Greetings,

50+ year old house on slab. Back of house set in hillside, front of house 1 inch from dirt.
While painting over the summer we noticed the sill plate rotted in the entire front of house.
Sill plate original to house (old time tar covered wood had finally expired).

Our fix was to cut out the rotted wood in 5 foot sections (sawzall, on our backs with crowbars) and replace with PT wood. Completed entire front of house. PT fits tight.

My question. Next summer, what is the *real* repair?

Should I cut into my drywall and use that nailer with the 22 cal bullet? (that would rock!) but the drywall repair would be a pain.

Could I just count on the weight of the house to hold the PT? (broke 4 fingernails and almost a finger cramming it in there... it's not moving).

Thanks, the original sill plate was GROSS and had to go. I now walk around the house with a screwdriver checking for rot (Like people, just because it looks good doesn't mean it isn't rotten).

Need to add that we used lots of Liquid Nails while installing replacement sill plate. All seams and both sides of wood was covered.

Got most of it out of my hair also.

Am I correct in assuming you replaced the sill plate from the outside? Was it visible, or did you have to remove siding to get access to it? What kind of siding do you have on that wall? Is there sheathing under the siding?

By the way, if at all possible, can you regrade so that the soil is at least 6 inches from any wood?

Hi Richard,

We removed the trim/clapboard on the outside and accessed the sill plate. I saw old tar paper so when we serviced the sill plates, we installed tar paper (15 pound felt).

I was curious and opened up the trim and some sheetrock to view the sill plate from the inside (but only for one room).

Our house is surrounded by a cement apron (no gutters). We removed some of this apron that had broken up and started installing gutters.

If I remove up to three inches of dirt from the area the apron was removed, I start to undercut the slab (so I stopped removing soil). Slab looks thin.

Forced hot air exchangers are on the outside edges of each room (closest to outside wall). Two are rotting (rust) and letting sand in. So I cleaned up, fiberglassed them and painted with a rust converter. But it made me wonder, iron forms set into cement getting damp and rusting like an old car.

Can I safely remove the aprons? They slant very slightly away from the house and appear to act like a type of floor gutter encouraging the water to fall off the drip edge on the apron and then away.

I need to send a picture. It's hard to describe these aprons (I have yet to see them on another house and figured they were a "slab" thing).

They are not part of the slab. They are just a 'sidewalk' around the living parts of the house.

Ahhh, so your house is on a slab PERIOD, with no foundation walls! In that case, you were right to remove no more soil.

To anchor the sill plates into a thinnish slab, I'd be very careful about how I do it. Start shooting Ramset fastening and what you may do is chip off chunks of the slab edge. Not good.

I'm wondering if the sills need to be anchored at all. Normal anchor bolts into foundation walls resist uplift and sliding forces. Uplift comes from wind passing over the roof and creating a low-pressure area there, which causes a house to tend to lift. It's pretty much got to be hurricane-force winds.

Sliding forces come from wind (relatively small) and earthquakes. I don't think you are in a serious seismic zone there.

Any of those forces, if strong enough to matter, will probably be strong enough to break the slab and allow the house, anchors, and bits of the slab, to move, so the anchors probably won't be much help.

There are hopefully enough anchors in the side and back walls to hold the house, and I'm thinking, why worry about the front wall? I know structural engineers reading this will be having cows, but that's what the not inconsiderable seat of my pants tells me.

Were you able to toe-nail the studs to your new plates?

I've seen aprons like that in commercial work. All they do is prevent erosion, or probably just move the erosion out to the edges of the aprons. Gutters on the roof are a better idea. They control the water so you can direct it where you want it to go.

Yes, studs toenailed in nicely.
Don't forget the copuous amount of Liquid Nails used in the project. I went crazy over that stuff.

I think I will remove the wood trim inside the house and fill the gap with cement. The PT was a tiny bit smaller than the original sill plate (perfect hight so tight with slab and walls).
Stupid question. Was there different sizes of wood in the 1950's? We were not able to find PT in the EXACT size.

Pity I cannot Ramset, looks VERY exciting.

We will wrap the entire house as finances permit in gutters. I will remove the apron where it is all cracked up because I need to dig it all out for the great waterproof project Spring 2007.

Thanks for your help.