DPA Maintenance

ssThis is a seasonal cottage built ages ago on piers/stone columns with no foundation. All of a sudden the bedroom floor developed a sag and bounce! We thought that a pier had given way. We called this company - they were the only ones in the area who seemed like they could do the work. The day after we called, they went and inspected and from the outside, thought it was a collapsed pier from water run off from the hill behind the house. We met them onsite a few days later in freezing cold winter weather, when they dug a hole (under the plywood sheathing that had been placed around the columns in the belief that it would keep the inside warmer in winter) and scurried through ... and inspected under the cottage. They determined that joists under the bedroom and utility area and sub-flooring had rotted out due to trapped moisture (no venting in that area because of plywood sheathing!) and mold (sill plates were OK). They pulled out some to show us - crumbly and soft! It was amazing that the bedroom had not fallen in completely. Tackling the job from above, they removed the finished engineered wood floor in the bedroom (saving 98%) of it for reuse, took up rotted oak sub-floor, removed rotten joists, installed new piers, jacked up settled portions of cottage, sistered joists under the utility area as they were not accessible from above, replaced all joists under bedroom with pressure treated ones, installed new insulation between joists, installed pressure treated plywood sub-floor, replaced engineered finished floor that had been saved Then, because of settlement over time, and the fact that the cottage was now level again, the separation of the ceiling from the walls that had occurred were now closed, but settlement cracks in wall remained. They spackled, compounded, replaced trim, etc. as necessary and then repainted bedroom, bathroom, and living area. The men were friendly, responsive, and trustworthy. We were lucky to find them - Thank you, Angie's List - and are pleased that it worked out so well. We don't know what we would have done otherwise!