7gableshome
New Member
Hey Folks,
First post here and many more to come. I recently bought a 1897 Georgia farm house. It was vacant for about 10 years and needs lots and lots of work. I'm doing it mostly all myself but occasionally I will hire out a helper with more experience when I can spare a little money. The budget is tight to say the least. Right now There are several areas of the house where the sills have been destroyed by termites. I have addressed most of the water issues that brought them, and now am addressing replacing the bad sills. The first section of bad sills is in the back of the hallway, where a early owner installed a bathroom and had poured a concrete mud bed with no vapor barriers. I've removed all of that, put ups a temp beam to hold some flooring and now have access to the sills from the interior. The crawlspace is about 18'' tall. The first bad sill runs perpendicular to the hall way and under the exterior wall, and the second runs parallel to the hallway. Both bad sills at the corner of the hall way and are lapped on top of each other with an "L" shaped cut, and supported on a rectangular brick pier . On top of this lapping joint is a 4x4 post which is the corner of the hallway and also part of rear exterior wall.
My first plan of attack was to pour two 8''x14" concrete square footers under the section of each of these sills when there is no termite damage or rot. For each of these footers I will place two jack posts, one holding up the good part of the sill, and other holding up the replacement sill. I will try to make another L shaped joint between the new and old sill, and where both replacement sills meet. Thats the plan so far. These original sills are true 6x8's so I am wondering the best way to recreate them. I was planning on using a treated modern 6x6 post with a 2x6 on top, and perhaps a perhaps some treated 1x6 if I need it since modern lumber sizes are not true.
Anyways Yesterday I hurt my back, and have to take it easy for a couple days so in the mean time I'd thought Id share what I'm up against and plan to attack this job again at the end of next week. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips, I will add some pictures below. Which sills would you replace first? How would you recreate the 6x8 sill? What do you notice first? I will add more pictures here soon these are from a couple days ago and since then Ive added more supports, very thankful to have a platform to share these projects with those who have wisdom and experience. Hoping to learn as much as I can here, and do the best that I can. They built some of these old home like forts! I hope to rebuild them with strength and longevity in mind.
First post here and many more to come. I recently bought a 1897 Georgia farm house. It was vacant for about 10 years and needs lots and lots of work. I'm doing it mostly all myself but occasionally I will hire out a helper with more experience when I can spare a little money. The budget is tight to say the least. Right now There are several areas of the house where the sills have been destroyed by termites. I have addressed most of the water issues that brought them, and now am addressing replacing the bad sills. The first section of bad sills is in the back of the hallway, where a early owner installed a bathroom and had poured a concrete mud bed with no vapor barriers. I've removed all of that, put ups a temp beam to hold some flooring and now have access to the sills from the interior. The crawlspace is about 18'' tall. The first bad sill runs perpendicular to the hall way and under the exterior wall, and the second runs parallel to the hallway. Both bad sills at the corner of the hall way and are lapped on top of each other with an "L" shaped cut, and supported on a rectangular brick pier . On top of this lapping joint is a 4x4 post which is the corner of the hallway and also part of rear exterior wall.
My first plan of attack was to pour two 8''x14" concrete square footers under the section of each of these sills when there is no termite damage or rot. For each of these footers I will place two jack posts, one holding up the good part of the sill, and other holding up the replacement sill. I will try to make another L shaped joint between the new and old sill, and where both replacement sills meet. Thats the plan so far. These original sills are true 6x8's so I am wondering the best way to recreate them. I was planning on using a treated modern 6x6 post with a 2x6 on top, and perhaps a perhaps some treated 1x6 if I need it since modern lumber sizes are not true.
Anyways Yesterday I hurt my back, and have to take it easy for a couple days so in the mean time I'd thought Id share what I'm up against and plan to attack this job again at the end of next week. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips, I will add some pictures below. Which sills would you replace first? How would you recreate the 6x8 sill? What do you notice first? I will add more pictures here soon these are from a couple days ago and since then Ive added more supports, very thankful to have a platform to share these projects with those who have wisdom and experience. Hoping to learn as much as I can here, and do the best that I can. They built some of these old home like forts! I hope to rebuild them with strength and longevity in mind.
