A few months ago my brother and I added a covered porch to his existing home and have seemed to notice the interior walls cracking in the corners, 6 feet at the closest from where the roof attaches. The other side is even further away, Is this something serious or is it just the building settling with the extra weight/going through winter expansion?
2007-02-01 13:07:54 · 5 answers · asked by hopper_1999 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Well, you certainly added some extra load to the wall with your covered porch. So it is conceivable that this extra load has changed the load on the wall, causing bending that the wall did not experience before. Winter time would not in itself cause any extra expansion, in fact colder weather causes contraction. But any snow or ice would add extra load to this connection. It is probably not anything serious, just something that is a pain to repair, especially if the deflection of the wall ends up varying a lot between winter and summer.
2007-02-02 02:04:57 · answer #1 · answered by Jeffrey S 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you have good rain/snow water drainage if you have rain/snow drainage within 2 ft of the foundation this could be the cause of your problem.
If this not what is going on.... I would suggest giving the porch and house a little extra support....
Suggest that you place a 4x4 on each side where you attached the new roof,that way the weight would be on the 4x4 and the ground and not your house.
2007-02-01 13:25:48 · answer #2 · answered by CARPENTER 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Taping the drywall joints usually prevents cracking. Are there any other signs that the porch itself has settled badly due to poor footings?
2007-02-01 13:20:01 · answer #3 · answered by PAUL A 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
not a simple ans to a very complicated ? what the variables are;footing depth/size,frost/freezing zone,studs & correct size for support of load it is bearing under,was lunber green/dry,properly spaced etc.something is deff moving or drying or maybe under various conds,both.you know what you did,used etc and hopefully standard building codes for where you live.cracks are usually sign of movement or drying,,,hopefully not cracking and or breaking.time will tell,i guess.
2007-02-01 13:33:23 · answer #4 · answered by dicky d 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dude, sounds like you need a structural engineer to advise you! Good luck.
2007-02-01 13:11:04 · answer #5 · answered by mountain woman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋