Rotted sill plate

[DaveJ123]

Sorry, me again..

Am I right in thinking that in replacing a sill plate with a new one (or with bricks for that matter), under no circumstances should a new layer of plastic sheet dpc be laid straight on top of the old mortar? i.e. it has to be in between 2 layers of fresh mortar? When I asked the builder what holds the new sill plate in place, he said that it just slides in and is held by the joists which are nailed to it.

If the plate (or bricks) are mortared in, then the idea of replacing a plate in sections and it all being done in a 1 day makes no sense surely because until the mortar is hard, it would provide no support for the wall above? (there's a 3/4" gap between the tops of the joists and the wall above so they won't help). Wouldn't this job have to be done with quick setting mortar? If so - and I've got feeling I'm going to end up doing this myself - can anyone recommend a type/brand of quick setting mortar, or quick setting cement and the correct proportions to make the mortar for this?

 

[DaveJ123]

Update.

The builder's coming on monday, and said he'll use quick setting mortar. Feeling a bit less stressed now.

Dave

 

[masona]

Rapid Cement harden in approx' 10 mins

 

[DaveJ123]

Ok, for those interested, the builder just pulled out the sill plate across the width of the kitchen wall in one go. It wasn't supporting anything as there was a gap under most of the masonry above it. Nothing bearing on the joists at this point either. Every foot or so was a breeze block with bricks in between. But bricks were also missing. The plate came out without disturbing the mortar underneath or the old dpi underneath that. He said it's best not to disturb the old dpc and that anyway it'd have to be joined to that of the other wall. He just laid the plate on the old mortar and mortared in bricks above it and filled all the gaps. I was suspicious about not replacing the old mortar and dpc, but this guy was old..really old, and had obviously been doing this for a long time (all his life he said). Talking to him, and watching him, he new what he was doing, so I took the gamble of trusting him too. He toe-nailed the new joist lengths to the *sleeper* wall plates, and nailed them to the old joists - I intended to bolt them, but looking at it, it seemed solid enough. He, too, pointed out that nowadays there'd be a sleeper wall built in front of the main wall, but said the pressure treated timber would last 50 yrs either way. Actually, the old joist ends weren't that bad except where they'd obviously been dripped directly on from the sink above. I'm happy enough...well, unless they 'up' the price for the brick laying.

Thinking about it, I don't think there's adequate footing for a new sleeper wall to have been built there. Could have had hangers though.

All in all, I could have done it myself, but you don't know that at the time. But thanks everyone for the help and support on this one. Much appreciated.

Jon

 

[TexMex]

Alls well that ends well eh? We never said that you'd have to replace the DPC, just be carefull not to disturb it when taking out the wall plate. As you say, this guy was on the scene and sounds pretty competant. We never did get them piccies though.

The pattern of damage on the joists seems to answer your other post about the damp patch behind the units eh?

 

[DaveJ123]

Yep, it seems the damage was from the sink. The builder reckoned the wall was bone dry beneath the dpc, at least.

Sorry about the pictures, but I still can't imagine exactly what you all expected to see. Above the plate all that was visible was the bottoms of a breeze block every couple of feet with a few bricks in between. It's only a narrow kitchen, so looking at it, there wasn't enough width to recognize a pattern in the brickwork, especially with all the gaps; in fact it was mostly gaps.

Dave

 

[TexMex]

Yeah, bl**dy handy that DPC. Stops the damp from your kitchen flowing down the wall and damaging the soil eh?