Well I was not expecting that

[CowboyRam]

Last week I started a window and siding replacement job. The windows are in, and trimmed out, and I started getting ready to put the siding on, pull off some felt paper. I found some rot in the 1x8 along the rim joist, pulled that off and found most of the rim joist is rotted. In one place I pushed my flat bar through it with no effort at all. Pulled some of the rim joist out and found a lot of floor joist that are in very bad shape, with one that is being held up by the floor. Along the wall line the end of the floor joist is compressed at least 1/4 plus. I told them I didn't have the equipment for jacking up the house to replace the floor joist, besides I want the liability. I suggested they get a company that specializes in this type of restoration. This is the worse rot I have ever seen.

 

[Travlr]

When I pull a nail I'm already figuring on finding enough hidden stuff that to do the job right I'll have to pour a new foundation. That's standard stuff in a remodel of any house I've been in.

 

[Brute 23]

My roof is getting replaced next week. This did not help the situation.

 

[CowboyRam]

I built the addition for them several years ago. At that time they were having problems with water in their crawl. I told them they needed put in a french drain. They had water seeping up from the canal above their place. Of course they didn't do that.

 

[SmokinM]

Don’t blame you for not wanting to tackle that. Jacking floors and replacing joists is about as crappy a job as there is. That one looks completely trashed and no good stuff to work with will make it that much worse. Crawlspace looks mighty tight also.

 

[CowboyRam]

Don’t blame you for not wanting to tackle that. Jacking floors and replacing joists is about as crappy a job as there is. That one looks completely trashed and no good stuff to work with will make it that much worse. Crawlspace looks mighty tight also.

Yes it probably is. I have not been own there. I have not been in any crawlspaces that was any fun to be in. My grandparents home there was maybe two feet of room, and to get under the center beam you had wiggle through on your belly. Grandpa dug that one by hand. I just don't have the tools for jacking up any house. Besides I don't want to do it. There are some joist that look like they may be ok, but there are several that will have to be replaced. I had planned on doing this job last winter, but then it turned so cold and we had lots of snow; I'm kind of glad I pushed it off until now. That would have been a miserable job to do last winter.

 

[rocket2222]

If it's rotted out that bad sub floor probably shot, so you would be tearing out from above, replacing flooring, subfloor and joist.

 

[CowboyRam]

If it's rotted out that bad sub floor probably shot, so you would be tearing out from above, replacing flooring, subfloor and joist.

Very possible.

 

[TexasRancher]

You did the right thing to halt your contract until the foundation is fixed by others. If the crawl space is small... jacking will be rough... who knows if you can even sandwich in new beams onto old. Sill plate is gone (probably no vapor barrier, wasn't treated, rain water flowed inward or termites). Wondering if the sill plate is bad around the entire house...if it is...i wouldn't want to be that homeowner.

 

[CowboyRam]

You did the right thing to halt your contract until the foundation is fixed by others. If the crawl space is small... jacking will be rough... who knows if you can even sandwich in new beams onto old. Sill plate is gone (probably no vapor barrier, wasn't treated, rain water flowed inward or termites). Wondering if the sill plate is bad around the entire house...if it is...i wouldn't want to be that homeowner.

I don't know, I didn't go down in the crawl, but it could be. Nope, no vapor barrier. Around here we usually pretty dry, and most places don't have vapor barriers. Although Wyoming does have a problem with Radon, but most places don't have a Radon mitigation system. Their biggest problem is that not that far above their place they have an irrigation canal, and water seeps down into their crawl most years. This year it looks dry; although I am kind of surprised about that, as we had a lot of snow last winter, and a pretty wet spring. I told them about 7 years ago that they need to put in a french drain around their house to keep that water out of their crawl. Now it is going to cost them. It is not going to a fun job to do.

 

[Dave]

Years ago a neighbor poured a new foundation under his house. He had a remodel permit from the county. Then he tore down the entire old house off the new foundation and built himself a new house. At some point the county inspector questioned the fact that he just had a remodel permit. His answer was when repairing he kept running into dry rot. In a very restrictive county he got away with it. I happened to be around when he took the old house down. He owned a truck mounted log loader. The loader had a hold of the house by the peak and I could see clear through under the house. Interesting how he was searching for the dry rot.

 

[Travlr]

I saw a permitted remodel done where they had the restriction that they had to use two existing, adjoining walls. They took down the entire house except for a corner with the two walls about 4X4 feet and built a new house. A couple of years later they remodeled by replacing the old corner.