Sunroom has no footer, what to expect?

[Viriiguy]

We were just about to close on our home and the final repairs revealed that our Sunroom's slab has no footers. *sigh* The Bank has agreed to pay up to $20k to have this repaired. A Structural Engineer is going on site Monday to determine the repair, then the foundation company has orders to do it ASAP as we want to close and are ready to do so...

But my question is... What should I expect? I know nothing about how this would be repaired... and I would like to be a bit better informed when I hear back from them Monday.

 

[allinon72]

The fact that the bank is willing to pay for the repairs is a huge victory for you and definitely not the norm. (I'm assuming foreclosure or short sale).

 

[barnee]

Single Story sun rooms are fairly light structures, and should be able to be placed either on spread footings (at the corners) or continuous footings along the walls. A lot depends on what its currently sitting on, and I assume its built on a concrete slab on grade?

If thats the case then the repair company will determine how much your local soil can support (bearing pressure) and using the size of the slab they will detemine where to dig and place footings (number and size). Depth of the footing will be based on your frost zone.

The tricky part is if they feel the existing slab can be used as a structural member, meaning that they would just support this slab with footings and let your sunroom structure "ride" on top of the slab. If there are only perimeter walls and they place the foots under the perimeter this is likely OK. If you have concentrated loads inside the sunroom they may need to place footings at that location inside and underneath the slab unless the slab is well reinforced.

If you gave more details on the sunroom this would help.

 

[SPDMETL]

Put a big piano hinge where the roof meets the rest of the house, brace the inside and lift it/swivel it away...replace foundation and drop it right back where it came from.

Problem solved!

 

[Viriiguy]

Spdmetl... That seems like an "interesting" approach

The sun porch is on what seems to be a 4" slab. Unfortunately, I do not know how they could fix it without digging up a chunk of my asphalt. So that is a little bit depressing... The asphalt goes all the way up to the slab, and down the side of it about 3 foot.

The sun room was obviously an after thought. The house was built in 87. The power panel in the garage is dated in 89.. And the sun room still has outside lamps on each end of it on the inside. So I suspect they had the slab poured to go from the house to the garage, then a few years later enclosed it. The room itself is all windows, from 3 inches above the slab to the ceiling.. With a sliding glass door on each side.

 

[OccupantRJ]

This a case of having your general location in your info helps others to help you. Where I live, your situation would not necessarily be that terrible a situation. However if the bank is paying, that's great. More support foundation is good in any case. I know of many detached garages around here built on top of simple slabs, and they have been fine for many years. Our frost line here is 12 inches.

 

[barnee]

They could also cut holes on the inside slab close to the wall, get down below the frost line, put the footer in, slap a sonotube on top, fill it with concrete, and brace it under the corner.

Choice for you may be do they rip open the inside or the outside. If the flooring is bad on the inside I would do it there.

 

[Viriiguy]

Ah very True I am in Sunny Knoxville Tennessee, so I am not so sure the frost layer is an issue. The inside of the floor is perfect, no cracks, no warp, nothing.

 

[930dreamer]

Are Sunrooms built with a stem wall?

 

[Viriiguy]

Not sure what that is, but this is a stick built room.

 

[kb2tha]

Think I'd ask the bank for a $20k concession on price and then fix the foundation if and when it becomes necessary; not before.

 

[Oldtymeflyr]

My experience is that this is not a problem.

If you lived an area of expansive soils it could be a problem.

Rick.

 

[slickgt1]

I too recommend you take the check for $20k and fix when something breaks. I doubt it will though, sunrooms are very lite indeed.

 

[hh76]

I don't think that it is all that uncommon to find a sunroom on a floating slab. Not the correct way to do it, but a lot of do it yourselfers would build a couple walls on a patio and call it a sunroom.

I assume the 20k has to go to fix this problem?

If it's been around for a while, and no problems have come up, I'd think about leaving as is and putting the money in the bank.

 

[darkk]

Think I'd ask the bank for a $20k concession on price and then fix the foundation if and when it becomes necessary; not before.

X2

 

[Viriiguy]

Well, as it turns out, ALL of the single story portions of the house, were built on a 4 inch slab, no footers. The restoration company is hard at work and seem to know what they are doing

They hope to pour concrete Monday... But the current weather forecast is calling for rain all week.

 

[burleymike]

My neighbors house was a single wide trailer until her ex poured a 12" stem wall on a 6" footing around the trailer and built a house twice the size of the trailer over it. The whole thing is a mess except for the stem wall, no cracks! I don't get it, it should have frost heaved and cracked to hell. It has been like this since the late 1980's and her garage is a 4" slab right on the ground, no base material. Her garage only has 2 hairline cracks and it is 30x60.

Glad to hear you are getting it taken care of before moving in. It will be something you don't have to worry about disclosing if and when you sell.

 

[Viriiguy]

Glad to hear you are getting it taken care of before moving in. It will be something you don't have to worry about disclosing if and when you sell.

My thoughts exactly!

Pics of the carnage can be found in my thread in the Garage Gallery if you are so inclined.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

What are your local codes regarding snow loading and structures?

 

[Viriiguy]

Not honestly sure... Up until a few years ago we would have said Snow? What snow? Now we get light dustings .. some times. However, the banks SE and My own SE have both signed off on the repairs.

 

[SPDMETL]

My neighbors house was a single wide trailer until her ex poured a 12" stem wall on a 6" footing around the trailer and built a house twice the size of the trailer over it. The whole thing is a mess except for the stem wall, no cracks! I don't get it, it should have frost heaved and cracked to hell. It has been like this since the late 1980's and her garage is a 4" slab right on the ground, no base material. Her garage only has 2 hairline cracks and it is 30x60.

Off topic, but I'd really like to see pix of the above referenced, umm, rig

 

[nehog]

Put a big piano hinge where the roof meets the rest of the house, brace the inside and lift it/swivel it away...replace foundation and drop it right back where it came from.

Problem solved!

Hack repair, everyone knows you go to the party store and get a bunch of helium balloons and float it up until the repair is finished!