The sky is falling! Well, sort of.
The floor, actually. Well, not really even that. Okay, here's the deal. We bought our house in September. It's at least 100 years old, the furnace is sitting on what appears to be an old well, and the bathroom is clearly an afterthought, so, it's old.
When we had the inspector go through, he noticed that one of the main support beams for the floor had a big crack in it, and the central part of the house seemed to be sagging. Well, in December , we had the "guys" come out to look. Well, he seemed fairly nonplussed by the big-ass crack in the wood. What caught his eye was that the two 2x10's supporting the OTHER main wall of the house, were rotting. As in, deteriorating right out from under the house. This would explain the fresh floor to ceiling crack in the plaster in the boys' room upstairs. *shudder* The other issue, was that the joists supporting that entire side of the kitchen weren't even ATTACHED to the 2x10's leaving the entire kitchen supported by the outside wall. again, *shudder* It's a darn good thing we didn't install that dishwasher I wanted so bad. Dang.
So anyway, the solution? To jack up the basement, replace the 2x10's, and secure that side of the kitchen to them. Oh, and incidentally, put a support post underneath the beam with the big-ass crack in it.
They came last Thursday. There are no words to describe standing in the kitchen, and watching the wall disappear behind the counter as the floor beneath you gets lifted. Immediately Carly Simon pops into my head..."I feel the earth, move, under my feet". Cheesy, but true (that doesn't look right, is it "cheesey"? Whatever).
But now, the floor is stable, secure, and closer to where it should be. The bad news is, none of the doors shut now, and all the lock mechanisms don't line up, so they will need to be replaced. With any luck, that will be BEFORE one of my kids takes a tumble down the rickety, bannisterless shoulder wide stairs on the creepy limestone foundation basement. Yes, hopefully.
And in the same vein, we saw The Skeleton Key . Very good creepy old plantation house movie set in the deep south. If you get a chance, check it out.
When we had the inspector go through, he noticed that one of the main support beams for the floor had a big crack in it, and the central part of the house seemed to be sagging. Well, in December , we had the "guys" come out to look. Well, he seemed fairly nonplussed by the big-ass crack in the wood. What caught his eye was that the two 2x10's supporting the OTHER main wall of the house, were rotting. As in, deteriorating right out from under the house. This would explain the fresh floor to ceiling crack in the plaster in the boys' room upstairs. *shudder* The other issue, was that the joists supporting that entire side of the kitchen weren't even ATTACHED to the 2x10's leaving the entire kitchen supported by the outside wall. again, *shudder* It's a darn good thing we didn't install that dishwasher I wanted so bad. Dang.
So anyway, the solution? To jack up the basement, replace the 2x10's, and secure that side of the kitchen to them. Oh, and incidentally, put a support post underneath the beam with the big-ass crack in it.
They came last Thursday. There are no words to describe standing in the kitchen, and watching the wall disappear behind the counter as the floor beneath you gets lifted. Immediately Carly Simon pops into my head..."I feel the earth, move, under my feet". Cheesy, but true (that doesn't look right, is it "cheesey"? Whatever).
But now, the floor is stable, secure, and closer to where it should be. The bad news is, none of the doors shut now, and all the lock mechanisms don't line up, so they will need to be replaced. With any luck, that will be BEFORE one of my kids takes a tumble down the rickety, bannisterless shoulder wide stairs on the creepy limestone foundation basement. Yes, hopefully.
And in the same vein, we saw The Skeleton Key . Very good creepy old plantation house movie set in the deep south. If you get a chance, check it out.
posted by Mindy @ 0 comments 
