Fixing my bad back porch

[Willa]

It sounds like you've got it under control. I still maintain, though, that you can enjoy a cup of tea out there when it's not the dead of winter!

I could enjoy it right now (if I was a tea drinker) as long as I was wearing a scarf and winter coat !

[GinaC]

Wow, that door! It does make me feel better about the built-in crookedness of my house. It looks great now! Did you need to put in any LVL for support?

I also often have dreams about finding a new room. I wonder what that means?

We discussed LVL. When we asked at the lumberyard, it only came in an 11" width, which was too big for where we needed it to go.

I wonder if the crookedness thing is a result of the local soil/geology, etc. ? In Toronto, most 1800's houses are a bit tipsy, even completely attached rowhouses where there is the support of the adjoining structure. In London (about 2 hrs away, where I live) houses from the same period are much straighter, even completely detached houses. I don't think the building methods or materials varied too much ?

I could never get into Carl Jung, despite some efforts to. From what I understand, the principles of dream analysis seem to be built on theories like the collective unconscious, archetypes and universally held meanings. In broad theory, if the house symbolizes the self, then the new room dreams would mean that is discovering new parts of the self. Now does this meaning stay the same for a person going through a divorce having this dream, or for a person living in small terrible apartment in a tight rental market ?

Your geology theory is very interesting, and I've also been wondering about it. My neighbors' houses, which were built within a year of mine, do not have sloping floors. However, they are built farther away from the large slate hill that comes up behind our houses. I think my back yard is a bit more sloping than theirs. But you're talking about settling or moving? I know for a fact that this is not the case with my house, it was built crooked, since the siding is level and the windows are not. There are also no other signs of settling inside. I do wonder if they just couldn't dig deep enough in the front in order to make the foundation level?

And I do believe that dreams do reflect the unconscious, but I haven't studied individual meanings. I think in both scenarios you mentioned, both people would have to find strength deep within themselves in order to find a way through, so discovering new parts of self would make sense.

[Manalto]

I could enjoy it right now (if I were a tea drinker) as long as I was wearing a scarf and winter coat !

Sherry or bourbon is permitted but only after 10 a.m. Earlier than that would be unseemly.

[Willa]

Your geology theory is very interesting, and I've also been wondering about it. My neighbors' houses, which were built within a year of mine, do not have sloping floors. However, they are built farther away from the large slate hill that comes up behind our houses. I think my back yard is a bit more sloping than theirs. But you're talking about settling or moving? I know for a fact that this is not the case with my house, it was built crooked, since the siding is level and the windows are not. There are also no other signs of settling inside. I do wonder if they just couldn't dig deep enough in the front in order to make the foundation level?

This story is about a new development that was built on unstable ground. This doesn't sound like YOUR situation - but A situation :

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sechelt-sinkholes-homeowners-lawsuits-bc-1.5255774

Houses are surprisingly flexible structures, so the ground below plus gravity may have shifted your house into some slightly trapezoidal shapes ? It may be that your windows were originally installed level, but the siding, which probably came later was not. At least in reference to the windows which may have been affected by settling or the ground shifting ? Or what is level in the summer may not be with a deep freeze in winter ?

[Willa]

Sherry or bourbon is permitted but only after 10 a.m. Earlier than that would be unseemly.

What about the fancy drinks that are set aflame ? Could those be considered a breakfast cocktail ?

[GinaC]

I can't believe that they built a bunch of houses in a place that they knew had sinkholes! I hope those homeowners got justice.

Well, the front of my garage did shift at one point a little, since there is a patched crack in the foundation on both sides about a foot from the front of it. This was probably due to frost heaves since the driveway was not graded properly. It happened a long time ago since that patch is very old. The small mud room probably used to move up and down a bit as well, but I fixed that this summer when I put a pier down to support the corner that wasn't originally. Neither of these things would account for the amount of slope in my floors and windows and all the trim in the house.

And my siding is original, so nope, no shifting in the rest of the house. I was so worried about this when I moved in that I hired a structural engineer. He checked every nook and cranny and told me that it was built that way.

[Gothichome]

Well I believe champagne and orange juice is suitable for a before noon beverage. Willa, may I suggest now that you have opened up the walls with those windows you may find that room a lot colder in the winter. If the plumbing is on the out side walls you may have freezing issues when it does get February cold. You may want to put some thought into moving plumbing to the inside wall. Just a thought.

[Willa]

Well I believe champagne and orange juice is suitable for a before noon beverage. Willa, may I suggest now that you have opened up the walls with those windows you may find that room a lot colder in the winter. If the plumbing is on the out side walls you may have freezing issues when it does get February cold. You may want to put some thought into moving plumbing to the inside wall. Just a thought.

I don't drink alcohol (just don't like it) but I thought a flaming beverage might warm things right up !

The pipes for the washing machine and sink are run up from the basement, and are mounted on the brick wall.

Once the remaining gaps are sealed up, and the new siding is on (with gnawed up insulation replaced) I think the room will be warmer than it was. When it was very cold outside, I could see my breath in there. I moved in at the very end of Nov./16. At that point there was no door between the kitchen and back porch so I made do with a curtain until I was able to find a reasonable person to install a door, in April. That was a chilly kitchen...

Despite the windows (which have storm windows, not up yet) the room is warmer* now. I have worried since I moved in about the pipes freezing, but they haven't (cross your fingers).

* By warmer I mean if that room had previously been 36 F/ 2C then with the same weather it is now
45 F/ 6 C now. The attic opening still needs to be closed off again. There is one small hot air register in the porch.

[Gothichome]

Willa, that’s great. I had the same issue with our summer kitchen before I redid it. At the time it had no heat, and it got cold. In the winter time I would shut the water off and fill the traps with RV antifreeze. That forced us to use the up stairs bathroom.
When I redid the room, I made sure I kept the plumbing in the heated space. We installed a furnace run into the room as well. The run though is far from the furnace but it does enough to keep it usable warm. On the really cold days we still plug in a space heater.

[phil]

I'm not sure if those stairs are current or if its an old pic but If they still exist lke that I'd definitely not use them. I'd barricade them off so they are there in case of fire and fix that issue. Picture what would happen if a 300 lb person decides to come up to your back door even when you aren't home and the resulting lawsuit you'd be likely to face. the same can happen if you have a 150 pound person carrying lots of groceries or some piece of furniture..
They are built in a very unsafe way by someone that didn't have any idea what they were doing. When one of those treads suddenly decides to let go someone could be very seriously injured. the real danger is on minute they feel fine then the nail attachments fail suddenly due to rot or rusty nails. screws also dont have much sheer strength so dont go using deck screws for this.

your porch might have a lot of slope if it was built as a porch and then enclosed. They normally have slope to get the water away from the house. Its possible you have foundation settlement as well making it lean away from the house even more.

although its a rare event picture having a party with lots of people , then someone makes an announcement or wants to take a picture or something and herds them all to your porch.. The structure needs to support the maximum possible people that could stand in the area with an additional allowance for a safety factor.

although the posts you referred to look very strong, no engineer will approve stuff like that to be used where safety is a concern. they need to be able to refer to data as a means of reference so try to stick with graded lumber for things like that. something like the pipe James mentioned might have structural information but the way they arrive at these ratings is by testing to the point of failure and adding a safety factor , the stresses of graded lumber will give a reference point that an engineer will use, but things like old posts may look and be very strong but getting anything like that past a building inspection could also be a real nightmare even if it appears to be obviously overbuilt.

we had a huge lawsuit in my area where a lot of people , like 40 or so went onto a porch and it then suddenly fell. It was because the sill plate wasn't attached to the house properly , there are standards for that, approved brackets and fasteners. You can't just use any old nails, you need to use the right ones to meet sheer strength requirements. Even if you aren't doing inspections make sure stuff like this meets code. Overkill is OK, but those stairs are a serious injury waiting to happen. they may be too steep to meet code but the more serious danger is that the 2x4 blocks are just held in place by nails and they can suddenly just let go. the stringers should be cut properly and be strong enough to support the treads.
there are lots of other code rules surrounding this. It shouldn't be too hard to build new ones that are built safely , the first step is to calculate the rise and run, when you know that you can lay out the stringers so the steps are all equal and the total rise is what you need. the bottom of them shouldn't be just sitting on dirt but anchored properly and the top of the run needs to be attached properly.

This is a job for a ticketed carpenter or at least someone that is referring to proper code. many people are confused about how to build stairs properly and you end up with stuff like this.