Mar Vista Structural Work That Starts in the Attic
Before a Mar Vista second story is scoped, we open the attic and read the rafter ends, nails and plates that salt air may have worn. LADBS permits the work.
Rusty nail heads at the rafter ends tell us how salt air has treated a Mar Vista frame, so the attic hatch is the first thing we open before any second-story scope is written. Up there we measure the ceiling joists, note which way they run and look at how the rafters sit on the top plates of the outer walls. Those few readings say a lot about how the house can grow upward.
What the attic shows
Ceiling joists in a one-story house were sized to hold drywall, not bedrooms, so their depth and spacing tell the engineer whether a new floor can use them or must be framed above them. Rafter ties and the nailing at each plate show how the roof is held down. On a lot close to the ocean, damp salty air can work into an attic through the vents, and corrosion on nails, straps or joist hangers is a sign that new hardware should be stainless or carry a heavy zinc coating.
From readings to drawings
The attic notes go to the engineer along with measurements of the walls and a look at the foundation from the crawlspace or the slab edge. Together they become the drawings LADBS reviews, as it does for every permit in Mar Vista. If a parcel sits inside the coastal zone, planning review may come before the building permit. Downstairs rooms stay in use from the first day of framing to the last, and the attic opening stays sealed so insulation dust does not drift into the bedrooms.
Structural Work in Mar Vista: what families ask
Whether it can is an engineering question with three parts: what the footings can bear, how stiff and well tied the existing walls are, and how the roof connects to them. Where any part falls short, reinforcement is drawn into the permit set. The second floor is framed after LADBS issues that permit.
Proof that the wall carries load comes first, gathered in the attic and underneath the floor. An engineered beam then takes over, carried on posts that each bear on a footing. Temporary supports keep the ceiling up during the change, and on a lot near the ocean, the new steel hardware gets a coating that resists corrosion.
An LADBS building inspector, on the visits the permit sets out. Footings are seen with their steel before the pour, and the beam, posts, hold-downs and straps are seen before insulation and drywall hide them. The inspector checks each item against the stamped drawings kept at the house.
Structural Work in other cities
Other projects we take on in Mar Vista
Your Mar Vista project, start to finish
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