Situation: I live in a duplex. My neighbor’s predecessor and mine each added two rooms, one atop the other, but without a party wall. There is about six inches of space between his unit and the new part of mine (dumb!).
The second story of mine has a wall of wood, now rotting, covered by asbestos siding which has started to fall off. When I re-mounted the 6-inch gutter over that space, two months ago, wood had rotted away, and I could feel the fiberglass insulation from the outside.
So far water has not leaked through to the bedroom inside, and I did not detect a break in the outside aluminum covering (but for how long?).
Other details: 1. House built right after WWII as a mass veterans’ housing project. Additions both built about 20 or 30 years later, My addition has a roof sloping toward my neighbor’s property (dumb!). Fortunately, the 1st story wall there is cinder block (My neighbor’s predecessor had the sense to make his wall all cinder block and have the roof slope toward the rear of his property.
2. The interior of my addition is “drywall†with no plumbing and (presumably) no wiring standing in the way of the repair. The roof overhang is as minimal as the law allows.
3. The neighbor is approachable and might be talked into a mutual solution.
4. The rest of the house is brick downstairs with vinyl siding upstairs.
5. I’ll have to wear protective clothing with “salt shaker†mask; remove fiberglass from the walls; and remove some of the almost unpackaged fiberglass from the rafters, but beyond that, I do not know how to proceed. The trick is building, from the interior, a watertight exterior that won’t rot. Please help.
Replies
It is a little bit hard to visualize all that you have there but it sounds like it is a compilation of unprofesionally shoehorned stuff. Now you are looking for a way to wash your socks while still wearing them?
Find a professional to rebuild it right.
Excellence is its own reward!
Really what is needed here are some pictures of the situation.
Do you have a way of providing them on here?
Sounds like it might be worth the effort.
Photographs of that very poorly lit, close area would be a bit difficult - Particularly on my schedule.
I'll see if I can provide sketches this weekend.
Milt
a digital can take pictures in the dark...they see better than we doMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Attached is a picture of the overall situation.
Milt
Milt
From what you have described, and assuming you are protected by an an "existing use" right, I'd remove the ceiling from the affected room(s), temporalily support the roof rafters, replace the timber frame wall with one constructed of Hebel blocks, properly flash between the roof and gutter and restore the room. You could also replace the wall with pre-fabricated wall panels but I suspect that this would be much more difficult.
Thank you. This one looks very good, as it includes materials data - a real stumbling block for me.
I'll find out about Hebel blocks and their suppliers right away.
Milt
Ian
Unless I'm reading the sketch wrong, I'm not sure that is going to work. Milt, what is the neighbours cladding above your gutter line consist of?
As I see it, you have the neighbours skillion wall adjoining your gable gutter line ( which I'm assuming goes back to a valley where it meets the existing main roof?? )
Basically you are going to have to construct some kind of substantial box gutter between your roof and the neighbours skillion wall in addition to fixing any framing/ structural problems you have.
Does your Code have FRL considerations to take into account? Depending on what they are, Hebel may not cut it.
regards
Mark Quittintime
Mark
I think the first issue for Milt is does he have to comply with the current codes for his area or is he grandfathered into the codes that applied when the extensions were build?
Assuming he can repair what he has, he is looking for a type of wall construction that can placed from inside the room. Bricks meet this criteria, but I would worry about a full brick wall overloading the fountation and causeing cracking elsewhere in the house. I mention Hebel because it is light weight alternative to brick.
As to the gutter, as you observed it'll have to be sized and flashed to cope with run-off from both roofs
Ian
Thank you both very much.
The gutter does go back to the main roof,yes.
The neighbor's wall in the troubled area is cinder block, all the way to the roof of his addition. That wall extends higher than my gutter.
Meanwhile, I've got to find out what Hebel Blocks are, and where to get them. The huge dictionary at the county library did not help. I VERY much appreciate that Hebel Blocks are light weight.
Milt
It sounds to me like your addition had to be there first. It would be possible to build a cinder block wall within 6" of an existing wall, but a sheathing and shingle wall would require some working room. Sloping your roof in that direction wasn't dumb until the neighbor's addition was built.
Since you're on good terms with the neighbor, I'd suggest enclosing the 6" space and making a party wall of it. You need an experienced local contractor who's on good terms with the building department having jurisdiction. It looks like both former owners might have violated setback requirements, and you both need someone who knows the odds of getting a variance for the fix.
-- J.S.
This sounds GRIM! - Hiring a contractor into the costly and unknown.
My main hope in posting this notice was to contact someone who himself has faced a similar problem.
Milt