Q: I bought a 1950s-era house a couple years ago. My problem is that the previous owner added a room onto the existing carport. Now whenever there’s a heavy rain in monsoon season, the room floods. I’ve tried to fix it by tearing out some landscaping and adding drainage, but that didn’t work. I thought about installing a French drain that would take the water down to the street. But the grade of the house is only about a foot above the street. How can I fix this?
A: You might be able to fix this problem by shoring up the structure of the roof and then cutting off the studs at the bottom of the wall where you’re having a problem. You could then put concrete blocks on the slab to create a stem wall. Then you can waterproof the wall on the outside. You could probably try to do all this yourself, but it might be better to seek the help of a licensed contractor because additional steps might need to be taken.
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Basically, changing a carport into a garage — and then building an addition on the finished structure — always requires building a masonry stem wall of about 6 to 8 inches high along the perimeter of the concrete slab of the carport. To build wood-framed walls on top of the stem wall, a series of 2x4 plates, studs and a bearing post must be tightly installed. That’s all part of the procedure that needs to be followed in order to get a building permit from the city for the change.
For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com. An Arizona home building and remodeling industry expert for 25 years, Rosie Romero is the host of the syndicated Saturday morning Rosie on the House radio program, heard from 8-11 a.m. on KNST-AM (790) in Tucson and from 9-11 a.m. on KGVY-AM (1080) and -FM (100.7) in Green Valley. Call 888-767-4348.
