I love it when a plan comes together

Post date: Apr 15, 2015 9:24:9 PM

The owner of this property had an undetected water leak.  We had to replace the headers on some doors, which is not pictured.  We also had to replace the header holding part of the roof over some picture windows.  In addition there was some evidence that the existing wood beam had sagged a little and was placing load on the windows.  Once the wall was opened, it became obvious that the existing cantilevered engineered wood beam had rotted.  There wasn't a way to replace the entire beam, so the backspan that held the cantilever down was unavailable for the new beam.  We thought up this lovely replacement.  

And it worked.  The guys over at River City Builders were the contractor on this project and installed the steel force couple below.  The back column is in tension and as the bolts were tightened, the roof picked up a tiny amount.  This is important because the picture windows were difficult to get out, but went back in easily.  Now they are not a load bearing member either.  Also pictured is the temporary bracing to the inside of the house.

There are two morals to this story.  First, sometimes things just work out the way you intended.  Second, make sure that when you get the roof replaced, they use flashing!

Thanks to Jonas at River City Engineering for the photos.