Structural Work for Older Hacienda Heights Houses
An enclosed porch can hide weak framing under an older Hacienda Heights house. Finding one adds a perimeter footing and tie straps to the structural plan.
An old back porch closed in to make a room can hide its own weak base under an older Hacienda Heights house. From inside it reads as one floor, while the framing below may rest on short posts and a thin slab edge sized for an open deck. Finding that adds a continuous footing along the outer edge and straps that join the room's frame to the main house, and the engineer works both into the retrofit.
Telling an enclosed porch from the house
A change in floor height at a doorway, a step down in the ceiling or old siding showing inside a closet are clues that part of a room started outdoors. Under the floor we look for the point where the crawlspace ends against concrete, posts set on loose pads and joists that run the other way. The roof over that room gets a look as well, since a porch roof may have been framed lighter. Each of these marks where the old open structure meets the main frame, and that seam is measured and photographed.
What the finding adds to the scope
A room built on porch framing moves on its own in an earthquake, so it needs its own ties to the ground. Depending on what the engineer sees, that means a new perimeter footing dug and poured along the open edge, posts reset on proper pads and hold-down straps across the seam. Los Angeles County Building and Safety handles the permit and inspections, as Hacienda Heights has no city building department. The quote lists this work apart from the main retrofit. Inside, the original trim, windows and plaster in the older rooms stay untouched.
About our Structural Work serviceEverything we do in Hacienda Heights
Structural Work in Hacienda Heights: common questions
A floor that sinks toward one room, a crack along the line where an addition meets the house and doors that bind at a top corner all deserve a look. Under the floor, bare cripple studs, sills with no bolt heads and posts that lean show the frame needs attention.
Los Angeles County issues the permit, since Hacienda Heights is an unincorporated community. Plain bolting with plywood bracing may fit a prescriptive design if the crawlspace is low and even. Tying in an enclosed porch, new footings and any beam or bearing wall change call for an engineer's calculations and stamp.
Mostly, yes. Anchors, plywood and the new porch footing are reached from outside or from the crawlspace. If a beam has to go into a wall, only that wall opens. Its casings come off one at a time and are labeled for their spot, and the plaster patch is skim coated to the texture around it.
Structural Work in other cities
Other work we do in Hacienda Heights
Talk to us about your house in Hacienda Heights
Send the details and we will set up a walk-through and a written scope.