The Problem with the Brick Wall

As we begin to inspect the brick wall, it becomes apparent that there are several issues with its condition. The mortar is wet and crumbling, pulling away from the bricks, which indicates that water has been seeping into the joints and causing damage over time. This is not an isolated problem, as the issue appears to be widespread along the entire length of the back wall.

The Mason's Solution

Mark McCullough, the mason on the project, has taken steps to address the problem. Initially, he considered repointing the brick joints, which involves removing the loose mortar and replacing it with new material. However, instead, he decided to take a more comprehensive approach. He scraped out the joints, mixed up some cement, and filled the loose areas between the bricks. Then, he applied a layer of wire lath over the surface, followed by another layer when it was still wet and parched. This created a stucco-like effect inside the brick wall, effectively sealing the gaps and preventing further water damage.

Additional Support

To provide additional support to the roof, which is becoming increasingly heavy due to the addition of the shed roof, Mark has installed wire lath on the third floor. He has also added new studs to the rafters, which are currently sitting atop the brick wall. This will help distribute the weight more evenly and prevent sagging, a common problem caused by excessive snow or load.

Strengthening the Beam

The original beam that supports the roof is still intact but requires strengthening to withstand the additional weight of the shed roof. Mark has installed two new laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beams, which are engineered to provide exceptional strength and stability. The LVL beams will be bolted against the existing beam to create a more solid foundation, ensuring that the roof remains secure.

The Corbel Solution

To accommodate the LVL beams, Mark has created a corbel, similar to the original one built in the 80s. This involves cutting pockets on either side of the wall and inserting the LVL beam into place. The beam will rest on both sides of the pocket, providing additional support and preventing sagging.

Securing the Beams

With the LVL beams in place, Mark is now securing them to the existing structure. He has installed five-inch lag screws at regular intervals to hold the beams firmly in position. This ensures that the roof remains stable and secure, even under heavy loads.

A Closer Look at the Roof

As we move up to the third floor, we can see the original gable roof and shed roof additions. The rafters are originally four by three inches, with a purlin running across the beam to split its span. However, this design is no longer sufficient to support the weight of the shed roof. Mark has identified the problem as being caused by the sagging beam, which is pushing the building out front and back.

New Support System

To address this issue, Mark has installed new studs to provide additional support to the rafters. These studs will help distribute the weight more evenly, preventing sagging and ensuring that the roof remains secure. The original beam will be supplemented by two LVL beams, which will provide a much stronger foundation for the roof.

Conclusion

As we continue to inspect the house, it becomes clear that every aspect of its construction has been impacted by the addition of the shed roof. From the brick wall problems to the sagging beam and subsequent support system, Mark's expertise and attention to detail have ensured that these issues are addressed. With the new LVL beams and secure fastening methods in place, we can rest assured that the roof will remain stable and secure for years to come.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow if i hold the level against the wall right here and i hold the level plumb straight up and down yeah put my hand there look at this gap between the level and the brick big gap what does that represent that tells me that the wall is bowed out right there seriously like two or three inches bowed out two or three inches so is this just a veneer facade or well it's actually a structural bearing wall for the roof and it's two brick wide yeah all right so now we have a gable roof sitting on top of there so when the snow gets on the roof it pushes the roof down pushes the wall out pushes the wall out right that's right so now when the snow melts the wall comes back so it's been moving back and forth since the building's been built i don't suppose that's by design it's not by design so also what's happened on the inside some of the structural integrity of the wall has been compromised because the mortar inside the between the brick is falling out but shouldn't something be holding this front wall to the building so that doesn't happen right here this dividing wall that runs down the center of the building down here to divide this unit to that unit that brick wall is tied into the front wall and that has broken free oh yeah yay all right now not original to the house but there's the big star and a bolt right there and that goes into the floor structure that runs from left to right also trying to hold this front wall to the building right because it started quite a while ago so they tied it there and they tied it on the third floor so you're telling me it's a bearing wall i've heard that it's moving for like 100 plus years yeah and then i heard broke free pretty bad let me show you oh yeah you did keep going on with the demolition ninja time yeah right down to the brick huh yeah i had to all right so now right here this is the neighbor's wall this is the outside wall you can see this big gap right here you sure can and down here you can actually see where the brick is broken away on the sidewall and gone with the front so that just where it bowed and literally pulled itself out of this wall right wow all right now originally the structure there wasn't any real structure on this wall it was just strapped like this all that did it gave a flat spot to attach the plaster and lathrop so no wood framing all the weight being carried by these brick walls no so what i'm going to do is we're going to frame a wall in the basement we've framed a wall on the first floor we're going to do it on the second floor and the third floor to share some of the load of the roof taking it off the brick wall so that solves one of our problems right now the old-timers as you saw outside because the walls were starting to take pull out they put the star and the bolt out there through the brick so star out here brick wall here right a piece of steel on the inside that nails to the underside of the floor joists stopping the wall from going out any further so now what i'm doing because we have a concrete sill and a concrete header outside i'm going to attach a threaded rod to that so i'm going to drill through the wood into but not through the concrete sill or the concrete header inject some epoxy put the threaded rod into the epoxy then with a nut and a washer i can hold the wall from going out any further so same basic idea as the star we're just not going to see anything on the outside exactly you talk about going to do you jumped right on this well i was really worried about this yeah now here in the back wall we have another problem all sorts of problems with our brick huh yeah you can see the mortar is wet and it's all crumbling and pulling away yep so now how bad is this is it just isolated in this corner no this goes all the way up the whole back wall oh great so we've already started fixing that on the second floor now my mason mark mccullough podged this whole wall parged it on now wouldn't the solution normally be repointing all those brick joints well he thought about it he could have just scraped out all the loose water mix up some new and put it in between the joints pointing the wall but he wanted to go a step further so he scraped out the joints mix up some cement and he just basically covered the whole wall filling the loose joints and then he took a layer of wire lath and forced it right over the surface and took another layer when it was still wet and parched right over that sandwiching the wire between the two layers basically stucco in the inside of this brick wall exactly now the other thing that we did is we took the wire lab before it went on the wall and we bent it so now when we put the plate down we can fasten it there on the bottom and we've already fastened it at the suspenders and who knows what else all right now that we're up here on the third floor we can see some of the history and how this place was actually built and if you look over here you can see that originally this was just a simple gable and back in the 1980s when we think it was renovated they added the shed roof which is all new newer construction and that low pitch roof when it gets covered with snow adds a lot of load to the roof which is creating some problems now also if you look at the original roof the rafters are four by threes so there was a purlin that ran across to split the rafter span to carry the load you can see the beam right here this one's still remaining we think it's a six by six or six by eight and it spans the whole width of the house about 20 feet now when there's a lot of snow or load on the roof that beam will sag and when it sags it wants to push the building out front and back and that's what causes that's what's causing some of our problems these rafters are sitting right on top of the brick wall now to fix it tom has added wire lath and podged the brick on the inside he's added another stud or sill here we can place new studs to add support to the rafters now back in the 80s when they did the renovation they tried to strengthen that beam by adding a couple two by twelves on this side a couple two by twelves on this side and then bolting them through but even that wasn't enough right so what we need to do is stiffen that up and to do that we're going to use this material right here these are laminated veneer lumber or engineered beams they're 14 and three quarters wide by inch and three quarters thick we're going to put two of them there and bolt them against that and that'll solve that problem right now in the 80s when they added these two by twelves they built this corbel to help support it we know that this original beam is set in the brick and we're going to do the same thing right we've cut a pocket on that side we've cut another pocket on that side now because we get to get the beam in between these two walls and still rest on the walls we have to slide it deep into that pocket and then pull it back so half of it rests on this wall and half of it rests on that wall not a lot of room to maneuver and a heavy beam absolutely okay push it up now over here we go all right all right yep don't let it come out all right okay this way easy how's that probably on about an inch or so we'll secure it with some five inch lags every couple feet all right there's one okay all right a little more it's heavy tommy yeah right there so let's see tommy we got the original beam plus one two three four two by twelves yeah and now two new lvls yeah that gonna hold the roof you're gonna sleep now i'm gonna sleep really good now hope so thanks for watching this whole house has got a video for just about every home improvement project so be sure to check out the others and if you like what you see click on the subscribe button make sure that you get our newest videos right in your feednow if i hold the level against the wall right here and i hold the level plumb straight up and down yeah put my hand there look at this gap between the level and the brick big gap what does that represent that tells me that the wall is bowed out right there seriously like two or three inches bowed out two or three inches so is this just a veneer facade or well it's actually a structural bearing wall for the roof and it's two brick wide yeah all right so now we have a gable roof sitting on top of there so when the snow gets on the roof it pushes the roof down pushes the wall out pushes the wall out right that's right so now when the snow melts the wall comes back so it's been moving back and forth since the building's been built i don't suppose that's by design it's not by design so also what's happened on the inside some of the structural integrity of the wall has been compromised because the mortar inside the between the brick is falling out but shouldn't something be holding this front wall to the building so that doesn't happen right here this dividing wall that runs down the center of the building down here to divide this unit to that unit that brick wall is tied into the front wall and that has broken free oh yeah yay all right now not original to the house but there's the big star and a bolt right there and that goes into the floor structure that runs from left to right also trying to hold this front wall to the building right because it started quite a while ago so they tied it there and they tied it on the third floor so you're telling me it's a bearing wall i've heard that it's moving for like 100 plus years yeah and then i heard broke free pretty bad let me show you oh yeah you did keep going on with the demolition ninja time yeah right down to the brick huh yeah i had to all right so now right here this is the neighbor's wall this is the outside wall you can see this big gap right here you sure can and down here you can actually see where the brick is broken away on the sidewall and gone with the front so that just where it bowed and literally pulled itself out of this wall right wow all right now originally the structure there wasn't any real structure on this wall it was just strapped like this all that did it gave a flat spot to attach the plaster and lathrop so no wood framing all the weight being carried by these brick walls no so what i'm going to do is we're going to frame a wall in the basement we've framed a wall on the first floor we're going to do it on the second floor and the third floor to share some of the load of the roof taking it off the brick wall so that solves one of our problems right now the old-timers as you saw outside because the walls were starting to take pull out they put the star and the bolt out there through the brick so star out here brick wall here right a piece of steel on the inside that nails to the underside of the floor joists stopping the wall from going out any further so now what i'm doing because we have a concrete sill and a concrete header outside i'm going to attach a threaded rod to that so i'm going to drill through the wood into but not through the concrete sill or the concrete header inject some epoxy put the threaded rod into the epoxy then with a nut and a washer i can hold the wall from going out any further so same basic idea as the star we're just not going to see anything on the outside exactly you talk about going to do you jumped right on this well i was really worried about this yeah now here in the back wall we have another problem all sorts of problems with our brick huh yeah you can see the mortar is wet and it's all crumbling and pulling away yep so now how bad is this is it just isolated in this corner no this goes all the way up the whole back wall oh great so we've already started fixing that on the second floor now my mason mark mccullough podged this whole wall parged it on now wouldn't the solution normally be repointing all those brick joints well he thought about it he could have just scraped out all the loose water mix up some new and put it in between the joints pointing the wall but he wanted to go a step further so he scraped out the joints mix up some cement and he just basically covered the whole wall filling the loose joints and then he took a layer of wire lath and forced it right over the surface and took another layer when it was still wet and parched right over that sandwiching the wire between the two layers basically stucco in the inside of this brick wall exactly now the other thing that we did is we took the wire lab before it went on the wall and we bent it so now when we put the plate down we can fasten it there on the bottom and we've already fastened it at the suspenders and who knows what else all right now that we're up here on the third floor we can see some of the history and how this place was actually built and if you look over here you can see that originally this was just a simple gable and back in the 1980s when we think it was renovated they added the shed roof which is all new newer construction and that low pitch roof when it gets covered with snow adds a lot of load to the roof which is creating some problems now also if you look at the original roof the rafters are four by threes so there was a purlin that ran across to split the rafter span to carry the load you can see the beam right here this one's still remaining we think it's a six by six or six by eight and it spans the whole width of the house about 20 feet now when there's a lot of snow or load on the roof that beam will sag and when it sags it wants to push the building out front and back and that's what causes that's what's causing some of our problems these rafters are sitting right on top of the brick wall now to fix it tom has added wire lath and podged the brick on the inside he's added another stud or sill here we can place new studs to add support to the rafters now back in the 80s when they did the renovation they tried to strengthen that beam by adding a couple two by twelves on this side a couple two by twelves on this side and then bolting them through but even that wasn't enough right so what we need to do is stiffen that up and to do that we're going to use this material right here these are laminated veneer lumber or engineered beams they're 14 and three quarters wide by inch and three quarters thick we're going to put two of them there and bolt them against that and that'll solve that problem right now in the 80s when they added these two by twelves they built this corbel to help support it we know that this original beam is set in the brick and we're going to do the same thing right we've cut a pocket on that side we've cut another pocket on that side now because we get to get the beam in between these two walls and still rest on the walls we have to slide it deep into that pocket and then pull it back so half of it rests on this wall and half of it rests on that wall not a lot of room to maneuver and a heavy beam absolutely okay push it up now over here we go all right all right yep don't let it come out all right okay this way easy how's that probably on about an inch or so we'll secure it with some five inch lags every couple feet all right there's one okay all right a little more it's heavy tommy yeah right there so let's see tommy we got the original beam plus one two three four two by twelves yeah and now two new lvls yeah that gonna hold the roof you're gonna sleep now i'm gonna sleep really good now hope so thanks for watching this whole house has got a video for just about every home improvement project so be sure to check out the others and if you like what you see click on the subscribe button make sure that you get our newest videos right in your feed\n"