I was hired by a homeowner to provide structural "direction" as to how to fix her party wall. She is having trouble finding a contractor who will even do the work due to liability concerns. She told me that she didn't want to pay me $3,000- to provide repair drawings if she couldn't even find a contractor to do the work. So I told her that I would provide a report for $500- which would generally indicate the work involved in the fix. She could send the report to several contractors and gauge interest. Once she finds a contractor that will loosely agree to do the job, then she can pay me to do drawings.
So I go to the house. It is a Baltimore rowhouse whereby the adjacent rowhouse collapsed after a fire. The homeowner is concerned about the parapet wall (which is leaning). Of course this is a concern, but I have many ADDITIONAL concerns:
1) water penetration through the soft clay "party wall" & subsequent freeze-thaw cycles
2) party wall stabilization due to collapse of the floor framing (perhaps we need tie rods)
3) existence of cracks or deterioration of existing party wall that I could not verify/observe on site
4) need to patch the existing joist pockets
5) repoint the entire wall??
On one hand, I know she cannot afford to fix the wall to address all of the concerns listed above. On the other hand, if I do not make note of all of these concerns then I am liable for neglect (I assume).
I am not sure where to go from here. Photos attached.
So I go to the house. It is a Baltimore rowhouse whereby the adjacent rowhouse collapsed after a fire. The homeowner is concerned about the parapet wall (which is leaning). Of course this is a concern, but I have many ADDITIONAL concerns:
1) water penetration through the soft clay "party wall" & subsequent freeze-thaw cycles
2) party wall stabilization due to collapse of the floor framing (perhaps we need tie rods)
3) existence of cracks or deterioration of existing party wall that I could not verify/observe on site
4) need to patch the existing joist pockets
5) repoint the entire wall??
On one hand, I know she cannot afford to fix the wall to address all of the concerns listed above. On the other hand, if I do not make note of all of these concerns then I am liable for neglect (I assume).
I am not sure where to go from here. Photos attached.
