Louisville Home Owner

Repairing Sill Plates Sill plate is the piece of wood that lies flat on the foundation wall and has the floor joists resting on it. Basic tools needed are a recipricating saw( ie. sawzaw), 1 or more hydrolic bottle jacks, hammer and prybar. Often there are obsticles to work around or remove such as wires stapled to the sill plate or heating ducts. Please use proper caution when removing these items. Now with your work area being clear as possible install temporary supports under the floor joists that rest on the sill plate being replaced. Next use the sawzaw to cut thru the sill plate on each side of the floor joists. Remove the sections between the floor joists. There will likely be anchor bolts holding the sill plate down. Use the sawzaw to cut them off flush with the foundation. Now there should only be the small sections left under the joists. Use the sawzaw and cut the nails between the sill plate and the floor joist and tap it out with your hammer. Jack up floor joists if needed and install new sill plate. Remove temp supports and jacks, toenail floor joists to sill plate. Brackets or straps may be required to keep with building codes to supplement where anchor bolts were cut.

Note- Often with fungi decay on brick foundations the sill plate has decayed entirely and the floor joists are resting directly on the bricks. Jacking the house up for the new sill plate to fit will in most cases cause severe wall cracking and other damages. An option is to remove the top layer of bricks and install an extra thick sill plate