On Sat, 29 Feb 2020 22:12:44 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Sat, 29 Feb 2020 06:48:56 -0800 (PST), TimR wrote:

When the weather warms enough I'll get to replacing some rotted sill plate in my shed.

But I had a thought, which is maybe a dumb idea, I dunno.

I have to cut each stud above the plate, add a section, and connect to the new sill plate. The floor is concrete slab. The old sill plate is wood but metal wrapped, kind of weird. I haven't seen that before. It didn't seem to protect it any though.

What if instead of laying the new sill plate directly on the floor, I placed one row of concrete block? Block is cheap, it would elevate the plate a bit above the moisture. It will take a bit longer, but if it saves me doing this job again at my age it would be worth it.

Most sills are tied to a slab/foundation. Provides horizontal stability. Don't know how
big your shed is, but that's something to keep in mind.
Bond the block to the slab and embed grip-tite anchors in the blocks
to bolt the sill down. Done all the time. Just need to fill the
blockcavities where the anchors go. Or use wedge anchors in the floor
slab with redi-rod through the block and sill.. If you need wind
resistance you put strong-ties from the sill to the studs.
Theconcern about tripping noted in a previous post is a red herring -
neither the block or the sill plate extend across the door opening,
generally speaking. Cross brace the shed,jack it off the slab, cut off
the rotted studs, insert the anchors and lay the blocks, the isolation
membrane and the sill plates then lower the shed and fasten the studs
to the sill - toe-nail, L bracket, strong-tie- orwhatever method you
like. Without jacking the shed it gets a bit trickier. You can use
jack posts to the rafters or to temporary framing under the top
plates, or you can use toe jacks,. Just make sure you brace it so the
shed can't topple.

Hope I never have to do it to my shed - all the studs are old kiln
dried hardwood pallet material that was a real bugger to cut 20 years
ago - so hard I had to drill pilot holes to drive spikes to put it
together and without substantial pilot holes #8 or #10 construction
screws just snapped off. More worried about the pressure treated
foundation - pressure treated 6X6 white cedar (resawn salvaged hydro
poles) laid on about 4 inches of crushed stone in trench on subsoil,
backfilled with crushed stone, with sidewalk slabs all the way around
and good overhangs with rain gutters. It's 10X10 with a 15X15 roof and
a full 8 feet to the eaves so it is NOT light - - -