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Cracked support beam

From: surfnazismustdie@hotmail.com
Category: Structural
Remote Name: 209.206.132.240
Date: 25 Feb 2004
Time: 06:53 PM

Comments

My 100year old + 2 story house has a 16' x 6" pine main beam supporting the center of the house that is cracked and sagging. I am on a very limited budget and was thinking of using a locally available 16' x 5.5" pressure treated beam to install next to the old one for additional support. The problem - the west side of the house's joists run parallel to the beam and the east sides are at 90 degrees and notched in; also the ceiling height is 6'. The telephone pole section supporting the center of the beam has rotted and plaster cracks are evident in the walls on the first and second floors.

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