01-14-2019, 08:42 AM
When I bought Lynch manor 23 years ago, I missed a significant problem in the garage. When I gave the garage the cursory look it all seemed fine. Plus, I was very excited to have a garage where I could place all my tools. And in my defense, the home inspector didn't see it either.
When I walked through the garage, there was a half sheet of plywood leaning against the back wall. Just another piece oft stray detritus to be thrown out when I moved in. Turns out the piece of plywood blocked the view of the bottom plate of the back wall. A month later when I finally moved the plywood, I could instantly see that about half of the bottom plate no longer set on the the foundation. At one end there was even a sizable where I could see plenty of daylight. If you want to know why I have a cornocopia of wild life in my garage, it's because of that gap. (And the fact I put food out there for the cats)
Well, the garage wasn't going to fall down and there wasn't an easy fix for the problem so I lived with it. I lived with it until I realized the next owners of Lynch manor might not be so forgiving. This was the weekend I set out to resolve the problem.
There's about 18 inches of space between the back wall of the garage and the neighbors fence. Just enough room for me to brush one shoulder against the stucco of the garage and the other against the termite rot of the wood fence.
Now the neighbor behind was nice enough to put in the new fence about ten years ago without my cash infusion. but when they did the install of the new fence, they just pushed the old chain link fence in between the garage and the new fence. My first job was to cut out the old chain link. In order to cut out the chain link, I needed to cut out the small saplings that grew between the openings in the chain link.
And they wonder why carpenters swear. I also spent a lot of time wishing I had a small pair of bolt cutters to cut the chain link fence. But no. I did it with my pliers. I took it out in three sections, constantly fight one branch that I just kept working around because I was too stubborn to just go get the saw again and cut it.
My plan was to put some boards under the bottom plate of the wall that was hanging off the foundation and using my car jack lift the whole wall. Once the plate was higher than the foundation, it would be simple as pie to push the wall back into place. A few concrete screws later and everything would be perfect.
Not so much. The wall wasn't budging. 200 sq feet of 1/2 thick stuck was very happy right where it was, thank you very much. Plus, the foundation had shifted some in the 90 years since it was poured. It was quite as level as when it was new. Some sections had sunk while others had risen.
I spent a lot of time looking at the concrete wondering how I was going to remove 1/2" thick chunk of concrete out of the floor in order to allow room for the wall to come back into place. Because I am the sharpest pencil in the box, it only took me an hour to come to the conclusion that it's easier to cut wood than it is to cut concrete. Especially since I have a lot more wood cutting tools than concrete cutting tools.
The sawmill is my friend. I had a good chunk of the bottom plate off in a jiffy. The wall still wouldn't budge into it's proper place. I cut more. I wedge the blade in tight when the studs pinched the blade when I was cutting nails. There was more colorful language.
By the end of the day, I had got to a point where part of the bottom plate is actual on the foundation. I tried pounding it further in with my trusty sledge hammer but there isn't enough room in the narrow corridor between garage back wall and neighbor fence to get a good swing.
My next attempt will involve clamps and boards nailed to the concrete foundation. I spent about an hour looking for the special concrete nails. I knew they were in the garage somewhere. I could picture the clear plastic box and it's bright blue contents perfectly. I just couldn't picture where the box sat. Until epiphany came while I was resting on the couch watching football and remembered what cardboard box they were hiding in.
Today, Monday, I have more contractors coming to talk to me about paint and flooring installation. I have more boxes to fill with books. I have 22 boxes of books that I'm hoping to sell and another 15 boxes of books I'm keeping.
When I walked through the garage, there was a half sheet of plywood leaning against the back wall. Just another piece oft stray detritus to be thrown out when I moved in. Turns out the piece of plywood blocked the view of the bottom plate of the back wall. A month later when I finally moved the plywood, I could instantly see that about half of the bottom plate no longer set on the the foundation. At one end there was even a sizable where I could see plenty of daylight. If you want to know why I have a cornocopia of wild life in my garage, it's because of that gap. (And the fact I put food out there for the cats)
Well, the garage wasn't going to fall down and there wasn't an easy fix for the problem so I lived with it. I lived with it until I realized the next owners of Lynch manor might not be so forgiving. This was the weekend I set out to resolve the problem.
There's about 18 inches of space between the back wall of the garage and the neighbors fence. Just enough room for me to brush one shoulder against the stucco of the garage and the other against the termite rot of the wood fence.
Now the neighbor behind was nice enough to put in the new fence about ten years ago without my cash infusion. but when they did the install of the new fence, they just pushed the old chain link fence in between the garage and the new fence. My first job was to cut out the old chain link. In order to cut out the chain link, I needed to cut out the small saplings that grew between the openings in the chain link.
And they wonder why carpenters swear. I also spent a lot of time wishing I had a small pair of bolt cutters to cut the chain link fence. But no. I did it with my pliers. I took it out in three sections, constantly fight one branch that I just kept working around because I was too stubborn to just go get the saw again and cut it.
My plan was to put some boards under the bottom plate of the wall that was hanging off the foundation and using my car jack lift the whole wall. Once the plate was higher than the foundation, it would be simple as pie to push the wall back into place. A few concrete screws later and everything would be perfect.
Not so much. The wall wasn't budging. 200 sq feet of 1/2 thick stuck was very happy right where it was, thank you very much. Plus, the foundation had shifted some in the 90 years since it was poured. It was quite as level as when it was new. Some sections had sunk while others had risen.
I spent a lot of time looking at the concrete wondering how I was going to remove 1/2" thick chunk of concrete out of the floor in order to allow room for the wall to come back into place. Because I am the sharpest pencil in the box, it only took me an hour to come to the conclusion that it's easier to cut wood than it is to cut concrete. Especially since I have a lot more wood cutting tools than concrete cutting tools.
The sawmill is my friend. I had a good chunk of the bottom plate off in a jiffy. The wall still wouldn't budge into it's proper place. I cut more. I wedge the blade in tight when the studs pinched the blade when I was cutting nails. There was more colorful language.
By the end of the day, I had got to a point where part of the bottom plate is actual on the foundation. I tried pounding it further in with my trusty sledge hammer but there isn't enough room in the narrow corridor between garage back wall and neighbor fence to get a good swing.
My next attempt will involve clamps and boards nailed to the concrete foundation. I spent about an hour looking for the special concrete nails. I knew they were in the garage somewhere. I could picture the clear plastic box and it's bright blue contents perfectly. I just couldn't picture where the box sat. Until epiphany came while I was resting on the couch watching football and remembered what cardboard box they were hiding in.
Today, Monday, I have more contractors coming to talk to me about paint and flooring installation. I have more boxes to fill with books. I have 22 boxes of books that I'm hoping to sell and another 15 boxes of books I'm keeping.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm