OK - same slant - different house.

I have a 150 year-old cape in Vermont. Over the 3.5 years that I've owned it - I've found carpenter ants in the house...and have been replacing the sills due to the damage that they have caused. On the back of house there were some water issues in that past that caused some rotting of floor joists back from the sill, and the sill is in very sad shape. The foundation, the sill and the eave line all have a corresponding 6" or so dip from corner of house to center of the back of the house. I want to replace the sill, and raise the dip.

The foundation is field stone. The structure is post and beam.

I'm thinking that I want to jack the back of the house enough to build up the foundation with concrete, brick or something else. Then I want to replace the entire sill with a pressure treated 8x8, likely sister the wall posts as they probably have some rot, set the whole thing down again and resheath and clapboard the back of the house.

Nice story. Now - where to begin?

My lifting options seem to be 2. I can jack from the basement, pushing up the first floor joists, and built a temporary wall between the first and second floors so that the lifting of the first also lifts the second? Or - I can put jacking posts on the outside of the building pushing up on the eave beam that holds the roof rafters which would release the pressure on the sill - but would not lift the floor joists on the first floor.

Is there a good book on this stuff?

realimj,

Due to the nature of your question I believe you would be better served to consult with a professional from your area. This question is difficult to answer without an onsite visit to physically inspect the existing conditions.

Giving or taking the wrong advice here could result in a dangerous and even potentially disastrous situation.

Glenn


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