how do I replace rotted bottom plate on my shed

[TimR]

I got my shed reroofed this summer. The roofer replaced some rotted sheathing on the roof and side. I don't do roofs, at my age my balance isn't reliable.

Now I see the bottom plate is rotted on a couple of sides. We had the rainiest fall in history, and I had a roof leak in that area.

What is the method to replace that? Or is there a work around? It looks like to replace it I'd have to jack the top plate, cut studs, and insert a new bottom? Or is there a better way? This is one I've never worked on.

[Rashida Tlaib]

I'd bulldoze it and put in a new one.

[trader_4]

If it's just rotted in some spots, but still sound overall, you can dig out the rotted wood, let it dry out good, and fill it with body filler. I prefer that over wood filler for that application. It will harden in a few hours, regardless of how deep it is. Also, time your sanding so you do it when it's hard enough to sand, but not fully hardened, it will go quicker. That's what I did three years ago with a rotted door sill here, it's still going fine. Cover it with a good primer and paint.

[Bob F]

When I did it in my 80 yo shop, I just jacked up the wall slightly with a 4x4 spreading out the force over the stretch of wall, cut or pulled the nails holding the studs to the baseboard, removed the baseboard and replaced it with pressure treated wood, then nailed the studs to that.

[TimR]

I did some googling. They say support the rafters with a cross member and some studs, cut the studs to the sill plate wherever they've rotted, dig out the old plate and insert a new one. It will be a lot of work but I should be able to handle this.

[trader_4]

Still missing is how rotted this is? A couple of spots? 10% or most of it, 90%?

[dpb]

Did a full half of the north side of the 38x66 two story barn (38 ft to top of mow ridge) and the full west end -- a storage shed would be "piece o'cake". Use a long 4x4(*) against the rafters at the top plate and jack it up (remember to take off the plate tiedown bolts first :) ). Just pull out the bad section of plate and replace it. Depending upon how badly rotted out it really is, cut any bad studs back to solid material, fit a new piece in and add a cripple for support. Set back down.

(*) Used a 6x8 beam for the barn, but it was much bigger/heavier structure. We lifted it in sections of about 12-16 ft at a time, blocking behind us as we went. For a shed, be able to do it all at once if have more than one jack on hand.

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[TimR]

I didn't find any places where it didn't crumble. The shed is 12 by 20 but it's in two rooms, the original and an addition, so there's a 10 foot length of plate that's clearly bearing and a 12 foot on the gable end that is maybe not. There were a couple of studs and rafters that the roofer replaced or sistered in that section.

[dpb]

...

BTW, make sure to cut the new stud lengths to match the original full height--may have sagged some with the rotted material of both the plate and the stud ends. There was as much as several inches missing on the worst of the barn and the mow floor had to be raised back up by as much as an inch--there was support from an interior wall siding and other added columns that prevented the wall from just collapsing so wasn't nearly as much as the actual missing material...75 years of serving as the milking parlor area and the drainage along that wall had done it quite some serious damage.

[trader_4]

I misread your original post. Somehow I was thinking this was a door sill problem, which is why I said you might be able to use filler. Looks like replacement is the only option.

[TimR]

Update: The bottom plate was not just rotted in a couple places. Three 12 foot long walls were completely gone - you could remove sill plate with a broom. The bottom few inches of most studs would crumble in your hands. I don't know what held the roof up.

I worked one wall at a time around the perimeter, supporting the rafters, cutting the studs, pulling out the old sill plate, putting back pressure treated 2x6 over a vapor seal, sistering studs full height as well as replacing what I cut off, over this summer. The hardest part was removing the corner posts. I finished yesterday during the rain. If I could get a nut off an anchor bolt I reused it, if not I drilled for tapcons.

I did ask a contractor to bid on it but nobody wanted to, and I can see why, the cost would have been more than a new shed probably.