I’m preparing a client’s house for sale. It was a rental for several years, but conditions in the neighborhood have improved so much that they now think they can make some good money on it. As part the sales process, the realtor had a home inspector check the place out, and he discovered extensive termite damage. Yesterday the realtor asked me to take a look.
This house was built about 1963. Stick framed, brick veneer ranch. The builder apparently saved $12 at the time of construction by not flashing between the foundation and the sill plate. From what I can see, termites climbed up throgh the foundation and ate at the sill plates and rim joists before they were stopped. Beams, joists, and the framing above appear to be untouched. There’s no visual evidence that any of the framing has become compressed or has moved due to the termite damage.
I’ve been asked to bid on “fixing it.” It seems to me that getting the rim joists and sill plates out and replacing them (3′ crawl space and brick veneer outside) would be more difficult than building a new house on the same site. The house looks okay if you don’t know about the termites. I’m inclined to tell them to have a structural engineer evaluate the house and see if it’s really a problem. If it is a problem, it seems like a job for a D-8 and a couple of dump trucks. I know it’s not unusual to replace sills and rim joists in historic houses, but that’s generally part of a restoration with a big budget.
Has anybody run into a similar problem? What did you do? I’m hoping to be able to help these people.
Replies
Bump?
I suppose you block up the joists, stick a bunch of cantilevered needle beams in the brick, peel the lower two feet or so of brick off, and replace the sills and rim joists from the outside. That would be a lot easier than doing it from the inside, but I don't know if it would be enough easier to pay for the extra cribbing and brick work.
I like the idea of getting an engineer's opinion on just leaving it the way it is.
We do this all the time.
The plates are no problem, the rims are a pain since you have a brick veneer. Sorry for you, but you need to do this from the crawl space. Getting an engineer's advice is a good idea. My recommendation to the engineer (and the homeowner)would be to replace the sill plates and then sister the rim joist by installing blocking in between each of the floor joists up against the existing rim joist. This means leaving the existing rim in place. Your blocking should be tight vertically so that it can help support the weight of the walls above.
First, shoring is installed to hold the floor system in the crawl space. Then you yank the plates by cutting them out in pieces. Bang in new ones with a sledge, PT obviously. Fastening them may require a right angle hammer drill for anchor holes. Once the plates are replaced, then you can put in your rim blocking.
Piece of cake.
Be happy to do it for you if you weren't 600 miles away.
carpenter in transition
Thanks, guys. I have a sneaking suspicion the engineer is going to say things are okay as is. When I was younger, I would already have had the house torn to pieces by this time. Now, I appeal to higher authority when it seems prudent.I appreciate the corroboration!
Tim , is right but it isnt easy to hire done sometimes.
Ive bought a few in that shame shape. For one thing it wont be every where .
Build a sled that slides both ways with ropes.
As long as three are doing it , its no big deal. Its important to have a runner for all the crawling. School kids work great . Call the coach and ask for a hard woriing athlete thats small. You would not believe how fast they are .
Youll need medium sized bottle jacks , 12 to 20 tons for one stories. A couple of 8 ton jacks. Floor jacks out perform bottle jacks if the weight is not too much.
8 ft at a time with short temp beams placed one foot inside wall.
Battery operated saws alls are neat .
Timothy
BTDT, only without the brick exterior. Make the cross cuts in the old plate and place the new plate up against the footing close to where it's going to go before you jack and have your beam and cribbing in the way.
-- J.S.
Update:
The client didn't want to pay approx $500 for a structural engineer's opinion. He may well have said that doing nothing is acceptable.
They got one quote for $19K for the repairs. I told them if they wanted me to quote it, they'd have to pay for the engineer's opinion (which might save them a bunch of money).
Yesterday, they decided to go with the two guys from Deliverance, who quoted $3,600. I ran into them at the job and the one guy must have had a blood alcohol concentration of .2 at 10:00am.
It was a job I didn't want to bother with. Meanwhile, I'm doing a bunch of other (easier, profitable) stuff to prepare the house for sale. The older I get, the more I see the value in sometimes just standing back and watching things unfold.
Glad to see you're not disappointed
carpenter in transition