I recently started working for a company that renovates row houses in Washington D.C. Most of these house consist of four crumbly masonry walls and rottted floor joists. They currently attempt tp bolt ledgers to the brick and then hang joists with hangers. I am trying to develop a better system. The main problem is that the walls are not even, thus the ledger only hits in a few spots. On the wider houses we pour footers inside the existing walls and the do conventional framing from there, but many of the houses are only 12′-14′ wide. Taking 4 inches from each side (2×4 walls plus drywall) makes it very hard to fit the bedrooms,stairs and hallways. I trying to find a product to use to insulate and strengthen the existing walls. I’m thinking of something like gunite or shotcrete, but preferably with some insulation value. Any help or suggestions are appreciated. I should also mention that the limited access to these sites usually makes the cost and removal of excavating for slabs prohibitive.
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Check the local codes on using ledgers in row houses. There are fire code requirements about keeping joists from pulling on a masonry wall when it collapses in a fire.
...that's not a mistake, it's rustic