Rental house foundation is leaning, is it legal?
Question:1) I want to measure how much the house I rent is leaning. (The foundation is bad.) If I hang a plumb-bob on a 60" string from the corner, it lies 2.75" away from the wall. I forget my geometry. What is the angle, in degrees? (Right-angle triangle, 60" one side, 2.75" the other side, so the hypotenuse is 60.063". Angle x below is 90-degrees, what degree is angle y?)
y
|
|\
| \
|..\
|...\
|.\
|..\
|60"\
|....\
|..\ <--60.063"
|...\
|....\
|x____\ z
2.75"
2) Is this legal, in Philadelphia? Is it safe to live in? Brick house, but there are cracks showing in the brick. I may hire a structural engineer, but that will cost me $600 for a written report. Math, geometry -- it's been too long!
Thank you!
Answers:
the house is 2.624 degrees from plumb.
the house is obviously old. if it was new i would look at differential settlement of the foundation. as it sounds old its probably a broken foundation footing. or... the foundation is sound but the walls are being pushed out at the ceiling. this is common when people remove ceiling joists for the vaulted roof look. even when adding collar ties, the walls may spread due to the loads from the roof. take a construction square and place it on the floor and check the wall for plumb. do the same for the ceiling.
the building department will determine if the house needs mitigation, and if so, you may only have days to vacate your belongings, and hours to find new lodging. when a house is red tagged (condemned) for unsafe habitation the tennant must leave. hope your not angry with your landlord or stuck in a lease.
Save yourself the trouble, Call the local Codes department in your county and have them come look at it. They will then contact the owner of the property to get it fixed or get a fine.
The question may be rephrased: Is this house safe? Probably not. Call the city. They should get the owner to do repairs. It should not cost you anything. Or more out.
its unlikely the house is unsafe with only that amount of lean. If you don't like the way it looks move. If you get the house shown to be unsafe you'll have to move. If the owner decides to fix it the rent will just go up to cover his cost.
If you want a good house buy one, rental houses are never kept in great shape just livable shape.
No need to hire a structural engineer or trigonometry, just get a child and he can tell you is the structure is leaning or not.
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