What is a band sill and who to contact for replacement?

Question

I think I need to contact a foundation repair company to do this but I"m just curious what is the band sill and what function does it perform. A few contractors I called were ready to come out and then I said it was the band sill and they said oh no we won't do that. So what's the deal is it a risky repair?

Answer 1

The band sill is the set of boards (in wood frame houses), or blocks (in a brick house) that sits on top of the foundation wall and runs in a band around the house. This is the sill all of the frames sit on, and the reason nobody want the job is that they have to jack up the house by sections, replace the sill, and then set it down to move onto the next section. Doing this can overload another section of the sill and cause the house to collapse, can crack and collapse interior loadbearing walls, can push the house off the foundation wall, can bust pipes, cause leaks in walls, door sills, window sills, and roofs, break windows, and cause brick chimneys to separate. Nobody wants the liability as some of this damage may not show up for several months. A helical coil company might take the job, but you are talking about some serious work here, and it will not be cheap.