« more about what the termites did | Main | towards having a nice porch »

September 26, 2004

a small repair

When we pulled the plaster in the second room, we discovered that one of the studs that runs alongside one of the windows appeared to have water or termite damage. As this was under one of our leaks, this wasn't suprising. We hadn't really had time to look at it too closely, having been focussed on the obviously larger issue at the front corner of the house. Yesterday we took care of the smaller area and now at least one small portion of our house is solid.

At first look, it was apparent that the one stud to the left of the window would need to be dealt with. Once we started digging into the area, though, we discovered that the stud to the left was gone at the bottom, as well as the stud behind that (we're working in a corner). In addition to the three wasted supports, the sill plate along the shorter wall was rotted out and the window frame itself was a little wonky.

There are small boards between the studs at floor level. These act as barriers in the wall between the crawl space and our space. To see what was going on in this area, the first thing that we did was pop out these boards. Underneath, there was a huge amount of dirt and plaster and rotted wood particles. After a certain amount of this was cleared it became apparent that the sill plate was rotted. At that point it made sense to pull the lower siding (which was leak damaged as well), to have exterior access to the area.

From the outside, we cleared the debris and could get a better look at what was going on. It was a little scary, actually. The 3 studs, all of which I take to be load bearing, were not really resting on anything. Either the stud was gone at the bottom, or the sill plate was gone, or both. I'm surprised at times that our house isn't more crooked or hasn't just fallen over. Also, with the siding off, we were able to see into another portion of the uncrawlable crawlspace and again there more bones under there.

Because the studs were not touching the sill plate, it was easy enough to clear the remnants of that and get a new piece in the space. Once that was done, we cut the studs above the destroyed parts and then cut patch pieces to fit. For each stud, we sistered a 2x4 along the patched length on both sides. The area is so tight that all three studs are basically all sistered together at this point.

Once the area was solid again, we cut and primed the siding and then put that up. It felt good to see the house go back together. Today we'll caulk the that area and be done with it.

Posted by john m at September 26, 2004 8:35 AM

Comments

Post a comment