Sill Plate Saga

It’s been awhile since we posted, but rest assured, the project is moving along as planned. We’ve had a couple of little breaks due to family and work-related travel, but we’re on the verge of transitioning from the demolition stage to the rebuilding stage. But more on that later; first we have some catching up to do.

Sill Plate Saga

We knew this house was in bad shape–and we had planned to completely gut and rebuild it–so in a way, there really are no surprises. However, the types of problems that have emerged have been interesting at times.

When we first saw the home, we sensed there was something wrong with the floor boards in the great room, especially along the back wall, but when we began removing the carpeting—hmmm…those floorboards were brand new. In fact, a manufacture date stamp indicated they were made in October 2016. What were they hiding?

Further removal of the carpet exposed pet-stained, nasty-smelling floor boards throughout the rest of the room, which of course needed to be removed. Thanks to our friend Mike Farnon for his great work removing it all—and dealing with the rodent remains and snake skins he found underneath. Yikes! You deserved this cool, refreshing break….

Now back to the new floor boards. Once they were gone and the paneling and insulation were removed from the wall, we got a clear look at the sill plate—or rather, the lack thereof. In case you’ve never heard of a sill plate, it is “the bottom horizontal member of a wall or building to which vertical members are attached.” In other words, it’s very important! Because of water issues, the sill plate along the entire back wall of the home had disintegrated and the studs had rotted off several inches above the ground. That meant the studs were basically just hanging there on the siding. So the question became, “WHAT IS HOLDING THE HOUSE UP?” Apparently carpenters surmise a house like this is standing by “habit”.

Well, a discovery like this could be devastating to a homeowner without tools, skills, experience (which Kevin definitely has), and friends. Enter a kind and enthusiastic neighbor, Terry Fuger, who rolled up his sleeves and helped cut the dry rot off the ends of the studs, jack up the back of the house, and insert treated lumber for a beautiful new sill plate. What could have been disastrous became a day’s work and a couple hundred dollars–and a little added camaraderie thrown in. And Terry was just stopping by to say hi!