The Dreaded Basement/Garage Pole Issue...

Lawnboy77 said:
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I can relate! This was my table in the mid 70s with the dreaded basement support pole right in the way. It added new dimensions to the safety play. Lol


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Arrrrgghh!!!!

And, there IT is !!!!

I'm having flashbacks... damn. - GJ
 
GentlemanJames said:
In fact, the only thing I want to know is: a) How much, b) How soon can they get here, and c) How soon can they get out.

But, that's me. - GJ
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Wouldn’t that be nice. Take a deposit, show up
on time, do it right the first time. Is that service still available. Me? I get the guy that takes a deposit …disappears and buys himself a new table. And never invites me over to play.
 
My friend relocated a beam himself for his 10 footer. He just moved the beam over like 3 or 4 feet. I asked him if he had an engineer look before he did it and he said no.... Anyways he did it like 30 years ago and its still standing.
 
pw98 said:
My friend relocated a beam himself for his 10 footer. He just moved the beam over like 3 or 4 feet. I asked him if he had an engineer look before he did it and he said no.... Anyways he did it like 30 years ago and its still standing.
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Ours was done with no engineering. Ideally it should be done by permit. It should be disclosed when selling the house. Just something to consider.
 
Luckily, in my case, the seller of the home I wanted to buy 30 yrs. ago was a supposed contractor, and was desperate to sell (very old listing). So, I made it a sales contract stipulation to have the pole removed. He simply shortened the two adjoining poles and installed a steel ‘I’-beam under the original triple 2x10 support beams. No problems since, and room enough now for a 12’ snooker table, if I wanted one. Still plenty of headroom under the I-beam too (same height as my 8’ table light).
 
pw98 said:
My friend relocated a beam himself for his 10 footer. He just moved the beam over like 3 or 4 feet. I asked him if he had an engineer look before he did it and he said no.... Anyways he did it like 30 years ago and its still standing.
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In the room above, how much does the floor bounce? Is there a dip in the floor.
 
I had a bearing post removed from my basement about 25 years ago. Originally, the 40-foot span had 3 posts (10 feet apart) supporting two 8” I-beams (not sure the weight), and I wanted to remove the middle post. I hired a structural engineer to determine the size of the I-beam (weight per foot), and he recommended welding two 8” I-beams (20 and 25 pounds per foot) to the existing I-beam. Of course, we had to add two posts to the existing posts to support the new I-beams. The contractor was able to hide one set of posts in a wall, and the other set is encased in dry wall. But it gave me a 20-foot post-free space. This solution was probably overkill, but I was thankful for that when we added a second story to our house.
 
GentlemanJames said:
That might be good for someone else; but, it's not my style at all.

I want to hand a professional contractor a piece of paper with some ink on it, and watch him and his work crew drive-away with an offending pole while I eat a sandwich from the comfort of my recliner.

I don't want to be involved with the process at all, none of the paperwork, no personal involvement with the township building inspectors, none of it.

In fact, the only thing I want to know is: a) How much, b) How soon can they get here, and c) How soon can they get out.

But, that's me. - GJ
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That was me being good. Forty years ago it would have been go get a big assed laminated beam, two cases of beer, and two whole ribeyes sliced about an inch and a quarter thick. Then I would invite a half-dozen large friends to a barbecue and try to get a couple of them that could hit a nail two times out of three and at least one that knew how to use a chainsaw. I would be the man on the hotwrench or metal cutting saw. Once the project was nearing completion I would send out for some beer, two cases was just to prime the pump!

After a move we needed a good bit of fence put up to hold my wife's horse. She started asking friends and employees to come help build a fence and we would barbecue afterwards. I told her she was doing it all wrong, they could find out about the fence after they got to the barbecue. Nobody really minded, with food, families, and beer, a project was kinda expected.

Hu
Brookeland Bill said:
Alligators will eat a coonass. They taste like chicken.
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You are right, alligators taste like chicken! Depending on who is doing the cooking it can be anywhere from OK to fantastic! A friend in bad health was struggling to clean a small gator one day, at a commercial business right where the drive exited a major four lane. Poaching alligators is heavily frowned on but Mr Nick had a bad heart and was struggling way too hard. He told me to come back by in a couple days. His wife had made that little gator into sauce piquant and I am here to tell you that I have eaten sauce piquant made with many meats and mixtures of meats but that was the best ever! I still don't poach those little five or six foot alligators but I can't help thinking they are sauce piquant on the hoof!

I spent my teen years chasing after cajun babes, they can be right tasty too! You know they are good looking when you pull a Justin Wilson, look them up one side and right back down the same side!

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
That was me being good. Forty years ago it would have been go get a big assed laminated beam, two cases of beer, and two whole ribeyes sliced about an inch and a quarter thick. Then I would invite a half-dozen large friends to a barbecue and try to get a couple of them that could hit a nail two times out of three and at least one that knew how to use a chainsaw. I would be the man on the hotwrench or metal cutting saw. Once the project was nearing completion I would send out for some beer, two cases was just to prime the pump!

After a move we needed a good bit of fence put up to hold my wife's horse. She started asking friends and employees to come help build a fence and we would barbecue afterwards. I told her she was doing it all wrong, they could find out about the fence after they got to the barbecue. Nobody really minded, with food, families, and beer, a project was kinda expected.

Hu


You are right, alligators taste like chicken! Depending on who is doing the cooking it can be anywhere from OK to fantastic! A friend in bad health was struggling to clean a small gator one day, at a commercial business right where the drive exited a major four lane. Poaching alligators is heavily frowned on but Mr Nick had a bad heart and was struggling way too hard. He told me to come back by in a couple days. His wife had made that little gator into sauce piquant and I am here to tell you that I have eaten sauce piquant made with many meats and mixtures of meats but that was the best ever! I still don't poach those little five or six foot alligators but I can't help thinking they are sauce piquant on the hoof!

I spent my teen years chasing after cajun babes, they can be right tasty too! You know they are good looking when you pull a Justin Wilson, look them up one side and right back down the same side!

Hu
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Haven’t thought of Justin Wilson in years. He was from Yazoo City. Famous for him and lawnmower.
 
Stickman9 said:
I had a bearing post removed from my basement about 25 years ago. Originally, the 40-foot span had 3 posts (10 feet apart) supporting two 8” I-beams (not sure the weight), and I wanted to remove the middle post. I hired a structural engineer to determine the size of the I-beam (weight per foot), and he recommended welding two 8” I-beams (20 and 25 pounds per foot) to the existing I-beam. Of course, we had to add two posts to the existing posts to support the new I-beams. The contractor was able to hide one set of posts in a wall, and the other set is encased in dry wall. But it gave me a 20-foot post-free space. This solution was probably overkill, but I was thankful for that when we added a second story to our house.
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Funny, it never occurred to me that the adjoining posts might be overloaded (relatives of that ‘contractor’ usually roll their eyes when his name/work comes up). They look to be simple 4x6s, not the typical steel jack-posts. Guess I’ve been lucky so far.
 
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I’d be surprised if there is anyplace you could do this kind of work legally without a permit. And a permit will likely require “sealed” calculations from a licensed structural/architectural firm. Without these documents some contractors may refuse to do the work.

It is a good idea to do this work the correct and legal way because some day you may want to sell your home and the buyer may bring in a home inspector who will spot the work immediately and ask to see the documentation.
 
We have a laminate beam in my basement with another smaller laminate beam a few feet back in the center. Had an engineer friend of mine inspect it...asked if I planned to park my car in the living room lol. My brother in law is a home inspector and also inspected it. Been that way for 12 years now and the house is still standing. 18 foot span with no trouble spots from having a 7'er with 2 poles in the way
 
Joe P. said:
...asked if I planned to park my car in the living room lol.
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Living room floor should support 40 lbs per square foot, IIRC. While your car would put the load into 4 spots instead of spread out, the structure can easily support that much weight if it's distributed. I just found it surprising how strong structure is.
 
A friend of mine gave a contractor a $28,000 deposit over a year ago. The money is gone, the contractor has a handful of customers in this position. As usual cops say it is civil. You can win a judgment, can't get blood out of a turnip! Might even get the contractor a little jail time, won't get the work done. The friend is retired so a twenty-eight thousand dollar loss bites pretty big. Meantime no other contractor wants to mess with a job halfass started and walked away from. The contractor is licensed, had references, the whole nine yards. However with all of the demand for work after the storms he took a lot of deposits, spent the money, can't do the work if he wanted to with no money. I'm sure he is still basically Ponzi scheming. Taking deposits, using some of that money to do a little work on older contracts and try to stay out of jail.

That is one reason I have long been a do it yourselfer whenever possible. Sixteen trees 80' to 120' tall, I went and bought a chainsaw and started laying down trees! Had some nervous neighbors but me and John Deere had a plan. At this point I have laid down fifty or so large trees. My current saw has a 32" bar, I have felling wedges and proper safety equipment. Tree removal is another area with lots of scammers. I hired a pro when a bucket truck was needed. Scared my mule, they had no idea of safety! A licensed and bonded contractor but he sent his son to push a small crew. The son did the cutting and had no idea how. Invited a barber's chair then did much of his cutting from behind the tree!

For those that would only tackle small trees, most fatalities occur with small trees, those under sixteen inches diameter breast high. Those land owners think they can handle and pros can get a little careless with.

I'm getting past the do everything myself age now and I find that skills I haven't used in decades are no longer there. I'll have to hire contractors for any medium and large projects now. Guess I will dust off ol' Betsy and watch them, my trigger finger is still good!

Hu
 
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