Well, fellow breaktimers, this time it’s mine.
In the 80’s my folks had a kitchen extension put on to the back of the house. No permits, if course. Only 2 piers holding up the whole extension. I was out of the country at the time.
They moved out, we bought the place. For years I’ve hated the way the extension sloped from 4-6″ left to right from level off the old floor – 10′!
Tonight I started jacking up the worst side with a 20 ton hydraulic jack. Crawl space below 3½’ to ground from the bottom of the extension.
Gawd!
With jack posts in place, I went up 1 1/4″ on the pier. Pulled off part of the bottom sheathing and put my 3′ level. Remember, I’m up 1 1/4″, and I’m still 1/4″ out of level over 3′. But, whatever platform I use to hold the jack, it slips out of plumb, so I braced and stopped.
I pulled out the insulation and took a look.
“New” framing is sitting above the box joist, resting on it. No ledger, of course, but no vapour barrier either. I can handle that.
So now, I have to rent house jacks, get the 19′ width of it up so the framing is level, pull out the piers and dig down 30″, install the piers to code so they don’t subside like they do now, and replace everything. All because of no permits.