Hoping I could get some advice on a house I'm trying to help my parents get their 100 year old house ready to put on the market and not get hit for not passing codes. I'm a painter, so this kind of stuff is out of my field. They have a back porch/ more like a sunroom, that is not heated like the rest of the house.

My dad in the 90's replaced small doors(not shown) and built framing on ground level behind those doors. It looks like a standard 2 by 4, I guess possibly pressure treated? It hasn't rotted in the last 20 years. Would this be good to go or would it need to be stamped/ tagged in the back to prove it to be pressure treated since it's directly on the ground?

There's also a corner support post that seems to go right into the ground, not sure if it goes into poured concrete that is now buried. There's a siding board on either end that are right on the ground. One siding board for sure is not pressure treated I would imagine needs to be replaced. The other siding board might be pressure treated as it hasn't rot, it's behind a deck my dad built, so he possibly used pressure treated on it.

The corner support post seems needing to be for sure replaced with a pressure treated post.

Very unsure on the framing directly on the ground behind the small doors. Should we just leave it and try to claim it's pressure treated since it hasn't rot?
We were even thinking of removing the bottom 2 by 4 (the sill plate?), and removing some of the framing and replacing with concrete blocks to bring the wood above 6".

Or maybe just removing all the framing/ siding around the entire back and replacing with lattice. My parents are worried about animals though with that idea.

Any advice is much appreciated! Thank you!

 

If that's the only thing you are concerned about I wouldn't worry about it prior to marketing the home. I highly doubt it's going to be questioned if it's not showing any rotting but it is the worst they can do is request a deduction or repair prior to closing. That opens up to negotiations between you and them over that point. Code probably isn't an issue in this case. Assuming the course was built according to code at the time it was built in the proper permits were pulled for your area code officials are not going to become involved in the sales process.

 

I don't think the 100 year old house was built up to code.

This outside porch might be the least of my worries as there is many more issues in the basement. Some support beams and columns possibly needing replacement. And have a 270 sq ft room in the basement that is just dirt, with the dirt hitting the bottom of framing for a closet. Debating whether to demo the framing there.

Not sure if we'll have radon issues to deal with too.

Maybe I'll take your advice and not worry about the back porch if it's not rotten. Except maybe replace the structural post that goes into dirt.

 

Code generally does not apply to a sale because the building is typically only subject to code when being built, the later codes are not applied at the time of sale.

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Home inspections will point out all sorts of things... and you arent obligated to do anything about any of it. They are most often used as a point of negotiation. A 100 year old house is going to have a few things wrong with it.

 

Cool, that is refreshing to here. We are not going to mess with the porch at all.

We are debating though replacing some support columns in the basement because they just look bad. Or a couple my brother replaced a few years ago that are not the right way. He didn't put footings and used wood posts/columns that are 3 & 5/16. Not 4", which I'm not sure if is a problem.

We have a freaking tree trunk used as a post from a 100 years ago, kinda ridiculous but humorous.

So seems like there's some things to do to make it look decent.

 

Sounds like he used a landscape timber instead of a 4x4. Landscape timbers are prone to twist and any support post should have a concrete footer under it.

Back in the 70's I saw a church in Kentucky that had a bunch of sawed off tree trunks for the foundation. Always wondered how it held up long term.

 

Yea, it sucks that they didn't use a true 4 x 4 from the looks of it.

Under one they had put some new concrete under, but I don't know if they put rebar in there. My brothers an ironworker, so he might've. Here's a pic




Here's our hilarious tree trunk. In my mind it must be replaced with steel or a true 4 x 4. And also proper footing.




On the opposite post, holding the same beam as the tree trunk, they did have some kind of footing that was original. It is only 8" x 8". Do you think this will be suitable? And to not have to dig this out and replace the footing?




We have an original steel post with a steel beam. It has no cap on it though. So we were planning on putting a cap on, but we're unsure how to attach the cap to the steel beam above. Might be able to get a cousin to maybe weld it, not sure. To bolt the cap to the beam we would have to make holes in the steel beam. Sounds like we would need some amazing drill bit if it's even possible.



And then there's other issues in the basement, like this dirt crawl space they left in one room. It's butting right up to some wood framing, so I'm sure the bottom wood will have rot. And not up to code with dirt sitting on the bottom wood. I was thinking of digging out some dirt and getting away from the framing a coupe feet. Because if we wanted to encapsulate that dirt(possible radon issues), we wouldn't be able to get plastic to even cover the bottom. Or just say heck with it and drap wth plastic as best as we could do and sell as is. So we'll debate that.



Maybe I'll also make a thread in the crawl space forum. But I appreciate any insight from you experienced guys. Always appreciated!