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I had the question about replacing the rotten sill. It’s a 6×6 sill in a crawl space that is rotten. I don’t know the age of the house but I know that the house is post and beam construction. The wall above the sill is a gable wall. Here is what doesn’t make sense to me. There is a beam running parallel to the sill that supports the floor joists. These floor joists are perpendicular to the sill. This beam is about 8′ to 10′ from the sill. The rest of the floor joists on the first floor run parallel to the sill I would be replacing. I guess I am looking for any problems that might happen? If there is anything I am not thinking of that would be a surprise. Would regular hydraulic bottle jacks be enough and if so what size jack? Thanks for the second opinion.
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I'm alittle lost on the part about the joists being parallel and perpendicualr to the sill and aobut the second beam.
About the jack: A large enough hydraulic jack will lift the house...the problem is that hydraulic jacks tend to slip and after a couple of hours, you might find the house has settled a bit.
Better is a screw jack.
*Ryan that's how I feel. The set of joists that rest on the sill are only 8' to 10' long. One end is on the sill which is resting on the foundation wall. The other end is supported by this beam running the width of the house. then the rest of the joists are running perpendicular to that.
*How are the joists connected to the sill? If they are notched in or dovetailed, you may have a pretty big job replacing the sill. You may have better luck adding a beam near the sill (parallel to it) and jacking this up slightly, put a couple small posts under it, and the job ends in an hour or two, depending on footings, not days...
*Thanks Mad Dog. That seems like a good idea. The joists are just resting on the sill. I really like the idea of just putting in a new beam. I can easily add a couple of footings. Thanks again.
*You're welcome. Hope it goes well for you. Let us know...BTW, I don't remember seeing your original post, and I wouldn't want to give the impression that I recommend covering up rot, at least without making sure the source is contained, and that the rotten members can do no further harm to other components. My post was just to show a way to solve a structural problem in a minimum of effort, but obviously it does not remove the old sill problem.How's that for a disclaimer?
*That's a nice disclaimer. The source of the rot was due mostly to water leaks around a small gable roof over the front door. They will be having new siding put on this side of the house. I told them to make sure they had the problem areas properly sealed. There were several rotten studs in the wall also. I think I can talk them into just putting up a new beam. I will just have to explain how much money they will save this way.
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I had the question about replacing the rotten sill. It's a 6x6 sill in a crawl space that is rotten. I don't know the age of the house but I know that the house is post and beam construction. The wall above the sill is a gable wall. Here is what doesn't make sense to me. There is a beam running parallel to the sill that supports the floor joists. These floor joists are perpendicular to the sill. This beam is about 8' to 10' from the sill. The rest of the floor joists on the first floor run parallel to the sill I would be replacing. I guess I am looking for any problems that might happen? If there is anything I am not thinking of that would be a surprise. Would regular hydraulic bottle jacks be enough and if so what size jack? Thanks for the second opinion.