Category: Basement Beam

The replacement of the saggy, rotten wooden beam with a new, level, straight steel I-beam on steel columns with new footings.

Beam Project: Leveling with a Hydraulic Jack

January 4, 2013 / Matt / 6 Comments

Hydraulic Jack

Heh, heh, heh. This is more what I had in mind. Wednesday evening my new 50 ton hydraulic bottle jacks were waiting on the porch from UPS when we got back from Home Depot. The boxes were small but said “team lift” on the side. I picked them both up and discovered why: they’re freaking heavy! I bought two of them with the thinking that I may need to use a temporary beam and jack both sides. For the moment I’m only using one. They were $130 each on Amazon, which isn’t cheap considering I’m not likely to need them in the future, but I’m operating under the assumption that anything I need to buy will still be far cheaper than paying fifteen grand to have someone else do it. I can always turn around and sell them on Craigslist when we’re done.

Steel plates

I cut off the rotted portion of the column I removed previously. I wound up having to cut it down a second time so that it would fit between the jack and the beam. It was so big I actually had to make a cut from either side with my miter saw and then use a bow saw to finish it off. Then I put a stack of four 16 gauge steel plates between the jack and the wood to spread the load across the entire base of the column. I wanted quarter-inch steel, but I couldn’t find it and these were only $1.41 each. Four of them adds up to a quarter inch, so I’m calling it good enough.

After following the priming instructions for the jack I carefully leveled the column over it and lined it up underneath the beam, in line with one of the lowest joists. With some re-checking of the level after each pump on the jack I got it snug and right where I wanted it. Then I set up the laser level and marked a starting line on the column to keep track of how much it moved. This means the height of the level can’t change, and because my tripod is rather flimsy I put it on top of one of the 4x4s that I had taken out of the wall. I’m tempted to write “do not move” on the 4×4, just in case.

Laser line

I’m taking it slow, but it moved pretty easily at first as the column got a bit tighter up to the beam. Then the noises started. Nothing loud, no groans or anything so far, but little pops and snaps that were extremely unnerving. The beam has a split in it –which is normal– but it appears to be getting wider as we push on it. I made some marks at the ends of the crack to keep an eye on it. After about a dozen pumps on the jack it started getting resistance and I started getting freaked out that bits of wood were going to splinter and fly as a precursor to some catastrophic failure of the beam… but that didn’t happen, at least not yet. Sarah came down and gave the jack a couple of pumps. For me it was as much a symbolic “we’re in this together” as anything, but it made me feel a little better.

We left it overnight, but this weekend I’ll be back at it. The beam needs to lift over an inch in this section, which is pretty dramatic as these things go. Once this section is level (assuming the beam doesn’t fail) I’ll build the temporary support walls, move the jack, and then do it again.

Beam Project: Leveling with Jack Posts

December 28, 2012 / Matt / 4 Comments

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

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

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

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

December 5, 2012 / Matt / 1 Comment

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

December 4, 2012 / Matt / 2 Comments

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.

Back in the Basement

November 18, 2012 / Matt / 0 Comments

Sarah is almost done with her semester of school which means she’ll be on break for a bit and we can try and get some work done. We were trying to get an inch of spray foam in the first floor, but the more I look at it the less feasible that seems right now.

We have one of the many order of operations problems. We need a dumpster to clear out the rest of the piles on the first floor, but we don’t want to get it until we demo the foyer. We don’t want to demo the foyer until we get our permits, and who knows how long that will be.

The other thing we can work on, which should really be done before we get another dumpster, is finally replace the beam in the basement. I’ve been slowly working toward that goal for the last year, but I’ve been putting it off due to cost, time, and the non-trivial apprehension about the project.

So with a five week window and the holidays mixed in, I’m cleaning out the basement and putting together the plans, starting with digging new footings and building a temporary support wall.

Today I swept up the debris that’s been raining through the floor boards from the first floor, moved the lumber and scrap metal piles to the outside wall, and picked up the mess of tools and junk that had accumulated over the course of several other projects.

We ordered a laser level and a distance measurer. When they arrive in a few days we’ll do some measuring, get the steel beam and columns ordered, and start work on the footings.

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