What's Happening Under My Patio, Part 1

Just when I thought things were almost done...
Along with the attic structure, we put toegether a couple of "minor" jobs that John could do while he was here. One was to install a whole-house-fan. That went just fine, and we will be grateful for it in the summer. Another was to put a security screen door on the back door--again, we'll be grateful for that in the summer. This one ran into a few minor snags, but generally was ok. Then we needed to add a railing to steps on the front porch as well as open up an access pannel (and vent) for under the front porch--as it was completely sealed...
Since it would be easier to do the hand rail if there was access under the patio, the access hatch was cut first. And thus, the can of worms was opened...


You'll probably want to click this picture to see the enlargemnt for full effect. There's a lot here. The first thing we noticed was the big pile of trash. That green thing is an old trunk or suitcase which actually has old clothes in it. There were a bunch of newspapers lying around. We found a date on one of them and it was from the 1970s. (Maybe 74?, I can't remember now.)
The next things you should notice are the two big support beams. The near one is at least touching (or nearly touching) the support columns on both sides. Although the left side of the near beam is only supported by a couple nails, apparently. The far beam--in classic "my house" fasion is being supported on the left only by that angled 2x4 wedged against the end of the beam and the corner of the foundation. Nice!
The stairs (rear center) are difficult to see in this picture but the technical term for them is "Pretty ****'ed up."
The angled "support brace" in the center of the picture is notched into the stringers (the angled wood that provides support for stairs) thus greatly reducing the effectiveness of those stringers. The vertical brace in the exact center of the picture, which is supporting this agled thing is set on this little wooden 'bridge' built out of non-pressure-treated wood which is sitting directly on the ground.
The last thing to look at is the wall on the right hand side of the picture. At some point over the past 100 years, the foundation has sunk a little and this wall was shimmed up. This in itself is pretty normal and not a bad thing. Except that they didn't bother to line up the shims with the support columns...
What does all this mean? It means we're getting a new set of porch stairs, some better reinfocements on the rest of the porch, and John gets another couple more weeks of job-security.

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