This 1920’s single story bungalow was falling apart. The roof rafters (2′ on center) were tied to the ceiling cross ties with only (2) 8 penny nails each. Over time, the nails let go and the wall started to shift out of plumb. Previous contractors chose to try to hide the damage hanging a dropped ceiling and paneling the out of plumb walls. The only thing holding the house together was the exterior brick veneer.The house has a brick veneer and is only 5′ from the property line, so pushing from the outside was out of the question. Our solution add deck angle hardware from the top of each stud to the top plate then slip black iron pipe behind as many wall studs as we could reach, then attach a come along and chain to another black iron pipe behind the carrying timber beneath the floor joist. We did this in three equidistant places along the wall of the house for a maximum pulling force of 24,000lbsIn the second bedroom we rigged up a cantilever with a stable interior wall, braced against the bottom of the exterior wall.Final connection deck angles were added before we started pulling.After we successfully pulled the walls back together we anchored the top plate to the ceiling/cross ties with 4 #10 screws each plus hurricane clips. We added cross ties to the rafters 2/3 of the height of the attic. We got rid of the suspended ceilings which will give each room a more spacious feeling. We will remodel with new insulation and drywall, paint and crown molding. Bookmark this page to see the finished product.Here is the finished living room corner restored.
