Bottom Sill

[Leann_G]

I need help is the worst kind of way and very quickly.

My mom gave me a 84 model trailer that needs completely remodeled. I am doing the work basicaly my self.. and have general knowelege of some stuff. Upon ripping the subflooring out I noticed that the Bottom Sill is out. This Trailer at one end sits VERY Close to the ground. I am attaching Pics if I can.
I have removed some of the metal siding off the back side of the trailer to expose the bottom sill. The Trailer is 14 x 70 and I would say the sill is gone in about 50% of the Trailer. The backside that I have pics of is the worse. My Questions is now that I have the floor ripped up and the sill cleaned out how to I go about replacing and making sure things are Somewhat level. I know the TRAILER its self is unlevel because the end I am working on is about a 1 inch off in the bedroom.

I need this Trailer to be some what liveable for the next 5 years while I save for a new one.

I dont have a huge budget to replace floors sills and walls coverings.. just 3K so any advice you give me would be helpful.

[DCDiva]

I might be wrong but I think you have termites?? You need to get that checked out asap.
We replaced everything in our floor,just do one section at a time.
Melissa

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. I agree, it looks to me like something is or was chowing on wood.

Before you go much farther I would relevel the home, otherwise everything you do will be off. As Melissa said I would section by section. The Rim Joist is going to be the toughest to do and will most likely require some slight jacking of the wall to replace.

You can search posts for every repair phase you are doing, Or Mark (the site owner) has a basic repair manual in the site's store. Plus everyone here will give you any advise you need.

Greg

[AmyH]

Nice pictures that gives me some idea as to what it looks like under that tin. I agree looks like you got some serious damage under there and rotting wood and most likely termites have settled in there. I dont have any knowledge on what it would take to repair it. Would be interested to see some after photo's of your repairs. What caused all that to rot out? Do you have some leaking pipes or bad roof and the water draining down your walls to the floor? I would check that out to because if you dont fix the problem that caused the rot to begin with its not going to do much good to repair it.

[Leann_G]

We have seen no signs of Termites them self.... Yes we have had leaks in Pipes and window seals with sliding windows and water overflowing in them. I have been told to level the trailer it is going to cost alot and right now I can't afford that.. Also have been told since it was put there under the old code that leveling it might require it to have to fall under the new level pad code.. which would require it to be move and put back in which is over 1500 its self..


Please understand that I am a female trying to do most of this work with the help of my mom, sister and father (who can't do much work just direct us to what to do and some of his ideas are far harder than they should be). However I have repaired floors before .... but the sill wasn't gone. Now most of the crumble under it you see... Is where we knocked out the floor. Right now in the bedroom there is going to be new sill put in.. New insulation... New Floor replacing the walls covering eventually.

Here is what I would like to do... replace the damage part of sill shown in pic number 1. to stabalize it. Then attach it to the the fartherest joist one we can. Then we can Lift the sill till its level and attach the walls to it.... then level the remaining joist it. I will then go back and put some blocks under the new sill to keep it from falling any more then it is.Later on i will do this to the other side. because the other sills around the front side of the house isn't bad.

I guess I will do the best I can and deal with it as I come to it... Right or Wrong... I can't afford a 5K repairs or a new house at the moment.

[bobfather99]

You can get a water leveling kit for around $25 at the parts page of this website. Will save you headaches later trying to level out your repairs. Remember to take your time, ask questions, and get "volunteer" help if you need it.

[Greg]

Well Leann, I Well tell you out front that being a woman here carries no weight at all. We have had MANY woman here that are not afraid to dive in and make repairs, One worked as a Union carpenter for a few years and you can read DCDiva's posts as she works on her's. I guess that what I'm saying is don't be afraid to tear into something, We have enough people here to get you out of trouble should you start to find any.

Releveling your home should not require any kind of permits or code change, it is just basic maintenance just like painting. It is not hard to do but it requires crawling around in the "Basement" for awhile to get the readings and again to do the actual relevel. A water level is required (Easy to make with a garden hose) to get the current elevation readings on all of the piers, Once you have those it is just a matter of adjusting the piers up or down to level it. It sounds harder that it really is.

Greg

[ponch37300]

I agree with the above posters that you should re level your home before you go any furthur, it will only make it easier on you and it's not that hard to do. I did mine for the first time not that long ago. If you hire someone it might cost a few hundred bucks and MIGHT need some sort of permit or something depending on location. But you can do it yourself and save the money and then you shouldn't have to worry about any permits, even if required personally I would skip them. Especially if it requires you to move the trailer and what not.

Do you have a Harbor Freight tools local to you? If so pick one of these up, http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-hyd ... 66482.html. Then either make a water level or I bought this one, http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... reId=10051. It worked pretty nice, even beeps when you are level which is nice when you are at one end of the trailer.

There are some good posts on here about re leveling and I also bought Mark's repair book a few years back. It's a pretty good starting point for most repairs in mobile homes. It will take a few hours to re level your home but once you get everything level you can start "fresh". Which makes it a lot easier when doing repairs.