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Purchasing a cottage and trying to figure out how much work/money it'll be to repair an odd bulge in the wall.

The south side wood wall is bulging out near the center. Although not clearly visible in the photos it is certainly visible in person. Check the pink arrow and the photo with the level. Anyone ever come across this kind of thing before?

From our inspection report:

Depending on how the 2nd floor floor joists are tied into the sloped roof there could potentially be a lot of diagonal pressure being exerted on top of the short vertical wall. Clearly, it was not able to withstand these forces and bulged outwards. One option might be to straighten the wall out and simply add a concrete pilaster at the exterior to prevent recurrence - although this might not be the most cosmetically pleasing option.

Cottage front view

Bulging wallInterior image

SPS
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1 Answers1

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Disclaimer: Consulting with an engineer is highly advisable.

The roof is slowly pushing the wall outwards. If you have not purchased this cottage yet then either walk away or low-ball them. I foresee that subcontracting a proper fix easily reaching $10k.

You need to do two things:

  1. Straighten the wall out
  2. Prevent the wall from bowing out in the future

To straighten the wall out I imagine you would need to attach a bunch of steel cables on the inside of the cottage and tension them enough to pull the walls inward.

For preventing future bowing you have two options really:

  1. Brace the roof from the outside
  2. Tie the roof together from the inside

Whether or not this is a project you can take on is up to you.

Option 1:

The red lines are extensions of the roof line; you can use pressure treated wood or preferably steel beams. The white circles are concrete footers.

enter image description here

Option 2:

The red line is a bracing inside the house which should prevent further separation and bulging. There should be several of these running throughout the house.

enter image description here

I'm not sure why the inspector suggested a concrete pilaster since your foundation does not need bracing but rather the exterior wall but then again I'm not an expert.

Good luck to you!

MonkeyZeus
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