CABIN 1.8: CRAWL SPACE EXCAVATION - PHASE 2

With the primary excavation completed it is now time to take control of the crawl space.  What does that mean?

It means getting control of the structure, the building systems (sanitary sewer) water supply, air movement (ducting) and framing of new and existing openings for crawl access.

The first priority was the structure.

Beam at left to be replaced

It helps to have a friend like Duane to assist

New Beam and columns.

The floor beam below the joists that was buried in the dirt was found by the architect to be deficient.  It had been an on-going snack for carpenter ants.  Replacing the beam required new footings for columns, temporary shoring of the existing floor, jacking up the floor to relieve the load of the joists on the beam. a new beam and columns.

Once the prep was done, the beam took about an hour to replace.

The beam that was replaced

The picture above illustrates the condition of the beam we removed and replaced.

The next effort took place beneath the main area of the cabin.  New concrete footings were set in place to receive new columns to support the existing 4 x 6 beams that were resting on some concrete block and a strategically placed stack of field stones as the supports.

The existing beam was reinforced with two 2 x 6's with 1/2" threaded rod through bolts at approximately 24" oc, a new treated 4x4 column with side supports glued and bolted to specifically support the new beams.

Column and beam reinforcement

The existing beam was reinforced with two 2 x 6's with 1/2" threaded rod through bolts at approximately 24" oc, a new treated 4x4 column with side supports glued and bolted to specifically support the new beams.

While we jacked up the floor to relieve pressure on the existing beam we also had the opportunity to adjust the level of the floor which is now more level than when we originally acquired the structure.

Just the addition of the one column mad a huge difference in the solid feel or bounce (deflection) of the floor.  It is really solid.

One more column needs to be installed to complete the task.

The photo above is the finished column to beam connection below the guest room floor.

With this phase of the structural work done it was time to move on to the plumbing and sanitary waste line - that will be the next blog entry.