Level it up!

Floor on the right was 1" lower

After taking down the load bearing wall between the old kitchen and the butler's pantry (read our previous post called "Kitchen Canvas"), we noticed how unleveled the floor was. In fact, it dropped by more than an inch on the breakfast nook side. It was simply too much of a drop to ignore it. So in order to fix it, we had to understand the root cause of the problem. Our investigation revealed a construction mistake dating from 1912. We could tell the architect probably designed it correctly, but it was the construction crew who most likely messed it up.

Misaligned walls

The load bearing wall that we took down was supporting the weight of the bathroom floor above, made up of 7 inches of concrete, and an iron tub. You should read VERY HEAVY!However, that wall was only support by the kitchen floor and not supported below despite a large 6X10 beam and a brick column in the basement. The error was a misalignment of the wall and the column. They were supposed to be directly on top of each other, however, the wall was offset by a foot to the right of the column. To make things worse, they notched the 2X10 joists so they could rest on a 2X4 board nailed into the beam (see the hand drawn sketch to the right). So the entire weight was resting on a single horizontal 2X4. Had the joists rested on the beam itself or had they been held by joist hangers, it probably would have resisted better. But without any support, that poor 2X4 didn't stand a chance. Therefore the joists sank with the 2X4 underneath.

2X10 notched to rest on a 2X4 nailed to the beam

The good news is that we took the kitchen wall down, therefore relieving all the pressure on these poor joists. This actually made the fix a lot easier than we had anticipated. All we had to do at this point was to lift each joist using a 20 lbs bottle jack and then shim below the notch of the 2X10 so it will rest higher on the 2X4 and voila! But just to be on the safe side, we also added metal joist hangers to support the joists.

A shim inserted under the joist

20 ton bottle jack lifting a joist

Shim under the 2X10

New sub-floor in select areas

Once the floor was leveled correctly, we proceeded with repairs to the sub-floor. It had rotted from years of leaking pipes under the kitchen sink. The rotten wood spread for several feet. We used 3/4" tongue and groove decking instead of the diagonal pine boards used in the original construction, simply because we didn't have any extra pine boards. But since the sub-floor will be covered by hardwood floors anyway, nobody will ever see the difference, unless they are looking at the basement ceiling. Moreover, we salvaged as much of the hardwood floor as possible. We are keeping the pieces for repairs in other areas. For example, we will need to cover up old giant return vents that are no longer in use. Besides being the right restoration think to do, reusing original hardwood pieces has another important advantage. It just so happens that the width of these white oak boards are slightly thinner than the 2 1/4" boards sold today. So when you have to replace boards in between other boards, using new boards that are slightly wider won't work. Also the new wood doesn't take the stain the same way as old wood does. So this will ensure better consistency for the finished product.

Chiseled joist forming a point

Finally, with the concrete removed from the bathroom floor above, the last thing to do was to remove the chiseled joists on the second floor and put in new ones. Back then, they chiseled the top of the joists into a triangular point so they could level the concrete poured in between the joists (see picture to the left or read the previous blog labelled "Hammer Time" for more details on chiseled joists). Unfortunately, a chiseled point won't give us the nailing surface needed for the new subfloor. So we removed the old joists and installed new ones.

Kevin removing old chiseled joists

Patrice nailing new joists

Upstairs bathroom floor redone

We still have one more sunken floor that requires attention. It is on the ground floor in the central hallway close to the bathroom. There again we had 2 concrete floors and a load bearing wall that weren't supported at all underneath. We will need to dig in the crawl space until we hit solid ground. It shouldn't be difficult because the ground is quite solid in that area. Then we will pour two 12" deep concrete foundations about 8 feet apart. Once the concrete has cured for 48 hours, we will use these new foundations to install our bottle jacks and push a new 6X6 treated beam under the load bearing wall. We will attempt to level it as much as we can while being careful not to crack the plaster walls above too much. Once we reach an acceptable level for the floor, we will cut and install permanent columns under the new beam that will rest on the new concrete foundation. Then we will remove the jacks. Once this last floor leveling project is completed, we will be home free. That means we will be able to close up all remaining bathroom floors, run new pipes and wiring, retile all 3 floors, re-install tubs and sinks so we can have 4 working bathrooms again. It has been years since all 4 bathrooms haven't worked in this house. So I have a feeling the house will be very happy!!!

Kitchen Canvas

The very first time we toured the house we dreamed of a great kitchen made up of the existing kitchen, breakfast nook, and laundry room combined. And one of our first demolition project after buying the house was taking down the wall between the breakfast nook and the laundry room to jump start our vision. However, the wall between the kitchen and the other two rooms was a load bearing wall, which would require a solid beam to be installed. That's when we called in the experts. Several of them came by and gave us their opinion. But it was a local contractor with a unique welding experience who impressed us the most. He can build an entire house using steel beams only. And what's more solid than a steel beam to replace our load bearing wall? Probably nothing. Sure there are some LVL beams made of compressed wood chips that are extremely solid, but they tend to be very bulky compared to a steel beam.

Breakfast Nook

Laundry Room

Kitchen

Two Temporary Support Walls

Once we reached an agreement with our contractor, we proceeded with building two temporary walls: one on each side of the existing wall. The reason is simple. The second floor joists resting on the wall above were joined at this particular point. This means one joist ended and another one started right above the wall. So we needed to support the joists on either side of the wall to prevent the ceiling from collapsing. Once these two walls were in place, we nervously used the reciprocating saw and cut down the load bearing wall one stud at a time. And luckily we did everything right and nothing moved. Not even a settling crack upstairs.




Once the wall was down, we moved our efforts in the basement with the help of another contractor and friend. We had to ensure the beam could be supported all the way down into the foundation of the house. We couldn't even rely on the kitchen floor to rest the future columns that will support the beam. In fact, we had to cut holes through the kitchen floor to make room for the columns. These columns needed to rest on a concrete foundation of at least 12" deep in the basement. We drilled test holes in the basement floor and were shocked to discover that it was deeper than 12" already. Our drill bit was longer than 12" and did not reach the bottom of the basement floor. That was a very good news. However, the other end of the beam lined up with a dirt floor. So there we had to dig and pour a proper foundation to receive the second column.

New foundation for second column

 

Over 12" of concrete floor

Steel column in the basement

Pressure treated wood added

With the wall gone and the concrete pads ready, the time had come for the metal beam to be delivered. And what a mammoth it was weighing over 500 lbs and measuring 14" high and just shy of 20' long. The beam was first outfitted with pressure treated wood at the top and at the bottom for creating nailing surfaces that will be needed later on when we are ready to dress it up. Then it was hoisted up close to the ceiling and 2X4 crosspieces were nailed between the two temporary walls to hold it in place. The goal was just to get it close at this point. The ceiling had to be leveled as much as possible before determining the final resting place of the beam. So a giant rotating laser was used to obtain several measurements across the room. Two 20 ton bottle jacks helped push the beam in its final place and we checked the level reading one last time.

Hoisting the beam

Cross-pieces holding the beam

Leveling the ceiling and beam

The final step was to cut the supporting columns to length. In fact, each column was made of two columns welded together using a metal plate in between.

Welding the column to its plate

And voila the beam is in place properly supported all the way to the basement without any pressure on the kitchen floor. The result is a new kitchen canvas with approximately 400 SF. I like the word canvas in this case because we had no idea how to lay the kitchen within the space. It is like having the white page syndrome for a college paper. Sure, we had lots of ideas, but with so many options, so much space, and very few constraints, where does one start? We had designed and remodeled 3 other kitchens before this one, but they were all such small spaces in comparison. We became very good at optimizing space and using every inch, but this kitchen project will push us out of our comfort zone. Of course it is a good problem to have and we're not complaining.

Beam resting in its final place