I looked at a house this week that is for sale. Prospective buyer had it inspected and the inspector said all of the sill plate and all of the joists need to be replaced.
It is a one story brick home with a crawl space.
I can envision replacing the sill and I can envision replacing joists, but the ribbon board…
I can only envision that all of the joists that run up to it have to come out at the same time (after the flooring is pulled up and the wall jacked up a tad from the inside and braced up high from the outside, brick doesn’t quite go all the way up). Seems like the bottom couple of feet of drywall has to be removed so the new ribbon board and be secrured from above.
Although I think it is extremely unlikely that I will get this job, I’d appreciate any thoughts on this before I finalize a price.
The house is 40′ by 24′ with a 12′ x 20′ section sticking off of one end. I’m thinking this is close to thirty grand.
Rich Beckman
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Replies
I'm not tracking with everything here. Is the ribbon board what we refer to as a rim or band joist where I'm from? What doesn't the brick go all the way up to? The floor or the eaves?
Sounds like the inspector identified a problem (rot) but not a cause. I'm guessing there is a cause related to the way the brick was installed, and replacing joists may not cure the problem.
Woodroe,
I am guessing that the ribbon board is the rim joist as well. Think your right about the water issue as well.
Yes, ribbon is rim is band.Actually, the customer never mentioned the rim, but it appears to be in similar condition as the joists. Since the rot is about the same thoughout the crawl, I would think the problem has more to do with a damp crawl than bad masonary.I did mention that to the customer and I assume the guy from AmeriCrawl did also.I will be including rehab of the crawl in my bid.Rich BeckmanThis signature line intentionally left blank.
Oh yeah. The brick doesn't go all the way up to the top of the wall, just to the top of the windows/doors. So there's a few inches of wall with no brick that can be accessed.Customer says one contractor's plan is to remove the brick for the job and then just put up (vinyl?) siding.Rich BeckmanThis signature line intentionally left blank.
The other contractor may be right in that the brick may have to come off. I suspect that either there was not enough space between brick and sheathing, no buildiing paper in there, or the space is filled with mortar at the bottom. With the brick gone the repair would be easier, (but the house would be uglier.)