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I just bought an old house and behind the sheetrock of one wall found that sill plate and the supporting beams are severely damaged by termites and need to be replaced. Other walls aren't damaged. This wall is 30' long. Foundation and joists are all readily accessible.
How much could it cost to replace the sill plate and beams?
I understand there could be a lot of factors involved but I'm looking for a ball park figure.
This kind of repair depends greatly upon the extent of the damage, access to floor joists / sill plate from inside or out, size of the house /number of floors, interior / exterior finishes and a bunch of other details that can only be determined by an experienced pro on the site.
I have seen some jobs like this that are under $1000 and others (typically where more extensive hidden issues were discovered) that cost tens of thousands...
Easy access to joists and sill plate from inside. Length of the house is 30 ft, the length of this wall, width 25 ft. 2 floors ( 1floor above the sill plate)
I had an inspectin but this wasn't picked up during the inspection, it was hdden by the sheetrock and the inspector didn't breake it down.
This kind of rotten wood condition is almost always caused by moisture penetration from the exterior. I am not blaming the inspector but a good "walk around" can often give some hints that something is lurking is there are signs that moisture was trapped near the foundation. There are "moisture probes" that can be poked into walls to determine if there is a higher than normal level hidden. More high tech methods involving differential thermography with infrared cameras can often find hidden moisture. Non-destructive imaging including fiber optic probes and ultrasound can also be used...
If you already have things opened up I would just start getting local contractors lined up for estimates. Ask friends / neighbors for recommendations of comtractors that have successfully done these kind of repairs -- a framing crew that only builds new construction will not be the right skills, if you can't find anyone that specializing in repairs at least track down folks that hve experience renovating older homes / putting additions on becuase that sort of experience will help them minimize the destruction while still ensuring that the structure is made whole again...
Got one quote so far. The guy said the floor needs to be jacked up, all beams and sill plate replaced along the wall, won't take more than a day. Says because he's very close friends with my friend who recommended him, he'll do it for $5,300 otherwise he'd charge $10k+
I'm not a contractor but that doesn't sound very reasonable to me.
I had 26 ft of sill replaced and two sister joists placed because of end rot,corner of house raised for $1200.This was corner L shape 10 and 16 ft.A 16 by 10 ft porch built and attached to house with no flashing.The home was a foreclosure.
The terminology is confusing me here. Are we talking about the bottom plate of the wall, or the mudsill that bolts to the top of the stemwall? Sounds like a bottom plate, but not sure. How many floor joists need to be replaced, and what approved detail for sistering of joists do we have? Joist must have a minimum bearing of 1 1/2" at each end. It may be possibly to use a sister detail if approved by a structural engineer.
Dollar wise, there's really not enough information, and it would depend on geographic region. New York would be much higher than Orlando Florida?
Just doing the jacking could take a day to set up the staging and start the lift. 30' is a long wall to raise, and it must be done EVENLY.
Ripping out the old sill, the sheetrock, the exterior sheathing and the studs could easily take another day.
Putting it back together--maybe one day to do the rough stuff. Materials? Sill, sheet rock, studs, exterior sheathing, exterior finish materials (siding?) and miscellaneous could be a couple thousand.
Another day to finish.....plaster, paint (internal and external)
So, four days at $50/hour = $1600, plus $2000 for materials...there's a ballpark, without having ever seen your job. Add in waste disposal, permits, dealing with plumbing/electric/HVAC inside the wall, and the other 'mysteries' which pop up in old houses, and your $5300 isn't all that far off.
Maybe.
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