Sill Plate Repairs (and Rain)

The addition section of the house was built sometime in the mid-1980s. We've come to refer to the folks who built it as the "Dingus Brothers." You can pretty much figure that they did it wrong. One of their worst ideas was putting the vapor barrier on the outside of the walls. When warm meets cold, condensation occurs. For years, moisture was running down the plastic and wetting the sill plate and the joists along the top of the foundation. Even treated lumber couldn't stand up to the constant moisture. Add a little termite damage, and the sill plates were rotten, and in places just gone, having already crumbled away.

A mess of rotten wood and squirrel poo.

What's holding up the house?

After removing all the rotten stuff, we put the "termite shields" in, new treated lumber (painted with our homemade termite discouraging paint), and lots of caulk.

Finally, we closed it up. This should last for many years.

Finished!

We got to see our regrading and drainage efforts successfully at work during the last big downpour. The water was flowing down and away from the house, and we were really happy to see water pouring out of the drainage pipe down the hill. Now we just need to add gravel, grass, and more landscaping that will channel the water and prevent erosion. Here's a little movie (sorry for the shaky-cam; I was juggling camera and umbrella).