Cut Beams

Plumbers back in the 20's loved to just cut through stuff. This section will, when we get back to it, give you an idea of what happens when folks don't think about structural issues. Dangerous. Big time.

Third Floor Bathroom

This was probably one of the worst old plumber problems we uncovered. Here you can see two of the joists that had been cut to make way for a cast iron drain. The one nearer the wall had only about 1/2" of wood left and had broken through.

The floor was very unsafe to walk on; parts of it were floating. Since we are putting in a tiled shower and using this as our main bath, we decided we needed "a bit of work" here.

Underside of Third Floor Bath (from NE Bedroom)

Here you can see the handiwork of Bob Bennett, Will and Bruce MacFarlane, and finally Chuck and Kirk (Hiedler).

The joists were sistered with 2 X 10" LVL beams (the original joists were only about 7", so the ceiling had to come down a few inches). Then sisters were added to the opposite side. The joist tops had to be routed and chiseled to get them flat; the floor had sloped several inches. Now it's flat.

Furring strips then had to be added beneath the LVLs to compensate for an overall ceiling variation of more than four inches.

Finally, Hiedler's crew restored the plumbing -- this time with smaller, tight holes and new copper. What a difference!

more will be added...

Third Floor Bathroom

Underside of Third Floor Bath (from NE Bedroom)

Pleasant Plains Farm Restoration