Expert: Dan Griffin - 11/24/2008

Question
I own a 2-flat and needed a few vertical 6x6 support beams replaced due to a fire.  There was also a 10' section of the horizontal beam that needed to be replaced as well.  I have a few questions regarding the replacement of the vertical beams and their footings.  I'll first explain the configuration.

After stabilizing everything, the contractor cut off the existing vertical beam at the base leaving about 1 or 2 inches of the original beam (now a stump) poking up from the foundation. He then took a metal plate, screwed that into the existing stump and sat the new beam inside the plate.  He drove a single lag bolt through the plate and about 1 to 1 1/2" above the base.  At the top, he used what looked like a "T" plate to attach the support beams to the main beam.  He drove nails through the holes in the T-plate.  There were two T-plates used for each beam.

Should the contractor have removed the entire beam from the pocket and placed the new beam in the same pocket?  Then filled that pocket with mortar?  Also, are the T-plates enough to keep the beams stable at the top?  They look quite thin.  Or should he have used L-brackets with lags bolts through those beams to hold them to the horizontal beam?  I'm basing my assumptions off of work that I've done with porches so please bare with me.

Thanks for your input!
Joseph

Answer
Joseph,  I assume your contractor decided that the existing bottom stump was sound.  I think you have told me that the new column is sitting directly on top of the old column stump and held in place with a piece of plate.  The loads imposed on the column are primarily vertical, there is actually no load trying to move it sideways unless something crashes into it.  I don't see anything wrong in the approach if every effort has been made to insure good contact.

You might request adding more plate at the bottom so that the condition is through bolted where it rests on the stump.  You need to be comfortable with your contractor, and right now it doesn't sound like you are.