One of the reasons we liked and bought the building was the basement. I am pretty tall (6’-7”) and rarely encounter a basement where I don’t need to duck. Our basement has a ceiling height of 7 ½ feet! That feels like heaven.
Not only that, but it has a back and front door, although the front door must have been added relatively recently. And that is where we have a problem, because the work around that front door was shoddy.
The layer of bricks around the door on the outside was in OK shape. But the other two layers on the inside where never really finished –just covered up with drywall. I found plenty of areas where I could peek through to the outside between the brickwork and door jamb.
What concerned me even more was that the door did not have a proper header. I had three floor joists sitting on a few bricks supported by the door’s head jamb – a structural nightmare. I quickly added this job to my “get it done before winter” list.
I again enlisted the help from my mason David Suarez. We installed two angle irons as a header, one on the outside, the other on the inside. While we were at it, we also increased the door height so that I can fit a standard size door into the opening.
Finding a robust and well insulated steel door and installing it will be the next job.
You can contact David Suarez at: asweserv@sbcglobal.net
Tags: masonry