Rotten siding--Checking framing?

[Pilot]

Our little country church (about 60 members) has a pastor's residence next door, built around 1904. Hasn't been used by a pastor for 15 years. When the latest renters moved out, a member came up with $6,000 to have the place painted inside and out.

Painters found all the siding on the west side is rotten. Punched thru the siding in one area to find another layer of a different kind of siding behind the outer layer. It has different siding in different areas, so some of the rotten siding may not have a second layer behind it. Not knowing what else to do, they painted it.

What we need to know now, is whether the framing might be wet also. Is there a good, easy way to check without pulling off the siding or pulling sheetrock? My guess would be to use a hole cutter to cut several 2" holes in the sheetrock, then patch it up again. Is there a better way?

Not relevant, but just to add to the story, when the painters were working, a water line came apart at a poorly glued joint in the PVC pipe and ran for about an hour before the painters could find a place to shut it off. Turns out, someone used glue for CPVC pipe on PVC pipe. They used the right glue in most spots but maybe ran out and switched to what they had left over from running the CPVC line. The plumber was able to pull some joints apart with his pliers.

 

[beenthere]

Guess it all depends on how important knowing the condition of the framing in the wall.

I'd suggest applying some pressure to the wall, inside and out, to see if it gives much to the pressure. If the wall moves, then likely there is rotten framing. Possibly, if the framing is rotten, there are telltale signs that the wall has settled. If it doesn't move or hasn't settled, then I'd assume there is time to decide what to do with the siding that is rotten.

Where the siding is rotten, then removal (not painting over) would be the right thing to do to protect your investment. At the time the rotten siding is replaced, inspection of the framing can be done.

Any thoughts as to any insulation in the wall cavity? Any signs on the sheetrock that the framing behind it is wet? Can you remove some wall outlets and probe into the wall, possibly with a light tube for such inspections.

Or move the pastor back in, and suggest that he heal it.

 

[inveresk]

For $300 - 400 you could buy a borescope that would allow you to inspect the wall cavities with minimum disruption. I'm not sure if you can rent them.

 

[dave1949]

Besides checking the framing as much as possible to protect what you have, as said; it would be good to figure out why the siding rotted. Two layers of siding is begging for trouble IMO.

Not familiar with Oregon, but rotted siding on a west side sounds odd unless it is being heavily shaded by trees or another building. I have seen dry rot get started within 4-5 years on a north side down near the ground.
Dave.

 

[dmccarty]

There are moisture meters that will work on the inside of the house. Place on the drywall/plaster and they magically detect water in the wall. At least that is what the catalog says. :laughing:

I THINK I saw a meter that had a long probe that was inserted into the wall cavity for the measurement.

I have never used these things and they are not cheap. I get catalogs with stuff like this that is interesting reading. But thankfully I have no reason to use the meters. Well it would be kinda fun to get the moisture level in my firewood. :laughing: But not worth $300.

A building inspector should have one of these gadgets.

Later,
Dan

 

[2manyrocks]

If the house has baseboards, you can pop them off and drill your inspection holes behind the baseboards, and then cover then back up with baseboard. Unless you get lucky, you'll probably wreck the baseboards pulling them off, but it's probably cheaper and faster to put the baseboard back than to patch a lot of holes in the drywall unless you've got totally free labor to patch the drywall.

The other thing you might do is drill small holes and use a coat hanger wire to probe to see what's solid and what's not.

The painters should have stopped and let someone check before they painted over the problem. That is just wasting paint and money.

 

[Pilot]

Interesting suggestions.

I forgot to mention, we don't have any money. The budget will be short about $3,000 (4%) this year just because of the time it has spent unrented. Plus we have incurred other expenses because of the condition the renters left it in, costing more to fix than their deposit.

Climate: It rains about 60" between October 1 and May 31.

The borescope idea is especially interesting. I have a friend who has a mini-TV camera, a little cube a little over 3/4" on each side. He used it for checking inside his airplane wings. Tape it to a stick, hook the cable up to an analog TV and you are good to go--except we'll need to get light in there. Hmmm.

I have a little moisture meter from Harbor Freight, but you need to press the probes on the end against the wood and then be able to read the moisture % on the face of the instrument. No probe for it.

We don't know if there is any insulation. Could be insulation with no moisture barrier; that would allow moisture to condense on the inside of the siding which could be why we have a problem. I believe a lot of this building was built by amateurs so there's no telling what problems exist.

Our thinking at this time is to check it out and decide what to do depending on what we find. If the studs are dry, we'll fix the siding in a couple years after doing some fund raising. If the studs are wet, we're in trouble!

Keep those ideas coming!

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

Our little country church (about 60 members) has a pastor's residence next door, built around 1904. Hasn't been used by a pastor for 15 years. When the latest renters moved out, a member came up with $6,000 to have the place painted inside and out.

Painters found all the siding on the west side is rotten. Punched thru the siding in one area to find another layer of a different kind of siding behind the outer layer. It has different siding in different areas, so some of the rotten siding may not have a second layer behind it. Not knowing what else to do, they painted it.

What we need to know now, is whether the framing might be wet also. Is there a good, easy way to check without pulling off the siding or pulling sheetrock? My guess would be to use a hole cutter to cut several 2" holes in the sheetrock, then patch it up again. Is there a better way?

Not relevant, but just to add to the story, when the painters were working, a water line came apart at a poorly glued joint in the PVC pipe and ran for about an hour before the painters could find a place to shut it off. Turns out, someone used glue for CPVC pipe on PVC pipe. They used the right glue in most spots but maybe ran out and switched to what they had left over from running the CPVC line. The plumber was able to pull some joints apart with his pliers.

I think that your idea of pulling some drywall would work the best.
If it was me I would make a very straight cut about 48 in above and horizontal with the floor. That way when you pull the drywall(and if the framing is wet, then the drywall
is probably shot too) you can just replace it with another sheet of drywall, but a 48 inch access will give you room to work if you need to replace any framing members.

 

[beenthere]

If you have no money, and thus can't fix anything that you might find, I'd just get an old ice pick and probe through the siding, the drywall, and behind the baseboards to see if there is solid wood.
If not solid, the pick will not stop when you push on it.
Then you will need to find some money or punt.

Possibly put it up for sale, as a DIY project and then rid yourself of the burden.
Happy Easter.