I have before me a report from the engineer who inspected the damage to our floor framing caused by the plumber. The repair solution is not as bad as I feared. It consists basically of gluing and nailing a piece of 2×4 to each section of a joist that has been damaged.
The engineer didn’t confine himself to inspecting only the damage to the I-joists. He also looked at the floor as a whole with respect to the load it’s carrying, and he found another problem. This time the problem is the responsibility of the floor plan designer — me. There is a load-bearing wall on the main floor that is offset by a few inches from a load-carrying beam in the basement. The beam in the basement should have been placed directly beneath the upstairs wall. The engineer’s analysis indicated a potential eventual failure of the I joists because of the offset load. The framer doesn’t really think it would cause a problem, but, once the engineer puts it in writing, it has to be fixed.
I’m not a details kind of person, but when it comes to things like building a house, I do sweat the details. I should have seen this problem in the floor plan, and, if not then, during construction. But I didn’t. Fortunately this fix is also fairly simple, but it involves 23 joists.
I could do all the repair work, but I plan to let the framer do it. They will almost certainly be much faster than I would be.
We also had the well pump installed last week. That will allow the water supply lines to be tested for the inspector’s approval, as soon as we can figure out how to get 220 volts to the well.
I am now in the process of insulating and doing some other things that have to be done before drywall can be installed. Part of that process involved climbing an eight-foot step ladder to work on the garage ceiling, which is about 11 feet high. Last Friday, when I was doing that, I managed to kick the ladder out from under myself, leaving me hanging from a rafter. The drop was not far — four or five feet — but it was onto a concrete floor with several boards lying directly beneath me. I was worried about my knees, but there was no choice but to drop. When I let go of the rafter, I hit the boards and fell backwards. I must have put my arm out as I fell, because I ended up with a sore shoulder. I’m afraid it’s a torn rotator cuff. If so, it will be the second time a step ladder has caused a rotator cuff tear. The previous time was a few years ago when I was staining a post on the lower deck of our current house. I fell from the first step and hit my left shoulder in just the right way to cause a clean tear that left my arm useless. This time my arm hurts when I do certain things, but I can still work with it.
The surgeon who repaired my first tear used to live across the street from Leah’s parents. He’s a nice guy and he did a great job on my left shoulder. The only evidence of his surgery is three small dimples arrayed around my left shoulder, plus a usable arm. I hope I don’t have to give him the opportunity to show his skills on my right shoulder. In any event, I can’t do anything about it until we finish the house. I can’t afford to take a month or two off from the work that still needs to be done on both the new house and the old house.
Yikes, Mark, that fall and shoulder injury sounds pretty painful. Sure hope it’s not a full tear. Hope that heals well and quickly. Sounds like things are moving along at the house. When do you think you and Leah and the furry gang will be able to move in? Good luck with all of it, Mark.
Well, at least your shoulders would match again!
Hope you don’t need the surgery, though.
Robin — My shoulder seems not to be hurting quite as much as it did at first, but then that might be because I’m compensating. This makes me think of when my old boss had a torn rotator cuff and I encouraged him to get the repair. He didn’t want to go through the surgery (which of itself is not so bad) or the recovery (which is the real pain). Now, I find myself in pretty much the same situation. Of course, physicians rightly take a conservative approach, so they might not think mine warrants surgery.
We are aiming for the end of May. That is a semi-hard deadline, because that’s when our buyers’ lease ends. Our neighbor, who is the agent for the property, told me that there was some flexibility in that date, but I really don’t want to go beyond the end of May. I think we can do it.
Ridger — Ha! There is that. I told Leah that the next time I see my doctor I’m going to mention not only my shoulder but also my knees, which have been getting stiff and a little sore from all the ladder climbing and kneeling to work at our house. Maybe they’ll give me a volume discount, one shoulder, and then buy one knee and get the second for half price.