Structural Work for Older Sunland-Tujunga Houses
Older Sunland-Tujunga house structural work in sequence: measure, engineer, repair footings, anchor and brace, then fit ember resistant vents.
Retrofitting an older Sunland-Tujunga house goes in a fixed order, and no stage is skipped. Measurements and an engineering plan come first, especially if the lot slopes and the cripple walls differ in height from one side to the other. Footing repairs follow, then anchors, then plywood and hold downs, and finally crawlspace vents rebuilt with ember resistant mesh. Each step gets an LADBS inspection before the next begins, since Sunland-Tujunga is part of the City of Los Angeles.
Measure, engineer, then footings
Every cripple wall height is taped and photographed, because a tall wall on one side of a house braces very differently from a short one. The engineer uses those numbers to specify plywood, nailing and hold downs, and may call for stepped footings if the lot slopes. Cracked or undersized footing sections are shored, removed and replaced with reinforced concrete doweled into the old. The inspector sees the steel in the trench before the pour. Only after that does anchoring begin.
Anchors, bracing and closing up
With sound footings in place, anchors are set at the planned spacing and plywood is nailed to the cripple walls, with hold downs at the ends of tall walls. Parts of Sunland-Tujunga are on fire hazard maps, so the last step is replacing crawlspace vents with ember resistant units and sealing gaps where embers could slip in. LADBS inspects the framing and vents before the hatch is closed for good. Upstairs rooms, their plaster and their trim stay as they were.
About our Structural Work serviceEverything we do in Sunland-Tujunga
Structural Work in Sunland-Tujunga: common questions
A floor that slants toward the low side of the house, doors that drift and cracks that reopen after paint are signs. In the crawlspace, look for an unanchored sill, cripple walls without plywood, posts on loose blocks and any wall that leans.
LADBS handles the permit, since Sunland-Tujunga sits within the City of Los Angeles. On a flat lot with even cripple walls, the prescriptive city plan may apply. Tall or uneven cripple walls, stepped footings, beams and wall removals are engineered, with stamped drawings.
Footing, anchoring and bracing work all happen under the floor, so rooms stay intact. A beam is the exception and is limited to one wall. There, trim is lifted off whole and stored, dust is contained, and the plaster is rebuilt so the repair blends into the original wall.
Structural Work in other cities
Other work we do in Sunland-Tujunga
Talk to us about your house in Sunland-Tujunga
Send the details and we will set up a walk-through and a written scope.