With the basement being the target for my woodshop, the unpredictable inundations simply will not do. I managed to vacuum up the standing water, and have employed our housewarming (should I say "house-drying?") gift from my in-laws, a nice new dehumidifier! This has gotten the dampness to retreat somewhat, and with our clay soil draining slowly outside, the hope is that I can start moving some tools down there. Not before I try to deal with the smell of cat excrement...
I am meeting with a friend today to look at possibilities involving changing some of the grading in the yard, with an eye towards diverting ground and surface water away from the foundation. Word has it that there is a curtain drain in place, but my guess is that it must be clogged by now, or somehow suffering a major leak. Hopefully any grading can be done in such a way as to not disturb septic and water lines.
The water coming from above is a totally separate problem, though equal in threat. We knew that the "deck" off of the master bedroom was leaking, and I am assured that the design is typically very difficult to flash properly. We are entertaining the idea of doing away with it completely as a place to stand outside and replacing it with some pitched surface that will get the water out of there. The sliding doors that lead to the deck are two of a handful of units that were never properly flashed. I will have to pull them out (regardless of whether they are to be reinstalled), and install a proper pan underneath them. Due to this lack of workmanship, there are two major leaks within three feet of each other: one which I believe to be at the bottom of the post between the two upstairs sliders (See rotten subfloor in previous post), and one which is out near the edge of the deck, presumably where the center support for the handrail makes a penetration. The whole affair has been gooped up with silicone caulking over the years as a means of "fixing" the problem.
Dealing with the first leak will mean pulling the sliding door units, uncovering the deck (it is rolled granular roofing material, maybe two layers), and basically starting from scratch in that area. I will be detailing my findings in a subsequent post.
The second leak is one that I have already begun to investigate. I noticed early on that there was some sag evident in the ends of wrapped beam on the first floor which supports the second floor.
At first it seemed that maybe it was too big of a span for the beam to carry, and I imagined jacking the whole thing up and sistering on some supporting members. Damage to the drywall on the first floor under the beam, and the pinched French door there gave me some clues that there might be a bigger picture.
And there we have it. Water damage that has soaked into the end of the carrying beam (Sarah posted an earlier photo of me awkwardly removing the trim), promoting decay in the beam, the growth of nasty black mold, some friendly neighborhood carpenter ants, and...
...the reason for the pinched door. This photo shows a duplex/staging nail hand pressed to the hilt (about 3") into the bottom plate under the triple 2x4 post between the French door units. Basically the middle of the whole end of the house is sinking. This means that these two heavy door units will also have to be removed, the bottom plate(s?) replaced, a proper pan installed (it isn't yet clear if some of this lower damage was actually caused by water coming in locally. I will not be surprised.), and the door units reinstalled and properly flashed (for the first time). These will likely remain door units in this location, because they provide direct access to the big deck on the west end of the house.
So I began thinking that I would need to jack up and support the beam, and somehow remove the end of the beam, splicing in dry material, sistering on more material and maybe ending up with a post in the middle of the room. Then I thought I might need to support the second floor and replace the whole span! I was starting to think both options were actually impossible. My head was spinning. Last night, however, my brother offered a different, far simpler (and actually possible!) solution, which I will detail as I get to it. He explained that the beam only needs 1" of bearing on the end, and that I should install a post between the two doors, in the room, that goes through the first floor to load the second floor beam directly on the first floor beam in the basement. Brilliant. I can leave the beam on the first floor intact, and end up with an element that will make for good stories during one of our many cocktail parties.
On a lighter note... During an intense weekend cleaning session, the drain tube from the dishwasher which had apparently been hanging on by just a thread, was bumped free of its brazing, leaving us with a hole in the kitchen sink drain. While I tried to removed the drain to replace it with a new one, I noticed something odd: the whole basket assembly was loose in the sink. I couldn't get it tighter (or looser) by hand, so we called off any sink usage until I could get the right tool. The basket assembly was removed and cleaned, and the rubber gasket was replaced with plumbers putty. It is now well seated and doing fine.
Other exciting news is that I finally own my very own tablesaw! It's an old Powermatic 63 Artisan's Saw, which falls into the category of "Contractor Saws." Just about perfect for me, it is heavier and more powerful than a truly Portable/Jobsite Saw, while being a substantially smaller investment than a Cabinet Saw. Here it is in pieces, awaiting the drying of the basement lair!
That's all for now, folks. Thanks for sticking with this super long post! Please won't someone help me with FORMATTING!? Dern you, Blogger!
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Andy
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