no "mud sill" !

[hammerhead]

I find that I am the proud owner of a ranch style brick house built sometime in the early 1970's. I am planning to do some entensive remodeling. One thing that I have noticed is bothering me. The floor joist in this house are sitting directly on the cinderblock cap blocks! Is this situation liable to cause any problems which should cause me to think twice before I invest alot of money in this house?

[Rich]

My first question is...
What condition is the floor joist in? If the joists are in good condition I would say it will be fine, being that the house is that old. If they are beginning to rot then I would say you would be well off to hire an engineer and go through some possible remedies.

[garfield]

Howdy
The first thing that comes to mind for me is. If they built this place without a sill plate and gasket what other shortcuts did they take. I mean they avoided the very first step in building a home. Kinda makes me wonder :roll:

[Rich]

Was there a first step back in the '70s? :D If you don't see any immediate problems with the home I would imagine it'll be fine. It's stood this long right? Garfield brings up a good point. One thing you should maybe do is to have a home inspection or have an engineer look through it just to have another set of eyes on it. Could save you money in the long run. Call around and you should be able to find someone to do a walk-thru for a reasonable price.

[garfield]

Howdy again
I was part of a housing Co-op in the 60's and it was common practice. I guess it depends on where you are. I keep forgetting there are people from all over the world here on these forums. I may have jumped the gun on this one. Sorry :(

[Sophist]

I worked on a job with that same situation.

This was a 1945 house in Chase BC and there was no sill plate plus the backfill was higher than the top of the foundation.

This was a scary reno. I am still not sure how this house remained standing.

The floor joist and stud were all rotted about 2 feet from the foudation on the north and east sides.

We had to sister new joists and studs in.

I recomend you proceed with caution. This is a huge blunder on the builders part and I would bet that there are some problems with rot.

Concrete is like a sponge and will wick water from wet to dry.

Red flags are popping up when I hear of situations like this.

[roger g]

Gee, you make the 1970's look like ancient times. I built my house in 1972 and I used plastic vapor barrier on the inside of the house and behind all the exterior switches and receptacles just like they do now. You have crappy builders no matter where you live. You also get local builders doing things that are totally acceptable for their own area. By saying acceptable I'm saying that they really think they are doing the right thing.
Hey Sophist, I think those builders in Chase are still alive and well here on Vancouver Island.

Roger

[Sophist]

Hi Roger

I am sure the problem with the house in Chase was compounded due to the back fill. The lack of a sill plate wouldn't lead to rot if there was a gasket seal.

You sound like you've done some construction in the BC interior.

[roger g]

Hi Sphist,
Mostley in Ontario and a little bit in Alberta (brrrrrrrrrrr) and trying to get something on the Island but it's a real grind. Fantastic climate though.

roger