Builders Share

What Rot

Before I actually started cutting away the rotted sill, I wanted to shore up some of the nearby framing.  The ancient hot water heater I've mentioned in previous postings (Hot Water Detour and Revisit to Hot Water) was installed a lifetime ago and in such a way that has a bearing on the sill work I'm involved in now.

New joist next to sawed-off timber.

In order to get the big stone lined tank into the basement, the installers cut a hole in the floor right inside the front door.  They also cut right through a 7" diameter log that served as a floor joist.  They patched up the hole with some new flooring and tacked a couple of scraps to the freshly cut ends of the log to serve as headers for the severed joist.

The tolerance of wood frame construction for this kind of butchery is pretty amazing.  It really looks like the floor should have collapsed a long time ago, but I suppose between the old plank flooring that's an inch thick, the hardwood flooring above that, and the scrap pieces nailed in as headers, the load that the old floor joist was meant to carry is spread out.

Now I was about to cut into one of the framing members that was probably carrying some of that extra load.  Before I started, I thought it best to replace the severed joist.

The challenge was the space I had to work in.  A mix of plumbing, heating ducts, and electrical wires converge on that spot.  Getting a new joist in there meant removing staples on the electrical wires so they could be moved aside and then threading a couple of 12 foot 2x6 boards through the ducts and plumbing so they could be sandwiched together and mounted. I also needed to jack up the new joist a bit before mounting it in its joist hanger.  It seem the floor had sagged a bit over the years.

With the new joist in, I was ready to start cutting away at the rotted sill.  There's still the issue of the wall studs that are supported by the sill, and how much sill I can cut out without providing support for those. There are 4 in question. The two on either side of the front door weren't getting any real support from the sill because of the rot, so I'm not worried about those.  The two studs on either side of those, however, may be carrying some load.  I'm relatively confident that I'll be alright taking the sill out from under those if I have to.  Again, the wood frame has the ability to transfer its load through the sheathing and across the top plate. It's not like removing one leg of a three-legged stool. It's more like taking 4 legs from a 60 legged stool.  Still, I'll be removing pieces of the rotted beam carefully, and plan on providing temporary support where I can.

handyman

Sill Exposed

With the days of summer waning I figured I better get started on at least one of the exterior projects I planned for this year.  The sill under the front door threshold is severely rotted and needs to be replaced.

I've been pretty confident all along that the awful looking rot was limited to that one area but I really couldn't be sure until I removed some siding to have a look.  The siding on Chez Melendy is cement asbestos shingles.  These shingles were probably added to the house sometime in the 50s when asbestos was all the rage and before it was deemed a hazard.  The shingles are fireproof and are a good protective siding with decent insulating qualities.  They don't pose the same hazard as other forms of asbestos because the asbestos is trapped in cement.  Unless the shingles are pulverized in some way, the asbestos remains encapsulated.

Knowing the lack of danger posed by the shingles didn't keep me from being cautious, however, so I donned my fine-particulate respirator and got to work removing the first two courses of siding.  The shingles are strong when mounted flush to the house but are brittle when removed.  I couldn't help but break some as they came off, and it was for this reason that I wore the respirator.

Note: Asbestos particles are microscopic and can pass easily through your basic 2 dollar dust mask. An OSHA approved fine-particulate respirator is the only way to go.

Once the asbestos shingles were removed, I was ready to remove some of the original siding that was underneath.  I was happy to see that the original siding is in pretty good shape.  At some point in the future I'd like to remove all the asbestos shingles and go back to the original clapboards to bring out the original charm of this old cape cod style cottage.

With all the siding removed from the lower 12" of the house, I could see the condition of the sill beam all along the front. Happily, it's not in real bad shape after a hundred and fifty years of existence.

The real work is ahead of me though as I need to chisel away the rotted section and then use pressure treated lumber to replace what's been removed.  I'll be looking for advice from some local builders as I start to put it all back together.  This section of the house is critical in that it's susceptible to moisture and, if not insulated properly, can provide a place for cold air infiltration.  I want to get this job right the first time, and completed before the snow flies.

handyman

Movin' On Up

There is still plenty of work to do on the upstairs, but enough has been done to allow us to start using the space.  I would've liked to strip and urethane the hallway, trim out the windows, paint hallway, etc. etc. but good enough will have to be good enough for now.  The non-essentials will have to wait until after I get the upstairs bathroom tiled and the tub, toilet, and sink installed.

The move itself was not without some pain.  After cleaning up from my last task of putting another coat of urethane on the baseboards, we tried to move the queen size mattress up the stairway.  No go.  The stairway is steep and narrow and is accessed through a doorway entrance from the side.  It's one of the old-house charms that grabbed me the first time I saw it, but now it was getting in the way of progress.

For the past year I've struggled to get building materials and large power tools around the corner and up the stairs.  All the while, I've stayed in denial about how we were going to move our bed and other furniture upstairs.  Well now the dilemma faced us head on.

The only way we were going to get the queen-sized mattress upstairs was by busting through the wall at the base of the stairs.  I was half-prepared for this.  When framing the downstairs, I deliberately left that wall in place with its old hand-split lathing exposed hoping we could keep it.  It was one of the few remaining vestiges of the original house.  In the back of my mind, however, I knew that it might need to come down to move up.

Sadly, I took the hammer and pry bar to the old lathing and opened up a space for us to get the job of moving done.  The new opening gave us just enough space to get our bed and dressers upstairs.

So tonight, after two years of living in the house, we'll spend our first night in the Master Bedroom.  Happy birthday to me.

handyman