Crawl Space Foundation

Erol Kartal · 10-14-2007, 01:30 PM

Hello,

Inspected a 30 year town home yesterday and found the front storm door and especially a first floor bath door way out of plumb. There is also minor cracking extending outward from where a first floor load bearing wall meets the ceiling.

In the very yucky, uncondtioned crawl there were no visible signs of stem wall cracks in areas that did not have foam board insulation. There is an overspanning of the floor joists (24'' o.c.) with a horizontal span of at least 14' - No support beams OR bracing.

I suspect (so far) that the overspanning may be the cause of the cracks where wall meets ceilng. But what about the settlement issues with the doors. I've been unable to determine the likely culprit and would appreciate your feedback. Photos attached. I already know about the rot in the joist pic which is beneath the front door.

Thanks
Erol Kartal

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Erol Kartal · 10-14-2007, 03:27 PM

Any takers before I send my report? I'm inclined to believe that the absense of load bearing beams are the problem.

Erol Kartal

**Bruce King** · 10-14-2007, 07:33 PM

Erol,

Good example of an issue that can not be evaluated from pictures alone.

Just too many variables that requires a good on-site study which it appears you have done well.

You just have to observe and report on these things as you see it and report the need for additional investigation.

**Corey Friedman** · 10-14-2007, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by Erol Kartal

Hello,

Inspected a 30 year town home yesterday and found the front storm door and especially a first floor bath door way out of plumb. There is also minor cracking extending outward from where a first floor load bearing wall meets the ceiling.

In the very yucky, uncondtioned crawl there were no visible signs of stem wall cracks in areas that did not have foam board insulation. There is an overspanning of the floor joists (24'' o.c.) with a horizontal span of at least 14' - No support beams OR bracing.

I suspect (so far) that the overspanning may be the cause of the cracks where wall meets ceilng. But what about the settlement issues with the doors. I've been unable to determine the likely culprit and would appreciate your feedback. Photos attached. I already know about the rot in the joist pic which is beneath the front door.

Thanks
Erol Kartal

Hello Erol,

Out of plumb walls are not likley related to the floor truss system. How far out of plumb?

In your second post you referred to the door movement as settlement. The racked door in the photo looks like settlement not an out of plumb problem. Was the wall leaning or just racked?

You indicated floor joist on 24" o.c. and a span of 14 feet. The picture shows standard metal plate connector wood trusses, not joists. 24" o.c. is common. More information would be needed to determine if they are over spanned.

As an example, a 4x2 truss, 12" depth, 24" o.c., 40 psf, can span over 17 feet. A 3x2 can span a little over 15 feet.

At 14' I doubt a center beam or strongback was part of the original design or is needed.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Sincerely,

Corey

**Gunnar Alquist** · 10-14-2007, 10:37 PM

While it is often helpful to cite a possible reason, there is nothing wrong with saying what you found and noting that you don't know why it is like that.

**Jerry Peck** · 10-15-2007, 05:25 AM

Originally Posted by Gunnar Alquist

While it is often helpful to cite a possible reason, there is nothing wrong with saying what you found and noting that you don't know why it is like that.

And calling for a "structural engineer to design appropriate repairs".

Don't get into that 'further evaluation' thing as the structural engineer *HAS TO* "evaluate it" before designing appropriate repairs.