Fix for Rotted Sill Plate

I got to spend the morning in a crawlspace repairing a small amount of rotted sill plate. A sill plate is the piece of lumber than runs horizontally along the top of a foundation that the floor joists rest on.


In this case a bathroom leak years ago had caused the wood to rot in this one particular part of the house. It was discovered during a home inspection and I was brought in to fix the issue.

There are a couple different issues to address with this. First, I focused on removing the rotted portion. Other than being difficult to access, it was fairly easy to chip out with a wood chisel. There were still pieces on either side of the damage that were solid and doing their job holding up the floor.

Modern codes require that lumber that comes in contact with masonry like this is pressure treated to resist rot. This wasn't the case when this home was built or perhaps I wouldn't have a sill to replace. Anyway, I replaced about 5 feet of the sill with a piece of treated lumber.

The floor had sagged about 1/2" because of the deterioration, however, because there was a tile floor in the bathroom above, my goal was not to raise the floor back up, but rather to stabilize it so it doesn't move any more. If I try to correct the sag I'll likely crack all the tile above and have more issues to deal with.

This brings us to the second phase of this project which was to add additional support. The sill plate was rotted all the way through in this area, but some of the rot extended into the very ends of the floor joists where they made contact with the sill plate. To add support to the joists, I installed a couple steel jacks under a 6' treated 4x4 that would extend across all the affected joists. A couple of the joists were sagging more than others so I shimmed the high ones so they were all supported by the new beam.

Adding a beam like this is a very common method for adding additional support to an area affected by rot or termite damage, or possibly just undersized framing, etc. It's important to install a beam so that you are spreading the load from several joists, rather than simply jacking up just one joist. If you do this, you'll most likely have a distinctive 'hump' in the floor because the jack is only raising the one point instead of a wider area.

I finished the repair and crawled out of the hole that was my worksite for the day, thankful to stretch my legs and see some sunlight again.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Common Home Inspection Repairs- Indoor Dryer Vent

It's very important to vent your dryer to the exterior of your house, and maintain the ducts so that lint doesn't build up. Here are a few good reasons:

1. Lint build up could lead to a fire
2. A clogged dryer vent may make your dryer less efficient and take longer to dry clothes

3. A missing or incorrectly installed dryer vent will release moisture that could cause mold and other problems

4. A dryer vent keeps your laundry room cleaner by directing lint outside

The house I was working at this week had a dryer vent, but it was an indoor dryer vent. You're supposed to fill it with water to trap the lint while the warm air goes into the room. These are notorious for being inadequate and I've seen tons of homes with them that were full of lint because the homeowner's forgot to keep water in them.

My advice: stay away from indoor dryer vents. It's worth the trouble to put in an exterior one.

Home inspectors tend to agree as was the case for this weeks project. The fix involved using a masonry chisel to cut a hole through the brick for a dryer vent. Then, I could make a hole through the rim joist and side the venting kit tube right through to the basement.

The vent cover attaches nicely with a few Tapcon screws and gets a little silicone caulk to discourage water entry.

Fire, moisture & lint clouds: bad.

Exterior dryer vent: very good.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Install a Chimney Cap

One common repair that is found by home inspectors is the lack of a chimney cap. A chimney cap is basically a little roof for your chimney. Not only does it keep rain away, but the screen keeps birds and other animals from making their homes in your chimney.

As long as your clay flue extends a few inches above the chimney, you can probably find a chimney cap at a home store and put it on in a snap using set screws that hold it to the top of the flue. However, at our project this week, the flue ended flush with the chimney crown and the cap couldn't be attached in the standard way.

I talked to the gentleman who was here to install a new damper and he said that the cheapest way to handle this would be to make a small bed of mortar and then set the cap into it.

That's just what I did.

I mixed up a small batch of Mason's Mix and made a small bed of it around the edge of the flue, being careful to keep it from falling into the flue. I sloped the mortar away from the cap so the water would run away from the cap and onto the roof below.

With the mortar in place I just set the chimney cap down into it. A little more smoothing with my trowel and this job was finished.

I hope no birds were inside... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Fix An S-Trap With a Studor Vent

In plumbing terms, a "trap" is a curved piece of tubing that will always hold a little water to keep sewer gases from coming through into the house. They are wonderful things. However there is one trap that should be avoided: the S-Trap.

With an S-Trap, the piping turns up, but then goes back down again. I had to address this issue at a project this week where a home inspector found an S-trap in use under the sink. The problem with these traps is that, because of the shape, the water that's supposed to be blocking the dreaded sewer gases can get siphoned out.

Can you see the S-Trap in this picture?

Even though plumbing codes prohibit them, they are still sold at home stores and found in homes everywhere.

The fix involves adding a P-Trap and a Studor vent.

A Studor vent is a small device that attaches to the drain pipe and will allow some air in and allow venting, but will not allow sewer stink out. They are often used whenever there's a sink in a kitchen island, or anytime that it's difficult to vent something. There are limitations to their use, so read the directions before trying it at your project.

Our drain had other issues as well that required replacing the 1 1/2" line through the floor to the crawlspace. This actually made it easier because now there weren't any of the old pipes left to deal with.

The new P-trap comes from the sink drain lines and enters my new pipe through a "T". Above the "T" is the Studor vent.

It all goes together quickly once you have the right pieces...

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Common Home Inspection Repairs- Downspouts

In my experience, I'd say that the most common problems that come up in home inspections relate to water entry, whether from a leaky roof, or through the foundation. One of the culprits, downspouts, are notorious for giving homeowners problems, yet they are so easy to fix!

Here's the problem: downspouts dump the water next to the foundation- over time the foundation sinks or is weakened- water gets through the foundation causing rot or mold.

Whew! What to do...

Here's the easy solution: extend your downspouts to get the water away from the house. At today's project, all of the home's downspouts were dumping water right next to the foundation. What's more, there is a driveway along one side of the house so the water tends to pool next to the house.

My job was to extend the downspouts to correct the problem. For most of them, I could just attach some black drainage tubing to get the water away from the house.

For the ones by the driveway I couldn't go across the driveway, of course. Instead, I had to link the downspouts together and take the water along the house and downhill to the backyard where it would keep the grass green and solve the water issue. The homeowner said "How ugly!", but hey, it's protecting your home and keeping the buyers happy :).

Most of the time the fix is even simpler, using simple downspout extensions like I used in this article.

Bottom line: protect your home and make a home inspector happy: get the water away from your house!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com