We have been renovating an old church into what will become our family's winery & dinner theater. The west side was built in 1930 on a poured foundation. The wood used to frame the building was obtained from tearing down two older churches. Needless to say the wood is very old, but mostly in perfect condition. When you cut through the wood, it looks as fresh as the day it was cut down, except for a couple of problem areas that rotted due to a leaky roof. These areas have already been replaced with new timber. The old wood is mostly 1 5/8" to 1-3/4" x 5-5/8 to 5-3/4" (2x6s).
An observation is that the wood is far superior (even at its age) to anything you can buy at a Lowes or Home Depot today. The downside to it though is that they were not as precise in making all of the 2x6s (etc) uniform in size back then, as demonstrated by the above measurements. The east side was an addition built in the late 1950s on top of a block foundation using new wood that is the same as the nominal measurements used today.
On to our issue: The exterior walls appear to be leaning outward by as much as 2 - 3 inches. I have no idea how I did not notice this until now except to say I have only been using my level on two axis instead of three. The building is completely gutted; stripped off all its insulation, plaster, drywall, electrical, plumbing, and siding. It is basically a shell of its former self with the frame and the 1930s version of OSB (1x10s?). We have replaced all of the windows and doors. I can only assume that the walls are leaning due to the weight of the roof over the course of the last 80 years. The original collar ties are 19' from the main level floor whereas the studs that comprise the north and west walls are 12' in height. This puts the collar ties at approximately 7' above the end of the roof's slope.
Note: We intend to have a company called Centurion stone use a 2" thick stone veneer on the entire exterior once we are finished putting the last windows and doors in, and have completed adding a level to the bell tower.
1) Is it structurally necessary to fix the lean in the wall (I want to fix it regardless, as the south wall is noticeable if you look at it in contrast with other things in the background that you know to be level).
2) How do we make the walls level again?
I have kept a thorough diary of the remodel on the Winery's Facebook page with before and after photos, additional blueprints, other problems we have encountered and how we have fixed them, etc. It might be a good resource for any structural engineers who want to throw some advice our way. (You might even take a look at other things we have fixed and let us know if we erred anywhere
One final note is that we had a company called Midwest Basement Systems take a look at the foundation to be sure no work was needed there when we originally obtained this building. They said that with the exception of a couple of cracks in the interior concrete urethane it looked almost as good as the day it was poured and did not need any work. The block foundation on the eastern addition also contains no cracks and is level.
An observation is that the wood is far superior (even at its age) to anything you can buy at a Lowes or Home Depot today. The downside to it though is that they were not as precise in making all of the 2x6s (etc) uniform in size back then, as demonstrated by the above measurements. The east side was an addition built in the late 1950s on top of a block foundation using new wood that is the same as the nominal measurements used today.
On to our issue: The exterior walls appear to be leaning outward by as much as 2 - 3 inches. I have no idea how I did not notice this until now except to say I have only been using my level on two axis instead of three. The building is completely gutted; stripped off all its insulation, plaster, drywall, electrical, plumbing, and siding. It is basically a shell of its former self with the frame and the 1930s version of OSB (1x10s?). We have replaced all of the windows and doors. I can only assume that the walls are leaning due to the weight of the roof over the course of the last 80 years. The original collar ties are 19' from the main level floor whereas the studs that comprise the north and west walls are 12' in height. This puts the collar ties at approximately 7' above the end of the roof's slope.
Note: We intend to have a company called Centurion stone use a 2" thick stone veneer on the entire exterior once we are finished putting the last windows and doors in, and have completed adding a level to the bell tower.
1) Is it structurally necessary to fix the lean in the wall (I want to fix it regardless, as the south wall is noticeable if you look at it in contrast with other things in the background that you know to be level).
2) How do we make the walls level again?
I have kept a thorough diary of the remodel on the Winery's Facebook page with before and after photos, additional blueprints, other problems we have encountered and how we have fixed them, etc. It might be a good resource for any structural engineers who want to throw some advice our way. (You might even take a look at other things we have fixed and let us know if we erred anywhere
One final note is that we had a company called Midwest Basement Systems take a look at the foundation to be sure no work was needed there when we originally obtained this building. They said that with the exception of a couple of cracks in the interior concrete urethane it looked almost as good as the day it was poured and did not need any work. The block foundation on the eastern addition also contains no cracks and is level.
