Hi guys. Interesting question here…I recently relocated to Gold Rush territory in CA. Angels Camp to be exact. In exchange for a place to live, I am fixing up the place I am staying in. It is built with old style panel and batten construction. There are no vertical studs, the structure is supported by 1×12 panels. The problem is that the bottom of some of the panels have rotted away. My question is if anyone has encountered this problem and how to deal with it. Do I dig out and set a form and fill with concrete and bolt a plate on? And then, how do I attach the panels in a way that would be structurally sound? Any advice would be welcome.
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I would guess that originaly the bottoms of the boards were nailed to a sill beam. See the remains of anything like that ? What supports your floor joists?
I lived in a board house for about 12 yrs. Bottoms of the boards were spiked to a sill beam raised off the ground on posts. Floor joists rested on the sill beam. Ceiling joists rested on a ribbon ledger that was spiked to the verticle boards. Rafters worked the same way .
I repaired some rot by removing one board at a time and replacing it. But my sill beam wasn't in bad shape. It really isn't hardly worth the effort in the structure unless it is of historical value.
It is really hard to tell what may be able to be done without some more information.
Is there a crawl space of some kind?
What supports the floor?
Is problem at the base of every wall or just a portion of the building?
Is it worth fixing ?
Are you going to get hassled by inspectors etc. for even working on it?
I can tell you that you will never get the structure up to any modern codes without a lot of engineering.. if you can even do it with an engineers help.
But if you want a fix just to get by then people here may be able to suggest some stuff for some type repair.
no floor joists. The Floor is a concrete pad. upon further inspection, I believe the structure was initially supported with 4x4 (vertical) posts intermitently spaced.
Sorry I didn't get back sooner.
So if I understand you correctly you have a slab on grade , 4 x 4 posts that are missing?
If you are trying to support the 1 x 12 siding I would try a treated sill beam , or wrap a piece of redwwod or cedar with a self sealing bitumen product and bolt it down to the slab and refasten the 1 x 12 to it. Use SS nails if you use a treated sill.
Sounds like the missing posts also need to be replaced to support the structure though.