to do it would be to bring in a scissor lift. They measured the clearance and determined it wouldn’t fit through the back gate and wouldn’t fit between the house and the neighbors fence at the front.

We asked it it could be brought through the garage, since we have an overhead door that opens to the yard. He wasn’t sure how tall the lift was and said he’d let us know. Further phone calls revealed it was too tall. Finally, Sarah told them we would remove the section of the back fence adjacent to the gate so they could bring in the scissor lift.

Removing the back fence

Removing the back fence

All of this brings us to early December. I pried off the concrete along the edge of the sidewalk and dug out the post for the fence, which unlike much of our house was actually done well, with a concrete footing nearly three feet into the ground. I finally had to use a 2×4 to lever the thing out of the ground and a sledge hammer to break off the concrete. The next day, the crew from ComEd showed up and used a ladder. They were apologetic about the previous people that told us to dig up our fence, and even helped Sarah put it back in place so she could pour new concrete.

Re-poured fence footing

Re-poured fence footing

Finally, we have new 200-amp electric service. We didn’t wind up getting the radiant heat installed this fall because we didn’t have permits yet and we weren’t far enough along in the other work. Other than meeting code requirements, we probably don’t even need it. However, after countless phone calls and seemingly endless frustration it’s done. Percy, having spent quite a bit of his own time, money, and material dealing with their bureaucracy is considering legal action, but we just want to put it behind us and focus on the next piece of this massive puzzle.

Beam Project: Leveling with Jack Posts

Jack post

Jack post

I bought a jack post. Then I bought two more. Then I bought a big adjustable wrench to have more leverage to crank them. The end result, after several attempts (other than a straining workout) is that in the single section I was trying to lift the beam, it has moved up approximately an eighth of an inch. Since I’m trying to raise it by over an inch, I decided to rethink my tactic.

Cut floor joists

Cut floor joists

Part of the problem is that several of the floor joists, which are 2x10s spanning the whole width of the house, were cut at some point to allow access to the basement from the front bedroom on the first floor. This was then closed up at a later date. When they cut the joists they were no longer supported by the outside wall on one side, resting entirely on the beam. Generally you would add a cross member (or a few) to tie the cut joists to the joists that were not cut. Instead, someone probably much later put in some 2x4s so they’d have something to hang drywall from. Not surprisingly this is now the lowest part of the beam, since it’s bearing considerably more weight than it was designed to. We’ll replace the cut joists when we rip up the first floor subfloor, but for now we need to work with what we’ve got.

Another problem is that the jack posts I bought ($45 a piece from Menards) are rated for between 9,100 and 18,000 lbs. That sounded like a lot, but recalling that we removed 9 tons during first floor demo alone, it’s very likely that the weight the beam is carrying is higher than that. The dome in the steel plate at the top of each jack post has buckled, which is probably a good sign they’re not up to the task.

Jack posts and rotted column (base)

Jack posts and rotted column (top) Jack posts and rotted column

After some discussion and research, I arrived at plan B. The first step was to move the jack posts to either side of the rotted column a bit further down the beam and take any remaining load off of that section. Then I took out the column, which by this point was basically hanging from the beam.

Rotted column removed

Rotted column removed Rotted column removed

The damp dirt beneath the column explains the rot, but it’s concerning since I don’t yet know where the moisture is coming from. That mystery will need to wait until we dig up the floor. With the column removed I can now cut off the rotted section and use it in conjunction with the 50 ton hydraulic bottle jacks I ordered, which will arrive in a few days. I’m pretty sure they’ll have the necessary strength to lift the other section of the beam up. I’ll cover that in more detail when they show up.

Beam Project: Measurements

The first step is to get all of the precise measurements and check how far off of level we are. I bought a laser distance measure and a self-leveling cross line laser level. These were each about $100 each and in addition to being incredibly helpful for this project will be useful for many of the projects going forward.

Checking beam level

I started by checking the beam for level. I drew a mark under each floor joist along the laser line and then measured from the joist down. I then marked which joists were lower or higher than average. The variance was about a half inch in either direction. Then I turned the level the other direction to check the floor joists. I found that the floor joists sagged by about an inch from the outside wall to the beam. Determining level without the laser would have been painstaking and not as accurate. I have a six foot level, but using it to find the level of the whole basement would have sucked. Since you can’t trust the beam, the joists, or the floor to be level, all you can do is find variance. This will be especially important when I dig the footings so I know how deep to make them.

Checking joist level

I also measured the length of the beam. It is pocketed into the brick wall at either end, so I slid a piece of metal in to determine how deep the pocket is and added that to the total, which is roughly 44′. There will be two columns, so we’ll split the beam into three sections. The challenge in positioning the columns is that the floor above will also have open spans, so those columns need to be directly above the columns in the basement. The spans should be as short as possible, because their load bearing capacity drops exponentially with length. I referred to the floor plans, but a couple of the dimensions were off, so I had to adjust to get the exact locations of the columns. I determined the longest span will be 16′. Conveniently you can multiply 16′ x 24 lbs and get the weight: 384 lbs. This job will require some help.

Marking the footings

Finally I marked out the location of the footings on the floor. Unfortunately, there are studs and a 4×4 in the way, so I need to build the temporary wall so I can remove it. That means it’s time to get some jack posts and crank up the house.

Beam Project: Overview

Basement beam

I’ve never considered this to be a “how to” blog for the simple reason that I’m not an expert at any of this and if you’re taking my advice as a guide for redoing your own house you’re likely to hurt yourself and damage your home. I use forums and blogs and how to articles and books to figure out how to do things before tackling them, but when it came to replacing the beam and columns, most sources were light on specifics. I found a great article on replacing the column and footings with wood, and I found videos of putting  in new steel beam and leveling the house and blogs on digging down the basement floor. I just need to put all these pieces together.

Since I had a hard time assembling all the parts, I’m going to try and convey everything we’re doing so that if someone looking for help about doing it finds our blog they can get some solid information. I can’t promise it will all be correct, that it will apply to others’ situations, or even that your house won’t collapse, but here’s what we’re doing step by step.

Shortly after we bought the house and moved in, we got quotes from a few structural repair companies. These were crazy expensive ($15,000 and up). Since they were so much, we held off while we demoed the basement, moved the gas pipe and electrical that ran along the beam, and worked on other projects. Mike, a friend of ours that works in steel construction suggested we do it ourselves and save a ton of money. At first we were skeptical, but then we got our plans from our architect, which included all the specs for the footings, beam, and columns. Part of the reason the structural companies charge so much is the engineering work they do to determine what specs you need, and we already had all of that. Given the potential to save upwards of ten thousand dollars doing it ourselves, it started making more and more sense.

Here are the specs we’re working with. The footings will be 3,500 psi concrete, 36″ x 36″ x 18″ deep, with 4 epoxy-coated #5 rebar. The I-beam is W8x24, a term that describes the specific shape (W), the size (8″) and the weight per linear foot (24 lbs). The columns are XS3, A500, Grade B. Mike recommended we get square columns since they’re easier to frame around and offer the same strength.

At a high level, these are the steps in the plans: determine how far off level the beam is, measure the beam and mark out where the new footings will be. Then use jack posts to level the beam and incidentally the house. Build a temporary support wall to carry the load while we’re working. Dig out and pour the footings (they aren’t in the same place as the old ones so we can leave the beam in place at this point. Then the tricky part: remove the old wood columns and beam, put in the new steel columns and beam, and weld it in place. Finally, remove the temporary wall. This is a big, big project.