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Moved garage. Studs don’t meet plate now

akbarnjeff | Posted in Construction Techniques on December 17, 2002 04:50am

I just had a house mover pick up my detached garage (20′ X 20′) and move it to a new location, 20′ away. The garage is framed, with a stucco exterior. At the new location, I had new footings and stem wall poured, and bolted down a new pressure treated plate. The old plate was rotted and termite eaten in several places.

Unfortunately, the guy who poured my stem did not get it level. The back stem, parallel to the front, door-wall, is a bit high. Each of the two side walls dips in the center. The result is that now the studs in the middle portions of each of those walls do not reach the new plate. Some are off just 1/4″ or less. The worst is off 5/8″-3/4.”

Does anyone know the correct way to remedy this problem? Shim? Sister new studs next to the short ones? I would appreciate any ideas. I did get a building permit, and will need to pass final inspection. Thanks.

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  1. Piffin | Dec 17, 2002 05:18am | #1

    Nothing a little sawsall and cedar shims can't handle, depending on what's highest, lowest and crookedest

    .

    Excellence is its own reward!

    "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.

    The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

    --Marcus Aurelius

  2. stossel1 | Dec 17, 2002 05:46am | #2

    I agree with piffin, loosten the anchor bolts were your studs are short so you can shim it up snug to the bottom of your studs and then retighten your nuts. I would use metal shims because they come in different thicknesses. Just leave your high points alone

    1. akbarnjeff | Dec 17, 2002 06:03am | #3

      I may have a problem doing as you suggest. What I didn't mention in my original post was that my first concrete guy botched the job so badly, one leg of the stem was 1 1/2" lower than the opposite leg. That guy refused to acknowledge there was a problem, so I had another guy add Sikka 122 (a polymer concrete patching type compound) to the lower leg to raise it up. In doing that, it made my anchor bolts short. I already had to countersink the nuts on that built-up leg. I don't think I want to risk cutting further into the plate. (For what it's worth, I am a homeowner. Both those guys were licensed contractors.)

      I was planning on tying the studs to the plate with some Simpson hangers. Would it be OK to just shim underneath each short stud, as long as I use the hangers? Labor intensive, I know, but I'll do anything at this point to bring this disappointing project to a happy end.

      1. joeh | Dec 17, 2002 06:20am | #4

        You can get some extenders for the bolts. They're a piece of hex stock that will thread onto your too shorts and you can add a piece of allthread or just use a short bolt. Joe H

        Think of it as a tall nut? 

        1. akbarnjeff | Dec 17, 2002 07:33am | #8

          JoeH, thank you for your suggestion. However, I don't think I understand it completely, as it doesn't seem like it will work. I think I know what the extenders look like. Approx. 3 inches long?

          If I remove the existing nut off of a too-short, and replace it with this "long nut," what have I gained? I don't need a long nut, I need more bolt. If I put allthread above this "long nut," where do I put my washer? Even if I screwed the "long nut" all the way down to the stem wall (which I don't see how I could do without making the hole [that the too-short goes through] bigger--an impossibility it would seem, since I can't take it off of the too-short), it would still stick up above the 1 1/2" plate too much. Forgive me if I seem dense, but I don't get it.

          Sorry if this is confusing. I guess it relects my thinking.

          1. Piffin | Dec 17, 2002 08:00am | #10

            My thought was to find the longest studs and shave some off the bottom of them with a sawsall and then shim under the studs that still don't contact and toenail. didn't realize I was being too brief..

            Excellence is its own reward!

            "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.

            The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."

            --Marcus Aurelius

          2. joeh | Dec 17, 2002 08:32am | #12

            How to hog out the hole around the existing hold down? I'd just use an old hole saw and a screwdriver to roach out the pieces until the "coupler nut" would fit. Then take a piece of 2x  that will fit between the studs & drill a hole big enough to fit over the coupler. Now the bolt should work.

            Or, you can drill down through the plate into the stem wall and use an epoxy system to install longer hold downs. Simpson makes an epoxy cartridge type gizzy that you drop into the clean hole and hammer the new stud down into it. 

            Or, there are straps that can be bolted into the side of the stem wall and then go up to your stud.

            Why don't you get a Simpson catalog and look through it? There are any number of possibilities that you might discuss with your inspector and see which one he likes.

            Joe H

          3. akbarnjeff | Dec 17, 2002 04:59pm | #15

            Thanks JoeH, I did understand that one. I am thinking that there are lots of solutions to this problem. I will call my inspector today to get his advice.

          4. akbarnjeff | Dec 18, 2002 04:02am | #17

            JoeH and any others,

            For what it's worth, I called my inspector today and he suggested I just use cedar shims under the too-short studs and use the Simpson clips with them.  I assume he meant to also toenail, which I plan to do.  Thank you all for your help.

          5. 69firebird | Dec 18, 2002 05:13am | #18

            If you are convinced that the contractors you used screwed up and refused to fix the problems they created and the building inspector agrees with that, then PLEASE file a complaint with the municipal agency that licensed them, and your local Better Business Burea and the local Chamber of Commerce PLEASE.

            Somebodys gotta stop the bastards before they screw up something real important!

            Eric

          6. akbarnjeff | Dec 18, 2002 06:11am | #19

            Eric,

            I filed a complaint with the Registrar of Contractors office. They scheduled an inspection for 6 weeks later. Then, on the day of the inspection, the inspector refused to do anything because by that time I had paid contractor #2 to fix #1's mistakes. So he closed my complaint.

            I was told I could request a hearing before a hearing officer. I did so. I am told it will take 3 months to get a hearing date, and then the inspector will testify that there was nothing for him to see, because the work had been corrected before he got there.

            At the time I filed my complaint, I submitted photos, knowing that by the time the inspector came, it would be changed. I figured he could shoot the grade, determine that it was level (or close to it), look at the photos, and see that it clearly had not been level after #1 was on the job. Additionally, I submitted affidavits from #2 who said he added 1 1/2 inches of Sikka 122 to the low side, as well as the affidavit of #3 contractor who shot the grade with his transit and confirmed my own measurements.

            The point I'm trying to make is that my local Registrar of Contractors seems uninterested in helping to protect consumers from sloppy contractors. I am sure I will end up suing the guy in court, because at this point I have no confidence in the Registrar of Contractors.

            And by the way, my garage IS "really important." (I'm smiling)

          7. bake | Dec 19, 2002 05:45pm | #21

            "If I remove the existing nut off of a too-short, and replace it with this "long nut," what have I gained?"

            Now you can over sleeve the hex nut with a short piece of pipe, big washers on the top and bottom for support?

            bake

      2. stossel1 | Dec 17, 2002 06:42am | #5

        I like joeh's suggestion for your your built up stem wall, I'm going to remember that one for the next time I run into that problem. As far as the simpson connnectors are concerned I believe it is a bit of overkill, I would just get a couple of good toenails from stud to plate. However if it makes you feel better then go for it, good luck I'm curious as to how you determined that your stem walls were out of level 1 1/2". Did you use a sight level?

        1. akbarnjeff | Dec 17, 2002 07:21am | #6

          I first built up piers of bricks and shims all the way across the slab from one leg to the other, using a 4' level to make sure it was level from pier to pier. Thinking that may be too low tech, I then used a laser level of the low-cost variety. Then I decided to double check with a water level. All three of these methods were within 1/4." Because the first concrete guy still wouldn't accept any of those measurements, I had a third licensed contractor shoot it with his transit.

          1. stossel1 | Dec 17, 2002 07:36am | #9

            Sounds to me like you got it covered. The only reason I ask is that I've never had a foundation out of level that much. Maybe I've just been lucky

        2. fredsmart48 | Dec 17, 2002 08:14am | #11

          I was wondering that also.  If he measured the gap when the house mover set the house down and there was 1 1/2" between the new foundation and the sill.  It was the garage that was off the 1 1/2" not the new foundation. 

          1. stossel1 | Dec 17, 2002 08:33am | #13

            Hey fredsmart keen observation I hadn't even considered that scenario. I've actually been involved in two housemovings and they went pretty smooth. I guess just because I've never run across a foundation that bad, doesn't mean it can't happen.

  3. stossel1 | Dec 17, 2002 07:33am | #7

    I suggested toenails because I remembered seeing something in the U.B.C. about toenailing so I thought it would be sufficient. I'm not familiar with the connectors you mentioned, I'll have to check my Simpson catalogue.

  4. scotcrpntr | Dec 17, 2002 10:00am | #14

    I ####-u-me(LOL) that all the levitating studs are together and would seem you could remove 1.5" and slide another plate under several at a time 

  5. stossel1 | Dec 18, 2002 02:55am | #16

    Hey Wiley I'm in Colorado so we are not as connecter crazy as you guys living near the San Andreas fault. As long as my trusses are clipped and my hangers are hung I'm good to go

  6. scotcrpntr | Dec 19, 2002 07:24am | #20

    Simpson, Who makes virtually all the hardware we use in the N.W., and wh's specs we use in our engineering("Simpson Tie or similar")  regularly takes engineers and inspectors on  "fact findin seminars" in tropical locals, or so I'm told. Funny how more and more simpson hardware turns up in the local codes each year. I suppose we will be wropping the whole house in cs16 in the not too distant future.

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