Breezeway/sunroom change to living space
I’m in the planing stage of remodeling our enclosed breezeway/sunroom into living space and would like to get some feed back on my plans.
First some background:
The last homeowners created a sunroom with cheap sliders and skylights during a room addition off the back of the house by extending the original breezeway along with the addition. The sunroom is the length of the new addition and width of the old breezeway. Basically they knocking out the back wall of the breezeway, poured a concrete slab on grade even with the old on grade breezeway slab, made the new slab part of the footer on the addition wall (addition floor 18 inches above grade), and as far as I can tell the new slab is setting on or has footers. The two outside walls for the room were attached directly to the top of the slab and tied back into the walls of the old breezeway and the new addition, these walls support the roof over the sunroom. For this discussion we won’t talk about how the cheap skylights leaked, how the roof lines meet or how the wall bottoms and headers are rotting.
After correcting all the above not to talk about problems here’s my plan and questions. All the concrete old and new is in good condition and except for the roof leaks is dry as a bone, so the plan was to rebuild by adding some block or brick on top of the outside edges of the sunroom slab to create something to match the existing foundation of the house and also to lift the new wall bottom plate further from the ground, rebuild new walls up from there with new insulation, windows, door etc., I was then going to insulate the floor with EPS, lay plywood and wood flooring just like the basement remodel in FHB.
Does this sound reasonable, what’s the best way to tie the first course of brick/block to the top of the slab? Would drilled holes and cemented or epoxied in rebar work to tie it together or will this always be a problem joint?
Thanks
Replies
I'm asuming that you've done your due diligence in confirming that the existing slabs are placed with adequate footings. that being the case, I would do the following....
Epoxy some threaded rod into the slab and let them carry up through the bottom (treated) plate, where nuts and washers will secure them in place. (I assume you don't need to worry about earthquakes.) Rods 1' in from the ends and no less than 6' apart. Unless the slab has been painted or treated in some way, if you clean it, the new mortar should bond to the old slab. You could scrub (etch) the slab where the block will go with miriatic acid, rinse, and lay your block if you are concerned about the bond. (Of course you have to use all the recommended cautions with the acid.) Your local home center probably has a concrete bonding agent you could use under the block eliminating the acid step. I,ve had limited experience with them and really don't know how well they perform. As I recall though it smelled like the old white Elmers glue.
An extruded polystyrene foam might be a better choice for the foam. A bit more exrensive, but better for a floor.
After looking at it some more last night I think all I need is one course of block, so bringing the rod up through this course and into the bottom plate is an excellence idea.
Thanks