339 Texas street
A couple of shots of the 12 inch thick steel beams supporting the center of the house:
In late 2003 permits were approved and a complete renovation of the house began. The basement was gutted first, then the lower unit, and finally, the upper unit.
Constructed on the bedrock of the farmland of "Goat Hill" in 1906 after the great earthquake, the house was built with the craftsmanship and material no longer available today. Over the years it was upgraded a number of times, but it wasn't until this recent effort that it was fully renovated from the ground up.
In the beginning, there was...
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
339 Texas Street, circa 2003. Note the power lines and that the original garage door was less than 8’ wide
The basement was first gutted, then the old cement floor was cut and holes for the new footings and three grade beams were dug. Some of the holes for the supporting posts were as large as 5’ x 5’ x 4’, and each was later filled of rebar reinforced cement.
The grade beams run North-South, from property-line to property-line and provide a tremendous amount of shear and twisting strength to the building (after the shear walls that sit on top of them were added and tied into the building framework). Although only one lateral sheer wall was required, three were added for additional strength. Each was dug and later filled with rebar tied into the existing foundation (and some new sections) and then filled with cement.
Steel beams were then added to support the center and front of the house and to tie into the grade beams, giving the house the structure of a new home.
Here the steel beams can be seen and the cross bracing has been removed.
A view from the front of the building all the way to the back yard
The ironwork for a grade beam to be
The cement being pored
After the structural upgrade was complete, the plumbing was completely replaced with new steel piping.
... And finally, a brand new garage floor was poured from the sidewalk, all the way to the back yard.
The red jacks support the cross support beams above, temporarily holding up the entire center of the building up.
The gutted garage, facing the street
Some of the structural details
Some of the foundation work details
From the front of the house all the way to the back
The foundation in the back of the house ready for the pour
This is the ironwork for the grade beam that spans the front of the house. Later, the foundation was built and poured upon it
... And that is how it started. In 2004, the permits for the upper unit (339) were pulled and in the Spring of the following year, the work began. See other posts for more info.
