1852 balloon frame itallianate newbie rehab

[earthdad]

Thanks for the warm welcome and advice. It probably will be more like a resto mod. My buddy is almost done recreating the house in a cad program. In the meantime, I just set a couple screw jacks on main beam in basement on either side of gash. After a turn, I saw the wooden post move upward. Well, the base was rotted..completely. Immediately, that 80s song "one thing leads to another" started playing in my head. I lifted about 1/8 inch and will let it be for a week. The neighbors told me the house was moved and set on its current block foundation basement.
All this is really exciting. I want to uncover all and fix it right. There is a new furnace and water heater not hooked up yet. I am on the fence about removing the chimney. This is only a two bedroom home with one living room and one chimney smack dab in the middle. If that be the case, I will need to go with a direct vent system pvc out the side.

[eclecticcottage]

Oooo...cad...fun stuff! Mine lives in my head lol. Well, and a pinterest board

Yes, one thing ALWAYS leads to another with houses. I wanted to remove the carpet in the hall at The Cottage...and found the PO "patched" the rotted wood floor with concrete then carpeted it. I laugh about it now. At the time I was a little less amused-but I already had matching floor so it was just a matter of ripping out the rot and concrete and fixing it.

Yay-neighbors with house knowledge! They are the BEST! Mine had some photos of the Bungalow Project from the 1960's.

Removing the chimney will be hard work-and you will have (literally) tons of bricks to get rid of. It's possible you might find someone to take them though, if there's a lot of rehabbing and restos in the area-it's hard to match old bricks with new ones. And if someone has the time and patience, they make nice patios! You'll have to be able to match the roof there though, if it's new enough not to need replaced. I kind of like the look-but I get why you would remove it (space and future leak potential).

I think you picked a nice house and if you can get the budget to work for you along with the return, it will be a great first flip. The Bungalow Project is my first "real" flip as well. It's quite difficult to balance my personal opinions, love for everything old and interest in preserving history with the final goal of selling the house for a profit so I can do this again. Consider a blog for yours to show the progress and keep us updated!

[earthdad]

I can see that when the walls were plastered, the excess, moisture and constituents of the mix slowly aided in the rotting of the timber and top of beam the were fixed to. If I were to have plaster done now, I would think it would be a good idea to have some type of flashing to prevent it from happening again.
After I raise the low spots on the floor of the second story by repairing the main beam, setting footings and posts, I can construct temp walls on main floor and remove 20' of wall.
I have some decisions to make...
Should I leave the ceiling exposed and the new steel I beam?

[Gothichome]

Earthdad, I may be showing my bias to restoration rather than modifying, but why would you need to remove 20ft of wall? Also my understanding of balloon construction is that the ballon framing is suppose to take all the loading but I noticed your door framing has a cripple mounted directly to the door casing, I find that a bit odd, I would expected to see at the least a header above the casing, has that door casing been improperly replaced? That nasty notch in the main beam any idea why, has it been cut away, to make allowance for ducting, plumbing, ect? Or did some one remove a structural vertical post? For what ever reason I think I might be looking for potential problems beyond the obvious saggin in the floors above. Oh, one other thing, that curve under those stairs just screams plaster.

[earthdad]

The perimeter of the home has studs from foundation wall to roof. The beam was hacked into in three places just like pic for ductwork. It supports the floor joists and a big wall ( inside and out plastered) that was on the first and second story. Or total load approx 800sq ft of plaster. Figured 20ft long by 10 ft high wall on 1st and 2nd story, finished on both sides. Yes just cripples on that door. Actually no headers above windows. But it does have a shell of 1" thick slabs of sheeting. I want to take the wall out on main floor, because the house is small. I need to maximize square footage. This includes removing chimney stack.

[Gothichome]

Beam notched in three places, gezzzz who ever did the instal of the ducting was obviously unaware of the structural integrity of the home. Not an engineer but I would think the two teleposts should be able to take the loading with proper footing ect. I would think you might look into how you are going to transfer the loading from the second floor(and roof) around your 20 ft wall section you are removing. Assuming I have the correct picture in my head. Open concept in these old girls is a recipe for disaster if not done properly.

[Mick_VT]

Plaster does not stay wet long enough to cause rot. Unless there was a secondary source of water which made and kept it wet later. My house that lay derelict for years with holes in the roof doesn't even have such rot.

[eclecticcottage]

Mick beat me to it. Plaster won't cause rot. If I recall correctly the PO removed the plaster? I am going to guess they started the reno, found that rot and headed for the hills.

[earthdad]

Well, I'm planning on taking out the wall. The po did take plaster walls down. Reasons I thought it was the plaster was there was excessive amounts of it on the inside of the wall on top of beam. What you see in the picture was after I had chiseled it all out. And underneath was rot. Not much, the pic looks wise than it is. But, I am thinking of putting steel beam on ceiling and opening up room.

[Mick_VT]

The lime plaster can react with the wood a bit, probably more so if it were in a large quantity, i wonder if that is what you are seeing?