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| Hi,
I am looking for some advice on repairing a 1780 colonial. I have just had a cement foundation replace a collapsing stone foundation on one half the width of the house. It was previously a dirt crawl space. The last two feet above grade of the foundation are going to be stone to maintain the character from the outside. The house sills on that half are resting on jacks and blocks until the whole house can be leveled. These sills are in good shape. We jacked and supported the house ourselves. The house has post and beam construction. The problem is on the other half the house. We excavated for footing drains all the way around the permiter of the house. The stone foundation this side looks to be in very poor repair as well and we will need to replace the foundation as well. This is where the major problems is. The sills appear to be rotted in large sections most notably in a corner where a post which helps supports the 2nd floor. How does one support the vertical post and replace the sill? The current sills appears to be about 8"by 8". I am on a limited budget for hiring contractors and have already had a structural engineer to look at it but thus far no plans and is charging a lot. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| hire a professional by all means before something bad happpens |
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| How? Very carefully! Probably has something to do with building a beefy temporary support wall upstairs to take some of the load off whatever that post is supporting....among other things. Maybe this is the portion to hire a professional. I've only replaced portions of rotted sills twice, just a few feet, and each time it involved doing it piece-meal and with a sledge to force it in there (after removing the rot, of course). Admittedly, my advice may be worth what you just paid for it - nothing. |
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| I bought a book a while back that addresses this problem for the DIYer if so inclined. They show how to support this kind of stuff. |
Here is a link that might be useful: A good read for you
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