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Homeowner Triumphant
Go Team Me!
My front stoop has been sagging sadly, enough that I've gotten several estimates on replacing it, since in the opinions so far of everyone who has looked at it, it is/was in bad enough shape that merely repairing it was useless. Carpenter ants have been up to no good it seems, plus it was never constructed well in the first place.
(The front stoop is properly speaking the steps and landing leading up to my front door -- there is a front porch, too, which is a tiny windowed anteroom where we keep our recycling and snow shovels.)
So several of the floor boards have been a bit saggy-looking, but actually fairly firm underfoot these past few weeks. I've not exactly been hurrying the estimate process, plus it's going to cost a pretty penny... but then on Saturday, the floor took a huge sag, so that the boards out of true were suddenly about a foot below the other ones. So NOT reassuring.
So I consulted with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dxmachina over IM and he came up with a great suggestion that I hadn't even considered -- concrete blocks to stabilize it. Not a long-term solution, obviously, but enough to keep us able to enter and leave the house while I make a decision on a contractor and a price.
Which meant that I went to Home Despot this afternoon and bought some blocks, laboriously loaded them into my car's trunk (I thought to bring gardening gloves, so my hands were much happier than they would have been, but damn, those suckers are heavy.)
I had already deshingled part of the front of the porch so I could get underneath, and scope out where the blocks should go for the best advantage, so I got busy piling them up -- two like this || and then two like =. That got me up maybe 18 inches or so, which was high enough to get out my car's jack and carefully carefully jack up the support beam (which isn't ant-eaten -- I checked) enough to slip the remaining blocks underneath the beam, then let it down so the beam rested firmly on the blocks.
Much to my amazement, this worked. The floorboards are back to about an inch out of true, the stoop feels firm. While it doesn't look so very great, it does look and feel much better and I think it will hold until I get contractors in....
My front stoop has been sagging sadly, enough that I've gotten several estimates on replacing it, since in the opinions so far of everyone who has looked at it, it is/was in bad enough shape that merely repairing it was useless. Carpenter ants have been up to no good it seems, plus it was never constructed well in the first place.
(The front stoop is properly speaking the steps and landing leading up to my front door -- there is a front porch, too, which is a tiny windowed anteroom where we keep our recycling and snow shovels.)
So several of the floor boards have been a bit saggy-looking, but actually fairly firm underfoot these past few weeks. I've not exactly been hurrying the estimate process, plus it's going to cost a pretty penny... but then on Saturday, the floor took a huge sag, so that the boards out of true were suddenly about a foot below the other ones. So NOT reassuring.
So I consulted with
dxmachina over IM and he came up with a great suggestion that I hadn't even considered -- concrete blocks to stabilize it. Not a long-term solution, obviously, but enough to keep us able to enter and leave the house while I make a decision on a contractor and a price.Which meant that I went to Home Despot this afternoon and bought some blocks, laboriously loaded them into my car's trunk (I thought to bring gardening gloves, so my hands were much happier than they would have been, but damn, those suckers are heavy.)
I had already deshingled part of the front of the porch so I could get underneath, and scope out where the blocks should go for the best advantage, so I got busy piling them up -- two like this || and then two like =. That got me up maybe 18 inches or so, which was high enough to get out my car's jack and carefully carefully jack up the support beam (which isn't ant-eaten -- I checked) enough to slip the remaining blocks underneath the beam, then let it down so the beam rested firmly on the blocks.
Much to my amazement, this worked. The floorboards are back to about an inch out of true, the stoop feels firm. While it doesn't look so very great, it does look and feel much better and I think it will hold until I get contractors in....
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I really should learn some carpentry one of these days.
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Yay, Theo, for a successful, if temporary, fix!
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Whoda thunk it?Just as planned.Glad it took care of it for now.
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You'll want to get the house professionally treated for those carpenter ants. We use these guys:
Baystate Pest Control
Address: 25 Francis Ave, Wakefield, MA 01880
Phone: (781) 245-3577
I don't know if they'll go to your town or not, but they were very careful to note we have children, and took that into account when deciding how to treat the problem, and asked about pets, as well.
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