Project:   Garland Veteran Build #1
 --3 homes of same vintage, moved to new locations to be rehabbed, then later sold to Veterans.

House 1:
  Rehabbed 7-8 yrs. ago, into a Dental Office, appears to me it was done somewhat as a 'flip' because of lack of construction quality.          Photo taken: Sept. 21, 2018


Home had been moved, installed atop new concrete piers. Also had some replacement and repair of perimeter girders done by moving company.

Problem 1:  piers are of inconsistent height and position has interior joists pulled from girder supports.
Problem 2:  the age and degraded condition of existing old girders, joists, ledger boards, stud bases and flooring.

Rear Porch: the entrance door to be moved to other wall. Corner porch post base is rotted.

The building at this point had been separated from it's base by rotted studs, joists and exterior and central girders by the move.

The door opening to the rear porch had spread and collapsed on the door due to the weight of that portion of the home being unsupported. The rear wall corner, at this point had bowed outward 3/4" at the base.

 The Corner  and next stud was rotted through completely at their base. The moving company had been paid to replace and repair what was necessary but the new sections of girders they replaced in the rear of the home were placed on cement piers that varied in heights  and position, up to 1" in height causing significant problems inside. The base, was no longer a 'rectangle' nor level.... now a sloppy trapezoid.
Throughout the home those piers varied in heights up to 1". Huge problem.

 Once the door and porch joists removed I found most wood rotted and worthless and several joists not even attached.

At this early point, it was discussed and understood that the entire tile floor and it's backer board would be removed, due to damage seen but not yet fully understood.

Tile on Backer Board covered what was mostly rotted OSB and original rotted flooring planks.

 * It appears to me this house 7-8 years ago, was redone as a "Flip".  The extent of structural cover-up was overwhelming. The entire house was tile over backer board and the reason was evident...it was the only way to prevent someone from falling through the floors.
 Three of my crew eventually did while attempting repairs!

....It also appears no licensed General Inspector had been hired to preview these homes before the affiliate accepted and entered into this project.

Began to notice that the original style of construction 100 yrs ago, had floor joists that were step cut on the ends and placed onto 2"x4" ledgers, nailed to perimeter and central 6x8" girders. Many if not most joists, were pulled away somewhat from the ledger boards and girders by the move.  Also dry rotted and also depressed up to 1/2" oh their ends, making total rebuild of flooring system mandatory in my opinion.

We began work in this back room first.

Living Room

  After I had pointed out glaring problems in the structures weakness noted upon inspection under the house, did the ED/construction supervisor have the Moving Company return,to do the work they had been paid for.  They came, did some stuff,  like installing quick but poorly installed girder supports, then left washing their hands of further input the affiliate states had been paid for.

 Exterior Girder. Look sound to you?

(I am addressing each of these areas as we rebuild the sub structures.)

Rear door. Sheet rock cracked/separated or compressed in many places show the uneven stresses on the structure.

Girders replaced but joists pulled away their fasteners had been cut, leaving them Not Connected.

OSB removed in rear. Joists on left were so rotted, they could not be trusted to hold a person. Joists on right not much better.

Another Girder area that was temporarily supported but addressed better as we removed the old and installed new joists.

Girder surfaces and joists often were just 'powder' when tapped.

 Dry rot and some old termite or other  insect damage besides dry rot.

 Joists have often sunk below the level of the girders.. in this case near a half inch below.

 CLICK ANY PHOTO FOR A 'LARGER' VERSION !

New joists and OSB in rear 2 rooms. Moving forward on south side of home shown on left. Found interior levels to vary by 1" due to improper concrete pier heights below. Fudging now to make interior floor 'look' level. It's the only solution I can come up with. Interior walls had to be jacked up and supported by a bridge support system, so we could work beneath them.

 Look close at what we had to deal with.

Some old joists once removed, shattered when tossed out and hitting the ground. A few broke in half.

THIS....was a 'solution by the returning Moving Company'

 WAS REBUILT TO 'THIS'.

THE WORK OF THE MOVING COMPANY.... USED dry rotted OSB AS INADEQUATE SHIM.

These joists shattered and even broke in half when they hit the ground. Total garbage.

Reworking rear porch. New door will be on the left, not in this opening.

This corner of the house was 'floating in air'.

OSB flooring was no better than dust.

Week 1, work began to remove the tile and backer board materials.  Found most interior non load bearing walls had been placed atop the tile flooring...so had to be removed or cut at the bottom to be able to remove backer board and tile.

Room 3, new laundry room. Exterior corner after the move, was now probably 85 degrees, not a 90. The move had pulled the structure apart.

Mover replaced some of girder material but did not solve the problem of the home being stretched by the move.  The joists in many places have pulled away from the girders they were attached to by up to 3/4".  The ledger boards they were sitting on and the joists...were significantly dry rotted, split and damaged in other ways.

 Front porch Portico had pulled away from the section of the front of the home. Originally the front room, now to be a dining room was once a porch. Later it was enclosed improperly.  The weight of the Portico over the new porch area, had pulled the one side of the wall out from the original home by 1.25".  We still have to try to push/pull this portico back into it's original position and reattach it.  I've begun preparations for this task as the Moving Company will not return to do what was caused by the move.

Living room..............

jacking with new 20 ton bottle jack....and repair of girder this and next few photos

(2 car jacks had been supplied upon my original request.)

 Repaired girder and new material in 3rd bedroom. Next 2 photos are of same area.

Damage as shown in photo below, was reinforced instead by jacking up this section of the house, removing the blocks, through bolting the virtically cracked girder with support bellow and 2 sistered layers inside prior to new joists and hanger installation.

Nice huh?

The flooring was so rotted that even on sections we thought were sound, my helper fell through to his thigh on day 2.
No injuries luckily.

 Any work, including replacing joists, is to be done right.  This kind of "lack of detail/lack of concern" demonstrated several times in one day, was not accepted by me. The level of this and another joist was later reset to the correct height.
......  the 'goal' is to do things right..... the first time.

The Circular Saw I was given burned it's way
 through my first cut.
Overall, the tool supply and their condition has been at best, minimally adequate. Many tools used are ones brought individual Caravanners.  Obvious poor prior tool maintenance.
A replacement blade was installed by the affiliate the next day. 

When I first saw this in places inside Home #1, on day 1, I knew we had extensive damage underneath.  No one from the affiliate had gone under the house to see how extensive the problem was, until I did. What I saw underneath was shocking.

Now in mid November...

Dave installing OSB flooring.

Richard and Victoria doing a joist repair.

Randy, our plumber extraordinaire.

Tyler and Rachael, Garland crew doing 'dry in' work.

Victoria and her grandfather Randy, doing the 'rough in' work of plumbing.

 Dave in red and Richard has concentrated on new walls and flooring in spectacular fashion.

Tyler in proposed kitchen area.

 Randy and Victoria installing water line for refrigerator waterline.

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6th Street location of homes #2 and #3.

2 Homes on Sixth St. side by side.
Green house is still not completely ready inside. (early November)
Blue house #3 hasn't been started and doubt it will get seriously into a schedule until at least....Summer of 2019.

Blue House #3

Interior of #2 Green house when I arrived late September.  Certainly not stripped to the studs as had been presented and ready for windows and siding.

NOW below, 6 weeks later.

This will the next caravanner location after significant work on House #1 on Burke St., as per the ED. He has been splitting us up. I will continue on Burke St. House #1.
He is going to begin on House #2, drawing from our small Caravanner crew and he says he will supervise construction there. 

Portico on House #1 has been pulled out on this side by 1.25" Roof flashing open. Needs serious effort to push this back in and secure,(some prep work already done) then add piers and decking plus columns. Hope to get to this repair before I leave Dec. 16.