replacing an entire floor and some of the bottom plates

[vancouver_island]

Hi, i found this website while endlessly researching how to repair our brand new 1979 already- gutted "ambassador" and what a great forum! so much great information.

We are getting ready to replace ALL the flooring in the mobile (so rotten our friend actually fell through the floor yesterday!) and some of the walls where the bottom plates are rotten from being in contact with the floor.


Any idea how to get the particle board flooring out from under the exterior walls and get the new peice of plywood in there? This is our big problem! I am hoping someone can help!!

thanks,
chelsey & chris on vancouver island

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. about the only way to remove it is with a chisle, some use a small grinder or dremmal tool.

You can do a search for subfloor repair and see what others have done. Greg

[JD]

Replacing the bottom plate could be real tough. When I have done this before. I would lay the new 2x bottom plate beside the bottom plate it would replace and install simpson joist hangers lined up with the studs on that wall. I tried lifting an entire section by screwing a 2x4 about 3' up the studs, horizontal to the floor. We rigged a jack under the 2x4 to lift the area about 1" to give us room to work the old plate off and slide the new plate in. That only sort-of worked. The wall did not lift evenly, but with the 2x4 screwed to the studs we were able to lift individual areas as needed to force the new bottom plate into place. I used joist hangers because I did not want to depend on toe nails only.

Where the bottom plate is still good, I would lift areas with a crow bar and kind of work the new subfloor in with some some pushing and pounding. I pound the plywood by placing a 2x4 on the edge of the plywood and bang it there.

I do use a 4 1/2" grinder to remove all the pieces of old nails that will be in the way.

Hope this helps,
JD

[vancouver_island]

wow, yes. that sounds about right. excellent suggestions.

sounds like tomorrow we will be at it with a circular saw and crowbars trying to break up the particle board floor and bust it out!

We have a dremmel, a reciprocating saw and some serious chisels on hand so we will have to see how far we can go.

it is good to hear someones experience with jacking up a wall, and sounds like what i expected. good idea to screw the 2 x 4 on there first.

today we removed all the sprayed in insulation using linoleum knives to release it from the studs and pried it free. that was a fun job, the bottom plates aren't looking too bad but they are made from a pretty thin material.

yay! particle boards!

[Johanna Bruns]

Please pardon this long post.
**Mark, I will get this integrated with the pictures as I promised and send it to you, soon.**

I just replaced 8' of the bottom plate (I called it rim joist) where a door leak had caused it to rot nearly thru. None of the studs in the area were still connected to the joist due to the rot.

I removed the lag bolts that hold the joist to the I-beam till I had one more removed on each end than I was cutting out. I also put a temporary pier behind the door opening, where 2x4's had been used to provide extra support in the area.

Next, I put temporary piers under each end of the joist just past where it needed to be cut out. The piers included a piece of 2x6 installed at an angle for adjustment. Using a sledgehammer at the bottom of the 2x6, I lifted both ends of the area just enough that the wood could be removed and replaced without binding (much) on the I-beam ends.

Here's where I tell you how I "should" have done it. My way worked, but I had to trim the replacement piece a couple of times to get it to fit. At this point, I'd use three 3" deck screws to align and fasten the new wood to the old, and one more loose pier to keep the boards from falling on my feet. I would then get the trusty Sawzall out and cut both ends of the repair through both old and new wood, to provide a snug fit.

Now, back to how I did do it. Next, after a couple of adjustment cuts, I took the sledgehammer and hammered the new piece into place. The reason for the hammering was that the wood did bind just a bit on the I-beams, but just enough to make it an interference fit. I connected the cuts on the outside with mending plates and 2" deck screws. You would then unscrew the old piece from the new piece, then pry and cut it out of the way. The back of the joints are fastened with construction adhesive to a sistered 2x6 extending 8" to either side of the joint, then screwed tight with 3" deck screws. I then released the tensioned piers, removed all of the temps, replaced the lag screws, and connected studs to the joists with sistered pieces and angle irons. The stud repairs are temporary.

New insulation and radiant barrier installed in the area, I then reinstalled the repaired aluminum siding, as I'm not ready to replace the siding yet. I have to remove all of the paneling from the inside, retrofit 2x4's into the walls to replace the 2x2's, and replace all of the fiberglass insulation before the siding goes on.

I need to get the length of the new studs from a sound stud. If there's a little sag in the top plate where I worked, I'll use the temp tensioned pier method to raise the ceiling a bit, protecting the floor and ceiling with 1x4's screwed in place. Right now, there doesn't *appear* to be any sag.

It took me three weekends to do this. Don't get discouraged. I did this repair alone, so I doubled up on safety precautions. Hopefully, you'll have a couple of helpers and someone to keep feeding the Gatorade to beat this summer heat. In the Texas 100F temps, frequent rests had to happen.

A suggestion for removing messed-up particle board from under the studs: When you're ready to set the new subfloor in place, use a jigsaw to make a few horizontal cuts through the particle board and get the nails cleared. The particle board comes out easy and you can use Simpson fasteners to reattach the studs (I love those things). I think that instead of trying to get the new subfloor under there, I'd replace the cut-out stuff under the studs with 1x wood, then lay the new flooring on sistered 2x4, like JD and Mark recommend. This way, I'd only have one loose stud at a time.

Anything a grouchy 54-year old woman can do, you can do. Go for it, just be careful.

Johanna

[vancouver_island]

You don't sound that grouchy:)
thank you so much...We are feeling totally encouraged! Now that I know it CAN be done, phew!

[Greg]

I would also recomend Mark's book. It covers about every type of repairor update you may come across. It's in the "Books & parts" section of the site. Greg