Structural Work for Older San Fernando Houses
Structural work for older San Fernando houses using steel foundation plates and treated sill stock, with sound original fir framing kept in place.
Galvanized steel foundation plates are often the hardware we pick for an older San Fernando house with a tight crawlspace. Each plate screws to the side of the sill and anchors into the face of the stem wall, so it can go in where there is no room to drill down through the floor framing. The plate resists the sideways slide an earthquake puts on the frame, and its coating stands up to the damp left behind after a hard storm.
Why plates suit a low crawlspace
Standard anchor bolts are drilled straight down through the sill, and the drill needs clearance above it. Under some raised floors the joists sit too close to the sill for that, and a plate mounted on the side gets around the problem. Each one is fixed with structural screws into the wood and with anchors set in the concrete face. Before ordering, we tap along the stem wall and drill a test hole, because concrete that crumbles will not hold an anchor. Where it is weak, the engineer may call for a different detail, and that is settled before the price is written.
What stays and what gets replaced
Original fir joists, girders and posts that are dry and straight remain in the house. Lumber of that age was often milled to full size, and leaving it in place spares the floor above from being lifted. Sill lengths that probe soft are cut out and replaced with pressure-treated stock, and any steel that touches the new wood carries a heavy zinc coating so it does not corrode early. Cripple walls get structural plywood on their inside face. The City of San Fernando issues the permit, and its inspector checks the plates, anchors and nailing before the crawlspace hatch is shut.
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Structural Work in San Fernando: common questions
Doors that stop latching, diagonal cracks above window corners and a floor that leans toward one wall are worth a closer look. In the crawlspace, a sill with nothing tying it to the concrete, cripple walls with exposed studs and posts that have tipped off their blocks all point toward a retrofit.
San Fernando runs its own building department, and a permit from it is required for any structural change. A plate or bolt retrofit with plywood bracing can often be built from a prescriptive detail the city accepts. An engineer joins the job when a wall that carries load is removed, a footing is replaced or the concrete is too weak for ordinary anchors.
For a retrofit the rooms stay as they are, since every plate, anchor and panel goes in from below the floor. Beam work opens a wall or ceiling, so trim near it is lifted off by hand and stored, the plaster beyond the cut is covered, and the patch is kept narrow.
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