# Repairing exterior wall



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

#1 Please go back and add your location to your profile.
Go to Quick links to edit.

Really could use some pictures on this one.

Sure sounds like some regrading and gutters would help prevent this from happening again, but no way to know without those pictures.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

Yikes!

You can't cut the studs and stack them----the house will collapse.

Remove the siding and sheeting and replace with full studs-----

Do not use treated studs--just treated for the bottom plate----Be sure to use proper fasteners---

Modern treated lumber will eat up regular nails in a year or two----


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

Don't have any pictures but yes we are doing some regrading. The contractor is bringing a bulldozer down to fix that problem. When the house was built the front was poured in concrete butted up against the slab for a driveway. When it rains you can't even open the front door without getting soaked. I'm adding a ten foot porch across the front to fix that problem (28ft wall). Left side of the house might as will be a pond when it rains (36ft wall). Back side of the house the ground and the siding are level with each other (28ft wall). On the right side he built a flower bed topped with gravel, flush and in some spots overlapping the siding. (36ft wall). What I've got is masonite siding sitting in a pond and flush with the ground all the way around the house. Gutters would only be an option on the two 28ft sides but we've decided some trenching and grading are better options with the top roof extending past the side roofs. Its a mess.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Sure sounds like none of that was build to modern codes.
One of the main reasons I always suggest stem wall constrution to get the siding at least 6" above grade to keep water out and get the siding up higher.

One thing I've done many times in poorly build buildings like this is to install Z moulding or custom bent coil stock that extends out behond the slab and up at least 4" up the sheathing, 1 X 6 vinyl lumber, then another piece of Z moulding, then J moulding, and last the siding.
It gets rid or the area where the leaks come from, no caulking needed, gives you an area to add back fill to improve the grade that will not rot, and protects the siding from the weed wacker.


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## GBrackins (Apr 26, 2012)

Welcome to the Forum!

oh'mike is spot on, use full length studs or you'll create a hinge.

joe, Alabama only recently got a state-wide building code. http://www.builderonline.com/codes-...adopts-its-first-statewide-building-code.aspx

kujo, I would recommend meeting with your local building official to find out the code requirements for your project, and whether permits and inspections are required.

Good luck! :thumbsup:


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

Good point about the studs, that would of been horrible. Someone had told me that was the correct way to repair them. Since replacing the whole stud I definitely don't want to buy that many PS studs. What about the plywood? Would you still replace that with pressure treated? Maybe just the bottom 2 feet? 

The contractor had mentioned of doing something to the bottom of the house to stop the water, moisture and bugs but I don't remember exactly what it was but sounds something similar to what you have mentioned?


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

Found some pics


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## GBrackins (Apr 26, 2012)

where in bama?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Not the best picture, but look at the righ hand side of the page where it says horizontal trim. There what can be done along the bottom of your wall on the sides and front.
I would install Strom And Ice shield along all of the lower wall then do waht's shown in the picture.
Only differance is the Z moulding on the bottom will not work along the end wall in your picture. Just need the vinyl lumber.
I use an ossilatiing saw to cut the outside corners shorter so the banding wraps all the way around the outside corners.
http://www.cedarsidinginc.com/insta...Trim_and_Fascia_Installation_Instructions.pdf
Someones going to say to use the Z moulding where that slab is, it's not going to work for several reasons.
No slab is ever perfectly flat, there's just no way to keep that thin metal in direct contact with the slab. No amount of caulking is going to keep out the water.

I would not use pressure treated sheathing. If you did all the fastners would have to then be ACQ approved. When pressure treated plywood get wet it delaminates.

There's also a better way to do that roof where the two angles meet where now it's all cracking.
Run your shingles up the steep side all the way to the angle, keep your last row of nails as close as you can to the angle and use something like Black Jack under them to help keep them in place.
Now for the area with the lower slope you first install a row of aluminum drip cap, then run the rest of the roof as if it was a new roof with a row of starter strip first.
This way there will be no bent over shingles.

DO I see where there was no house wrap installed under that siding?


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## GBrackins (Apr 26, 2012)

joecaption said:


> DO I see where there was no house wrap installed under that siding?


joe, that kinda looks like a garage door than was in-fielded without any exterior finish doesn't it?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Sure is, just concered how the rest of the wall was done.


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

Your right it use to be a garage door. That whole piece is about to fall down. There is no moisture barrier at all on the house. I looked up the vinyl wood at lowes, do I just use the vinyl in place of the plywood? 

I hate that roof. It has buckled so many times. Its being replaced with galvalume and the guy replacing it said he repairs that style a lot as there never done rite the first time. He said he was wrapping the whole roof, the whole house in metal. No wood will be exposed anywhere. Were using colored roof metal for the siding. 

How to I brace that end wall so I can replace the bottom plate? The flour joist run the save way as that wall. In the center of that wall is the support for the center beam that runs across the house (36 foot long)

What is yalls opinion on aluminum windows? I was looking at betterbilt windows at lowes 36x60


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

Had a tornado come thru the neighborhood so had to ride down there and I got you guys some pictures of the house and of the inside beam I'm talking about.


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

More pictures. Side that holds water and back of house


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

I see damage like that every day...Remove the siding and sheathing in those areas and post pictures of the damage to the frame for useful answers on how to proceed.


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

Can't post pictures when I take it off. There is no internet there. I'm trying to get all the input I can on what to do before I head back down there Saturday to start


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

More pics and pic of the inside beam/brace


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## GBrackins (Apr 26, 2012)

we should have a sticky note with these photos on it with the caption "see what happens when you build too close to the ground!"

no offense kujo, after all you didn't build the place, but this is typical with slab on grade built at ground level.


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## kujo (Mar 18, 2013)

I have removed the siding all the way around the house and cut out the bottom 1 foot of the entire house and put new studs in. The house had actually shifted from the rot and was hell to lift back up. I found two floor joist that had rotted along with 3 square feet of upstairs bedroom wall and floor along with the top plate of the first floor. I am reusing the old plywood since i cut off all the rot and putting it on top and using treated plywood for the bottom run.

Also i found that I have been letting little black ants live rent free inside my walls and we know how renters are they had tunneled thru alot of the wood. 

Back wall of the house is rotted four feet high. Cutting that wall I cut thru some electrical and the toilet drain line. The kitchen needed rewiring anyways as it was tied in with the living room and part of the upstairs.

How do I patch the pvc drain for the toilet. Cutting it out and doing it right is not an option since I ran a screw thru the pipe as well close to the slab


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