10-01-2009, 10:10 AM
| #1 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: In Debt.
Posts: 252
Rep Power: 5  |  A crack in the siding? It was worse than it looked... So this spring, I noticed a small crack in a cedar shingle of my siding... Didn't think much of it. During the month of August, I was out of town for almost a month... I came home, and noticed the crack in the siding had gotten bigger... I walk up to it, and touch it... Its squishy... greattt... i give it a push... and my finger goes through... To insulation... GRREEATTTTTTT... So I climb up on the ladder, and notice something... The casement window has a 3/4" gap all the way across it from where water built up and froze, and split the casing, then rotted it. Time to start ripping it apart.. I'm planning on adding a garage in the future, so I don't care about the windows... Out they come. (Figures, gonna have a big hole in my drywall 2 weeks after I repainted the bedroom)... I started tearing down the siding... Yeah.. Worse than I thought...   A fire pit is much easier than Dump runs...  So I continued to peel off more siding... I get down to the bottom, and realize something... The plywood at the foundation is rotted... GREAAATTT.... Peel up the plywood, and sure enough... The sill plate is rotted. Yay... Just what I wanted to deal with. There was no flashing under the siding, so anytime it rained, water would splash up and get underneath the siding and pool there... So I had to cut out all the old nails, and found that this house wasn't built 16" on center... It was built 16ish" on center.. Lovely. I'll deal with that as I go... All buttoned up after Day 1.  Replaced the sill plate in 3' sections, offset, so that I could do it without having to jack up the house. Its not the load bearing side, so it didn't phase me too much. Getting there... [IMGhttp://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs203.snc1/7024_132265809132_664484132_2301058_5551302_n.jpg[/IMG] Then, as we worked our way down towards the other window, I noticed some of the studs were split... FMyLife... I had noticed a bow inside the house (Laundry room) of the drywall, but thought it had always been like that... Apparently, looks like water got in there, and froze, and split the studs. Time for fun stuff..  Yes... i had a come a long attached to the side of my house... Pulled the studs back in place, then doubled them up. Really amazed at the minimal damage it did inside. Even when I was smashing the studs from the inside with a 5lb sledge hammer...   Another piece of OSB up and sealed. All new insulation too.. Apparently somebody thought R7 was good enough insulation for 2x4 outside construction..  New studs to get rid of the window and the doubled up studs against the broken ones...  Then, when we got to the corner, we found that the corner joist was COMPLETELY rotted... more fun...  So I replaced the rest of the sill plate & other studs first, so that all the outside edges were supported, and then replaced the rotted corner joists. And then I moved onto the back since that had to be torn down for the sill plate anyways... This is where I was as of last night...  Hopefully I can start putting up my vinyl corners & starter course tonight, and start hanging some vinyl... |
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10-05-2009, 07:21 AM
| #2 |
| General Contractor  Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Richmond, VA Age: 28
Posts: 252
Rep Power: 5 | Thats always fun stuff. Probably wouldnt hurt to shoot that grade away from the foundation a little more. Did you find the culprit, where the water was coming in at? Just from Rotten boards ? |
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10-06-2009, 08:22 PM
| #3 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: In Debt.
Posts: 252
Rep Power: 5 | The sills of the windows had cracked and split over 1/2", leaving a gaping hole.. that was the plywood rot problem... The sill plate rot problem was because when they put on the wood siding they didnt put any flashing, and so whenever it rained hard, water hits the ground, splashes back up under the siding, and poof... you now have wetness... I put up one wall of siding already, and i'm halfway done with the other...  Vinyl Siding was ALOT easier than I thought. I am going to go back and put a bead of sealant underneath the siding at the foundation seam, to help prevent it from happening again (Even though this wall is going to be covered by a garage in a year or two.. And on the back side of the house i'm going to go 2-3' away from the house, and down about 12-18" and fill it with crushed stone to get better run off... |
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10-07-2009, 12:41 AM
| #4 |
| Administrator  Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Central CT Age: 31
Posts: 499
Rep Power: 10 | How are you going to stop the bottom from getting wet again? it seems like the foundation should have been built higher up.
__________________ 1997 2050sqft Split Level |
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10-09-2009, 10:48 AM
| #5 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: In Debt.
Posts: 252
Rep Power: 5 | The siding now hangs down lower than it did before... Before:   Before the siding was barely level with where the sill plate meets the foundation and was easier for water to get behind. The siding now is a good 2-3" lower, which will help splashback. I am also going to run a bead of silicone caulk along the base of the siding against the foundation to hold the siding against it, and prevent the wood from getting wet. I'm not TOO concerned, as in a year or two, this wall will no longer be an outside wall... But I am taking some precautions... |
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12-13-2011, 12:07 AM
| #6 |
| Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 7
Rep Power: 0 | |
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