Conveniently enough, I have a home improvement project underway.
As part of a larger plan to build a balcony off of our upstairs bedroom, we've been taking out a patio cover that ran along the left side and rear of the house. The right wall of our house is the neighbor's property line, so in essence we don't have a backyard so much as one large yard.
This patio cover consisted of three 4"x4" posts supporting a 12"x4" beam (actually two beams laid end to end for about 29' total). A series of 2x4's laid across this beam perpendicularly and attached to the facia boards on the house. On top of that were 2x2's running the length of the house with a 4" gap between each. All in all, it kept the south side of the house cooler. The patio cover in the back was essentially a continuation with another 12x4 beam supported by another pair of 4x4's.
The house was built in 1973 and this structure dated from pretty much that same year.
We'd already pulled off the 2x2's and the stringers and the original plan was to replace them with fresh wood as there was a fair amount of dry rot. However, there was a lot of play in the vertical supports. Upon further examination, there was some dryrot at the base of all three. It wasn't too hard to figure out – whomever constructed this thing had simply put a 6" tall stucco base around the bottom of the 4x4's trapping moisture for about 30 years.
Last Sunday, I pulled off one of the 2x8 facing boards on one of the vertical posts. The whole assembly got decidedly looser as a result so it was clear that the whole structure had to come down. Most of the bottom of the 4x4 had rotted away. Lifting the beams off was definitely not an option. I managed to get some minions over to lend assistance and we decided that it was best to first drop one beam from the center post (where the two joined up) letting the vertical on the other end act as a lever. So, while we braced the structure one of the guys pulled off the facing board on the other side and we found that they hadn't tied the two beams to each other nor the vertical on that side. On the front, they'd used a T-strap. We also found a lot of dryrot and evidence of termite damage. Fortunately, we were able to successfully (and safely) drop the first beam and the vertical post came off its mount. The second beam, held up by the center post and the other vertical was merely pushed toward the front post and it too came down safely.
I then took a look at the footing for these verticals. The idiot who built this structure poured a concrete footing with about 6" of rebar extending up from it. They drilled a hole in each vertical post and put them onto that rebar!
My next trick will be to drill some holes into the concrete footing and pour a 6" concrete pier on top with about 18" of steel rod running through both pieces of concrete. I'll mount the new posts on those piers. Alternatively, I may just buy two of those aluminum pergolas at Costco and run them end to end (about $1500).
After cutting up all the lumber today, it would appear that the termite infestation was old. The house had been treated for them about 16 years ago, so the colony was probably killed then. I didn't find more than a few exoskeletons.
I'm dreading taking apart the assembly in the back. It looks more substantial, but I still need to replace the 4x4's as they sit directly on the concrete and there's dryrot about 2" up. I'll need to mount a third 4x4 in the middle in any case.
The finished project will be a lot sturdier but I'm wondering what other construction lunacy I'll find.
On the positive side, we got new double-glazed vinyl windows in yesterday and they'll clearly keep the energy bills down.
Wyatt
tells something about herself.
