/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Whoever did that deserves a slow death.

>>2010773
To do it right you are going to have to pull out everything. around that window. The dark stud on the left can stay. So can the doubled-up stud that runs from floor to ceiling on the right. Everything between that needs to go.

Figure out where you want the new window and install two studs on each side of it. You want the outer studs to be king studs (run floor to ceiling). The two inner studs, which will be touching the window from on the sides, will be jack studs. They will run to the top of the window frame. On top of those studs, you will need to install a full header. You will then install cripple studs above and below the window on standard 16-inch centers to fill in the gaps. The building should not fall down in the time it takes to rip out that pig's breakfast and replace it with competent work. As for the outer sheeting, get a reciprocating saw and cut it free from the studs you are removing. You will like need to fix a bunch of that also. Watch YouTube videos on how to a proper header. It is not hard to do but morons seem to fuck it up easily considering how often I see it done wrong.

Also, is that water damage? Check everything for rot, mold, or weakness and remove it if it has any of that. Also, the insulation looks nasty as fuck. Ditch any of that that is stained or nasty.

>>2010773
The more I look the worse it gets. Holy fuck, how are people that stupid.

>>2010784
Thanks dude
What about temporarily supporting it? Its like a 6 foot span as these are 2x6 (true 2x6 not 1.5x5.5) Do I need a temporary post or wall? It's single story on crawlspace, this is near the corner. Joists are perpendicular. And since it's not the smaller modern 2x6, can I just rip down some 2x8s to size?

>>2010797
24 inch on center
Forgot to add that

>>2010797
I'll be real with you dude, what you have there isn't holding up a fucking thing. You already have zero support. It ain't gonna fall in on you. If it worries you just put in the king studs before you rip anything else and work around them.

Also, I think you are measuring incorrectly. Between the studs I told you to keep you have two cripple studs. If they are 16 inches on center, that is only 4 feet. As the insulation fits well between them that is what I suspect the distance is. Not 6 feet.

>>2010801
>>2010800
Ah, you snuck that detail in on me. Eh, as I said, it hasn't fallen in yet and you have no support, so you should be okay. Just put in some king studs if you want peace of mind. You can use modern 2x6s without issue. Just put them on 16-inch centers and use some firing strips to build them out to match the depth of the original timbers.

>>2010802
>firing strips
Furring strips, fucking autocorrect. Picture related is of older studs built up with furring strips to increase the depth and allow additional insulation. In your case, you are just building up the modern studs to match your old wall depth.

>>2010803
Solid advice, will do
Another thing, there was 1x4 and 1x6 strips, some 16 ft long nailed on the exterior walls throughout. Do these have a purpose, like for shear support, or will 5/8 gypsum board suffice nowadays?

>>2010806
Looks like somebody had too many pallets lying around

>>2010806
They would not provide any racking support. A common way of doing it back in the day was with a shear brace. This would normally be a 1x4 that ran from the top plate at the corner stud across the wall at 45 degrees down to the bottom plate. It was typically 'let in' (placed in notches in the studs) from the outside and nailed to each stud. You might also see diagonal blocking (picture related), another common method. Modern construction uses large sheet material to provide the bracing. It doubles as sheeting, is much stronger, goes up faster, and is cheaper. If your external walls are not covered in 4x8 sheets of plywood or OSB then you need some kind of shear bracing.

That said, I don't know for sure why they are on the inside of your external walls. Insulation? Noise reduction? I can only speculate. What was over them? Drywall?

>>2010822
There was 3/8 plywood over top, followed by 2 layers of wood paneling, followed by 1/2 inch drywall

>>2011085

Sounds like a bunch of "remodels" just slapping shit ontop of the old to save cost, like roofers will sometimes do with shingles.

>>2010773
Why tho? Was this built out of scrap lumber? That looks unsafe for so many different reasons. Is this in a shed or similar structure?

>>2012882
Its the master bedroom
Looks like they just BSed a lot of the framing, its in the canada far north and built during pioneer times
Here's a possibly supporting wall in the hallway
Some closets I had to remove because the stud didnt even go all the way to the top plate

This looks bad, but I've seen worse from actual framing monkeys.

>>2013019
>its in the canada far north
oh ok that makes more sense. It still looks very unstable. Are the exterior walls all like this as well? What is supporting the roof?

Why the fuck is it so rotten?

Just do what second poster said I would also suguest using a couple rolling stationary car Jacks and set a couple beams that touch ceiling at main-rafters to top sill plate. Employ a few feet away from the wall minimum so you have room to work and remove sheetrock in ceiling if you have to for solid support connection.

>>2010773
I'd cut back the drywall on the ceiling to make sure the joists aren't also shot. If not then brace the joists from the floor and rip out all the corruption. Replace the top plate if necessary, cut back them both to a few inches past where they aren't rotted, stagger the cuts by 6+ inches, reinforce the new to old intersections with some steel ties/straps to be safe.

Most importantly, have fun and be yourself.

>>2013790
if it was built in northern canada >60 years ago very likely was built with untreated local lumber and had either a shitty vapour barrier or no barrier at all

>>2010773
who needs headers when you've got methamphetamine?

>>2010806
Good God, I sure hope your whole house isn't third world retard tier like that mess, Anon. Whooooeeeee

>>2014003
Cereal.

>>2014151
dumping the attic
it looks like they used the bark parts of the logs they sawed for this one. the thickest part of them is like 0.75 inch tops
some kind of homemade truss?
top pieces are 2x6
for the insulation, looks like they used sawdust/chips, then covered it with blown-in. thickness varies anywhere from 4 inches to like 2 ft

>>2013910
will do, thanks. i think the intrusion of water is from the fucked gutters, if I fix this and remove affected material, it should help. when is wood too degraded to keep?
what sucks is I can't see the bottom plate, as the original 2x6 floorboards are covered by asbestos tile, followed by plywood, followed by parquet tiles

gonna be rough to reframe an opening when it's been -30 or -40 wind chill
1/3

>>2014329
there was a whole addition/shed that was made from drywall screws & OSB that I wish I took pics of before I removed it

>>2014331
>>2013981
no vapor barrier, electrical boxes were surface mounted to that wood shit, the final connections for some receptacles were fucking tape

>>2014329
Wow. I must say, despite the unorthodoxy of the method employed there; the roof structure looks solid as a rock. Those timbers must be old growth, actual 2X12"s. Must have harvested those from an earlier structure. Considering those, and the plank decking, (also likely substantial), those odd, rough milled horizontal supports wouldn't worry me at all. That thing is going nowhere.

Plenty of insulation. Just take a garden rake and even out the distribution.

From your description, the electrical mains should be inspected and repaired where janky post haste.

Hope you'll post more pix. Fascinating!

>>2014369

>meant to say vertical supports

>>2014335
>vapor barrier
Nevermind that meme. A house needs to breathe. Just insure there is no water ingress happening from exterior cladding. Owing to the look of the insulation in (OP) picrel, this needs to be addressed.

>>2010784
Supremely useful post.

>>2014369
The rafters are true 2x6 rather than 2x12 I believe, roof is ~28 feet wide, making each piece 15ish feet long, its 2ft on center

Electrical point of entry is in a bedroom, and
there is a subpanel in the furnace room in an addition.
From this pic there is frost buildup, I wonder if there is mold concerns with the woodchip insulation

>>2014329
>when is wood too degraded to keep?
Use your best judgement. Would you live there with a wife and kids? No? Then it needs replacing. Personally I think any amount of rot is too much, and you've got it open right now so now is the time to fix it.

If it's cold try buying one of those forced air heaters to help yourself out. Sorry, don't have much advice there anon, I usually have the exact opposite problem here in South Texas.

>>2014377
>Nevermind that meme

How is it a meme? If doesn't wants to spend a fuckton of money on heat he should have a vapor barrier.