The sill that ran at floor level (not the foundation sill) was two 2 x 4s stacked together. Furthermore they weren't even nailed to the flooring! Therefore my partner working with me on this suggested we place jacks under the back wall and lift the house a quarter-inch to be able to remove and repair the rotted framing. Sounds like a good idea. We ran temporary 4 x 6's the length of the back wall (~25-feet) under the flooring joists. Next, three jacks from Home Depot (returned the next day) did the trick:
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| Temporary 4 x 6 beam runs the length of the back wall and takes the load off the rotted framing. |
Once the flooring joists were off the sill then it was easy work to finish the demo of the rotted studs and sills. The beautiful thing about being a homeowner is that nobody is there to tell you not to do things, such as: standing on a ladder with a beer wearing flip-flops while using a chainsaw, or lifting up your house on jacks. Now I realize there are codes, inspectors, and insurance people out there who shouldn't read this less they want a heart-attack. But remember, this is 'merica, and if the eyeball test passes then it should be good enough.
