Thread: Slanty Shanty

hi, I've recently been looking after my elderly mother and noticed in her home the doorway at the end of the hall not very rectangular like (well ,I didn't noticed it, a tradie did when he came in to do some other work). So I put the spirit level on it and woke up to the fact that the northern part of the house has a definite lean to the west, about 1.5 inches over a 8' ceiling height. In the past I'd always put non-square corners down to a 40 year old, wooden commission house .. but now I realise the issue is more serious. It's been like this for many years, i suspect it happened during the Newcastle earthquake some 20 years ago?? as i remember i had to shave some off the top of the door to get it to stop rubbing on the frame. .. On top of the roof on the northern part of the house sits the solar hot water system .. and tank!

I suspect one of the wall braces must have been damaged so my plan is to open up the wall of the northern most room (end of the hall) to examine it. I think I'll need to hire some adjustable brace ?? so i can move the entire wall back to square then insert either a stronger wooden brace(s) or a steel one(s) ???? Any suggestions what would be safest, cheapest and strongest way to go?

Thanks

Surf Knight

Originally Posted by SurfKnight

the northern part of the house has a definite lean to the west, about 1.5 inches over a 8' ceiling height.

Is the 1.5 inches of lean away from a horizontal floor or is it at right angles to the floor?

It could be that the wall hasn't gone out of square but is leaning because the stumps have sunk.

you mean the peers? no, the floor seems fairly flat. The door frame at the end of the hall is obviously very unrectangular.

Surf Knight.

I was about to post a similar question: how to fix an out of square wall, on a weatherboard house. Did you work out a way to fix yours?

Better to simply start a new thread for your own problem - and some pics & more detail. have to find out what is the cause then work out how to fix - this thread did not do either . . .