Year: 2013

Friday, Mike went to Suburban Welding and Steel and picked up the three pre-cut beam sections totaling about 45′ and one 20′-long piece of square tube steel to cut into columns. He has a big pickup with a rack on the back, so they were able to lower the steel onto the back with a crane. Total cost came to $1,083. Saturday morning I picked up some donuts and made some coffee and people started showing up. After a little bit of work getting the front basement window opened all the way and and the gate to swing wider, Mike got his truck angled up to the curb and we unloaded the first 384 lb, 16′ beam section. Predictable this was actually the last section we needed to put in, but the way they were loaded on the truck didn’t give us much choice. We fed it through the window and set it on a couple of ladders in the basement.

Old beam removed

Next we started taking out sections of the old beam. We got a bit of a surprise when a couple of 2x4s in the ceiling for drywall nailing edges were pulled down with the beam. This was especially alarming because they nearly pulled down the gas pipe that ran under them! Fortunately the pipe didn’t rupture and we were able to remove the 2x4s and re-anchor the pipe to the ceiling. The rest of the beam came down without incident and the temporary wall showed no signs of any problem carrying the load.

Cutting the beam

There was a slight miscommunication about one of the beam measurements so Mike cut a couple of feet off, but better too long than too short. He has a fancy gas-powered saw for just such a purpose. Having someone that not only knows how to do the job, but has the tools necessary to do it was critical to us being able to tackle this ourselves. With the beams cut down we used the jack posts to hold them in place. Then Mike ran a string line from one end to the other to that we could line them up properly and get everything level with the hydraulic jacks.

Positioning the beam

We used clamps to hold the two beam sections together because it was slightly torqued. Then Mike used his arc welder to weld the beam sections together. Normally the separate sections are just bolted together with a steel plate, but this will be stronger and hold everything together better. Next up was the columns. Dean took a turn with the big saw and cut the columns.

Cutting the column

The columns were a tiny bit too long, so I used the angle grinder to trim them down about an eighth inch. When we went to fit them again they were still too long, but it turned out one of my hydraulic jacks wasn’t quite holding pressure and the beam had just dropped slightly. We pumped it back into place and fitted the column in. Mike welded the columns into place, directly to the beam at the top and to a steel plate notched for the bolts at the bottom.

Mike welding steel beam

Angle grinding

Welded beam

Column base

Dean and I tried our hand at arc welding on the base of one of the columns, which was a really interesting experience. There’s a strange balance between keeping the end of the stick from touching the weld so that a spark gap is created while still continuously pushing the stick in so that it is consumed. We used the rotary hammer to drill holes into the footing for the bolts and pounded them in, tightening them up so they were good and snug. It was done.

Finished beam

Today I took  down the temporary wall and got my first look at the basement completely opened up. I’ll still need to paint the beam so it doesn’t rust and Mike thinks I should put a column at either end since the ends of the beam are pocketed into the brick, which isn’t in terrific shape. At some point I’ll bring in a tuck pointer to clean up the brick foundation inside and out and we’ll see if that does it. Otherwise we’ll have a bit more steel work in our future. You can also see from the picture that I have a lot of cleaning to do!

With the middle beam level and the support wall built I moved on to the front. The good news is that this beam was already level, but there was a rotted column and some of the old wall studs to be removed. This required some shell game action. First I lowered the hydraulic jack from its position in the middle beam, enjoying the awesome sounds of the temporary wall taking on the load. Then I moved it to the front of the back beam and took the load off the jack post there. Next I moved the jack post to the front beam next to the column. Confused?

Basically I use the hydraulic jacks to level things and the jack posts to hold them there, but I needed the column from the front in order to use my second hydraulic jack. In order to take out the column I needed to get the load off of it by putting in a jack post, and in order to move the jack post I needed to take the load off of it by moving the other hydraulic jack. I don’t know if that makes more sense or not. Regardless, after rearranging things I pried the other rotted column out and cut it down just like I had with the first one. Then I got out the second hydraulic jack, four more steel plates, and I put it in position at the back of the back beam.

Once the two hydraulic jacks had taken the load off the remaining studs, I started removing them. There’s now only one other section of studs left in the wall and one 4×4 post that was pretending it could support the house. The back beam needs to rise between a quarter and a half inch at either end, and as before I’m going slowly rather than doing it all at once.

In the mean time I added the cross bracing and put up the temporary wall for the front beam. I put the wall on the far side of the beam because I’ll probably be bringing in the new steel beams through the front basement window. Otherwise I’d have to bring them all the way from the alley which is quite a bit further. Depending on how many studs we have left I may put in additional support sections to either side as I need them. I want to make sure that the house is properly supported so that it doesn’t undo all my leveling when we swap beams.

There are three segments to the wood beam in the basement, so for our purposes we’ll say front, middle, and back. I started work on the middle section because it was the lowest and I wanted to bring it to the same level as the other two. As of last weekend, the beam was as close to level as was feasible, given that the joists themselves aren’t exactly level in the outside walls, nor of the same thickness from one end to the other. I also discovered the importance of measuring level from the top of the floor joist rather than the bottom.

Once the beam was where it needed to be, we started building temporary wall sections. These are standard 2x4s with bottom and top plates. The studs are aligned with the floor joists so that there is even support and as little movement as possible once the existing beam is removed. I started out using the scrap lumber we had saved from the basement demo. Unfortunately nearly all of these studs were too short due to rot and rats chewing a raceway through the wall. I cut them down to 5′ lengths and built a second tier with short cripple studs, then put a cross brace across it. After it was all assembled and in place, I decided it wasn’t going to work.

The problem was partly that the salvaged studs were a bit wonky and uneven and partly that even with the cross bracing I was concerned it was going to buckle if the weight of the house was put on it. Given the importance of the wall in supporting the house while the beam is replaced, we decided to play it safe and get new studs. We can always reuse these down the road, so it shouldn’t add any additional waste to the project and it only cost about $100. That seemed like a small price to pay to keep the house from collapsing.

We rebuilt the temporary wall along the length of the middle beam. I also built a segment on the opposite side where the joists were cut to provide support for that section. I still need to add cross bracing to ensure it’s stable. I’ll wind up using the salvaged lengths I cut down for the top and bottom plates as well as the cross bracing.