Rot in Sill Band at Recessed Front Entry GENERAL INFORMATION Date and Time of Fact-Finding Inspection: August 3, 2000 @ 9:00 A.M. Weather Conditions: Sunny, 75° Name of Homeowner(s): Mrs. Laura Thomas. Formerly Ms. Jennifer Reed (She made the claim). When did the condition(s) first occur? It is not known when the conditions first occurred. Ms. Reed told me that she first became aware of the rot problem in April of this year. That is when the house was inspected by a home inspector as part of the process of selling the house to the Thomas's. When Ms. Reed purchased the home in 1994, she had it inspected by a home inspector. The inspector did not note any rot at that time. Therefore, the rot must have developed sometime between 1994 and 2000. | Top | Table of Contents | DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY All directions in the discussion that follows are in relation to a person facing the front of the house. The house is a wood-framed, two-story structure, approximately 1500 sq. ft. in size (Photo 1). It has a two-car garage. The front wall is clad with brick veneer and the other three elevations are clad with hardboard siding (Masonite). The front entrance is recessed about 18"". The house has a crawlspace with a pier and curtain wall type of foundation. It is located on a relatively flat site. The ground in front of the house slopes slightly toward the house. There is satisfactory slope away from the foundation on the other three elevations. The crawlspace has low clearance, and the ground is covered with a couple of inches of crushed stone. The ground under the crushed stone is muddy and wet. Except for rot in the sill band around the front steps, I did not observe any rot or mildew on other sills and wood floor supports. | Top | Table of Contents | METHOD OF INVESTIGATION At the beginning of my investigation, I interviewed the present owner, Mrs. Laura Thomas and the previous owner, Ms. Jennifer Reed. I also interviewed Ms. Reed’s repair contractor, Tom White. I talked to these people about the history and location of the reported conditions. I then inspected the front steps from the exterior side and measured the levelness of the top landing with a 4' carpenter’s level. Mr. Widner assisted me with the level measurements. Following this, Mr. Widner and I went into the crawlspace and inspected the sill band around the front steps. I took several photographs of the important conditions that I observed. | Top | Table of Contents | BACKGROUND Residence Builders, Inc. constructed the house in 1992. They sold it to people who lived in it for 2 years and they in turn sold it to Ms. Reed in 1994. Ms. Reed told me that the house was inspected at that time and no rot was noted anywhere. Ms. Reed sold it to Laura Thomas in April of this year. As a condition of the sale, REI Inspection Services of Charlotte performed a general inspection of the house. They discovered rot in the sill band around the front steps and noted it in their report. Ms. Reed hired Tom White to make the repairs. When Mr. Widner removed the siding on the outside and the inner sill band, he found more rot than originally reported by the home inspector. | Top | Table of Contents | OBSERVATIONS The front step landing consists of a 4' x 7' x 4"" thick concrete slab supported on gravel fill. It slopes from front to back ?"" in 4' (Photo 2) and from right to left º"" in 4'. Water that lands on the steps will run toward the house where it seeps into the joint between the concrete landing and house. There is a good gutter system over the front entry that catches the water coming off the roof in all but the heaviest rain storms. The water that seeps into the joint around the landing comes from rain that beats in on the steps and overflows the gutters. The front of the concrete landing appears to have raised up about º"" and the rear to have dropped down about 3/8"". This indicates that the rear part of the landing may have settled, causing the front part to rotate upwards. Originally, the landing may have sloped toward the front, allowing water to drain off the landing rather than into the joint behind the landing. There is a lot of moisture in the ground in the crawl space, but it does seem to have caused any rot in the wood floor supports. The only rot I noted was in the sill band around the front entry. The ground in the crawlspace pitches toward the left rear corner of the crawlspace. The slope keeps water from ponding in the crawl space. The sill band around the front steps consists of a double 2 x 10. It is not pressure preservatively treated lumber. Most of the rot has occurred in the outer 2 x 10 ply (side facing the steps). The inner band is also rotted by not nearly as extensively. The total length of the rotted sill band is about 18'. When originally constructed, the exterior wall sheathing and sill bands were protected with aluminum foil and the fill under the stair landing was packed against the sill band. Metal flashing or membrane flashing was not used. According to Mr. Widner, he found that the aluminum foil had been damaged in several places allowing the soil to be in direct contact with the sill band. The fill soil under the rear part of the landing was saturated with moisture, apparently from water seeping through the joint between the landing and exterior walls. | Top | Table of Contents | FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The sill band around the front landing rotted because the concrete landing pitches toward the house rather than away from the house. Water that falls on the landing runs toward the house where it seeps into the joint between the landing and exterior walls. The water wets the sill band and saturates the soil packed against it. The sill band is continually wet. It is very important to construct recessed landings so that they slope outward. Originally, the landing may have sloped this way. The rear of landing seems to have dropped down about ?"", as evidenced by the gap under the front door sill (Photo 6) and the raised front. The fill under the slab not being compacted properly when the house was built may have caused the subsidence. The sill band was not properly protected from the soil under the steps with flashing. Since it was not pressure treated, it easily rotted from the constant presence of moisture. The joint between the landing and exterior walls was not caulked. This would have helped keep water from entering the joint, wetting the soil adjacent to the wood sills, and rotting them. The sills around recessed front landings are vulnerable to rot unless special care is used when constructing these kinds of landings. We see rot in these areas often. In my opinion, extra care was not used in this case and it resulted in the sills rotting over a period of time. | Top | Table of Contents | LIMITATIONS The observations described in the report are valid on the date of the investigation and were made under the conditions noted in the report. We prepared the report for the exclusive use of AIC and their successors and assignees. Criterium-Stanton Engineers does not intend any other individual or party to rely upon the report without our express written consent. If another individual or party relies on the report, they shall indemnify and hold Criterium-Stanton Engineers harmless for any damages, losses, or expenses they may incur as a result of its use. The report is limited to the visual observations we made during our inspection. We did not remove surface materials, furnishings or equipment, undertake any digging or excavation, or perform any destructive or invasive testing. Accordingly, we cannot comment on the condition of systems and components that we could not see. In addition, we are not responsible for conditions that were not within the scope of our services at the time of inspection. We did not assess the stability of the building or the underlying foundation soil since this effort would require excavation and destructive testing. We did not perform any computations or engineering analysis as part of this evaluation, nor did we conduct a comprehensive code review. This report should not be considered a warranty of condition, and no warranty is implied. | Top | Table of Contents | William A. Stanton, P.E. | Top | Table of Contents | | Structural Inspections | Residential & Commercial Services |