About to do it myself: replace termite and rotten sills in a big 1853 plantation house halfway between Raleigh and Wilmington NC.
Anybody want to help?
It's pine, and I'm hoping to get replacement beams from an old mill, but the cost of having pros come from Mass. is too much, and my inexperience matches that of the people here locally. Given the choice, I'd rather get it done myself than pay to have it screwed-up. (boy I hope I got that in the right order...)
Before I launch off, quit my day-job, and get cracking, I though I'd post to see if anyone's got alternative ideas. I've had 2 years of trying to find contractors, but it's time to do something and I haven't found a better option.
The hard part is chimneys (2 interior old- bricks that're in sad shape), ornamental plaster that needs to be saved, crumbling foundation piers (same kind of brick as chimneys), lifting sills off the original piers, and replacing the sills with good ones; other than that, it's a piece of cake :-)
The easy part is that the damage is along the outside walls, so the perimeter sills are the ones that are getting replaced.
My experience is to find contractors, see what they like to do, and try to integrate that with the work at hand. But since there's foundation and sill work, it's been hard to get expertise on both (most of the shortcomings have been related to the house lift).
If any of this sounds interesting, please let me know. If your a pro at lifting and sill replacement, I'll pay for advice or site visits. If you just want to see someone hope that ingenuity and work will overcome massive problems, I'll send pictures.
Wish me luck.
Rich
