- Q.I am rehabbing
an old two-story balloon-framed house with a crumbling
limestone foundation. I need to jack the walls slightly to
repair the foundation. The floor joists rest on a 2-by leveling
plate, and the 20-foot-tall studs are face-nailed to the sides
of the joist ends (see illustration). With platform framing, I
would ordinarily run a temporary beam under the joists as close
to the foundation wall as possible and place my jacks under the
beam. If I do that with this frame, I am concerned that the
weight of the walls, which are carrying the second floor and
roof, will shear the old face nails. Any suggestions?
A.Master carpenter
Mike Shannahan, of La Porte, Texas, responds: Here’s
a simple technique that will work if you can get into the wall
cavity. Scab on 6-foot lengths of stud material along the
bottom of each wall stud (for a single-story house, I might go
with every other stud.) Make sure the bottom of the sister
member sits squarely on top of the joist, and nail it off with
10 or 12 16-penny nails. (Use duplex nails if you plan to
remove the scabs. In my climate, uninsulated wall cavities are
common, so I just leave the 6-foot members in place
permanently.) Now you can jack in the manner you
described.