1403 3 Ave N, property

This is a house built in 1906 at 1403 3 Ave. N., Coalbanks (later to become Lethbridge), AB, Canada. It was the same year the Lethbridge Viaduct (commonly called the High Level Bridge) was built. It is one of the only two-storey houses built in the area. It’s been added on to three times but still maintains its original look. I bought the house in Dec. 2021 as a rental property. It has a 3-bedroom suite on the main floor and a one-bedroom on the second. This blog is an account of all that we (FT and I) have done to make it rentable. Read about the main or 2nd floor (“up”) by going to that category. Comments are welcome (but moderated)!

east wall rim joist support footing concrete hole

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That’s a long title, isn’t it? 

The rim joist on the east wall of the original 4-square house has cracked.  When?  Hard to say.  Why?  Easy.  Too much pressure was put on it many years ago from a support column in the first floor.  Raising square-corner butt joint joists were raised up just recently, but the split widened as there was nothing under that portion of it to support it, where the 1st floor support column is. 

So today we dug a new area for a new footing.  I did the digging and hauling of 20L buckets to the stairs, D from next door hauled the buckets to HFT, and HFT hauled the wheel-barrow to the back.  “Are we nearing the end?” I’d hear every now and then.  “Almost!” I would shout. 

 

So then what?  Fill it with concrete.  We mixed one US gallon hot water from the SRV on the water heater, four shovels of cement (blasted 40kg bags! (danged 88 lbs.)), eight shovels of sand, and four shovels of gravel (mixed with sand).  Very scientificy, I know – especially as we had to add a little more of this or a little more of that.  We got about 3.5″ of concrete.  More tomorrow, if the weather holds out. 

 

The after-hours cleanup was also fun. 

leaky outside tap

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In mixing concrete for the side patio, we hooked the hose up on west the side of the house.  It looks like it was put in in the 1950s.  The faucet leaks continually when turned on.  Since the main floor kitchen sink is now against an exterior wall, I think we should put in a new frost-free hose bib there.  It only makes sense to put it there as it would be more central to the rest of the property (grass, shrubs, potential garden). 

stairway to below, rotten beams

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My left knee is sore.  Bounding up and down the dirt ‘steps’ to the basement is a chore.  One cannot simply walk upstairs to the main floor with a bucket of dirt as there are no real steps. 

So FHT and I build some stringers.  The first one has cracks in it but seems to be stable. 

With the second one, on the other hand, steps actually broke off in my hand.  Splits in the wood made it impossible to keep stable steps in place, let alone have them bear weight.  HFT suggested we add supports to the side of the stringer rather than abandoning the stringer altogether.  (No pic yet.  I’ll post later.) 

In the mean time, we unloaded the remaining gravel into the sidewalk hole, wrapped up the cement bags, and worked below on another support beam.  (Pics later.) 

The support beam was a challenge.  It simply refused to go into place.  It eventually did.  We need that beam there to cut out and replace the rotten one along the edge of the house. 

Next:  dig more dirt out to fit in the stringers.  More knee-breaking work. 

2nd footing poured

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Two days ago we rented an electric jack hammer and gasoline-powered auger, so I bored a hole what I thought was 2 feet deep.  It turns out to only be about 18″ deep.  Good enough for a footing, considering it is now about 30″ long!  Trying to keep at a reasonable length using a shovel was a challenge as it was all sand and collapsed in.  I augured this.  (Get it?  Auger, augur?  Look it up.) 

So now I have a 12″ by 30″ by 20″ deep footing.  It is long enough to place two teleposts atop it – one permanent, one temporary while the rest of the corner of the building is exhumed.

It will likely take a month of Sundays to cure.  I should put a thermal camera on it to see if any reactions are going on within it.  In the mean time, before any other digging and removing of slumped soil happens, we wait, as this is where the next beam will be placed. 

Read more

what a pane

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I finally got a piece of glass for the front porch of the house.  The roofing company accidentally broke the window as they were throwing down refuse from the old roof.  The same guy who came to tell me, on a different day, that he put his foot through the ceiling of the porch also told me about the broken glass. 

 

I told them not to worry about it as I had another pane in the basement, but it turns out someone else broke that one.  $25 later, it is now replaced.  Needs putty though. 

roof bits poking up

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My neighbour pointed this out to me.  He thought maybe I poked the roof up from down below in the ceiling.  Nope, not me.  What’s happening here?  Why is this poking up from the roof? 

 

Update:  It turns out the last guy there told his boss that the roofing project had been finished.  It wasn’t.  There wasn’t even a cap on the peak! 

broken porch ceiling somewhat fixed

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As the roofers were completing their project – the last roof surface was the front porch – one of them fell partially through the roof and ceiling below due to rotten boards.  Three rows of ceiling tongue-and-groove boards were broken or detached from the roof rafters.  Along with the boards came chunks of planks that used to be the roof sheathing, 120 years of dust, new roofing material, and plant debris.  Yes, plants were growing in their at one point. 

I reattached the boards today with wood screws.  It ain’t pretty, but it will suffice for now. 

Next: the broken window.  I’m still waiting to hear back from the window shop. 

chimney removal

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I’ve planned for a while to have the chimney removed.  I’m surprised it took so much money to do it, but these guys did work hard.  It will take two days.

The work begins inside and out, including a roof patch.

Have a look at the pictures.

 1/20/2025  9:51 AM      3271853 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_095118 chimney removal begins.jpg
 1/20/2025  9:52 AM      3799148 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_095246 chimney removal roof patch.jpg
 1/20/2025 11:34 AM      3077708 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_113411 chimney removal to ceiling.jpg
 1/20/2025 12:36 PM      3057036 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_123650 chimney removal half-way.jpg
 1/20/2025 12:46 PM      3605206 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_124654 chimney removal nearly to floor.jpg
 1/20/2025  3:44 PM      2389340 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_154427 chimney removal hole in ceiling.jpg
 1/20/2025  3:44 PM      3546133 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_154430 chimney removal down to floor.jpg
 1/20/2025  4:47 PM      2651504 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164735 chimney removal down to floor, walls.jpg
 1/20/2025  4:47 PM      3079132 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164740 chimney removal down to floor.jpg
 1/20/2025  4:47 PM      2671003 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164745 chimney removal roof patch.jpg
 1/20/2025  4:48 PM      3063430 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164815 chimney removal workers' tools.jpg
 1/20/2025  4:48 PM      2492423 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164819 chimney removal coats.jpg

Tomorrow: first floor.

 1/20/2025  4:50 PM      2364196 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB main 20250120_165017 panels removed for chimney removal.jpg
 1/20/2025  4:50 PM      2912182 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB main 20250120_165026 panels removed for chimney removal.jpg

Structural Engineer

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I met a Structural Engineer today.  We had a look at various parts of the house to determine why there is such a slope in the east half of the structure.  We have determined:

  1. Concrete footings in the crawlspace had broken apart due to slumping in the soil.
  2. Upright supports have moved due to soil slumping, and 6×6 notched support beams have split and come away from the house.
  3. The living room and bathroom addition to the structure was done poorly.  They cut through many of the framing members (balloon frame studs) to open up the walls.  (See diagram below.)

So, to correct this, most likely:

  1. Screw piling will be put in the front and rear of the property.
  2. A beam will span this length under the house.
  3. An LVL bulkhead will be added to the living room / bathroom span.

I will open up the floor in the 2nd storey to expose more of those cut-through timbers and email him pictures.

I did a brief laser level check.  (The laser should be 1-5/8″ above the floor, from my measurements.  Funny – nothing in the manual stating this.)  This shows that, in about 4 feet, the floor dips down about 2-1/16 inches.  Wow!