Hurricane Harvey Damage (Stud replacement) Help.

[themoon]

My brother and his wife were hit hard by Hurricane Harvey. They took on a foot of water.  They already began the process of cleaning it up now that the water has receded.  They removed about 2 feet of drywall from the bottom and took out the insulation. I'm going down there tomorrow (can finally drive to them) to help them rebuild.

A lot of the studs need to be replaced because it appears there used to be termite damage and rotted wood already there. Do I need to completely replace the entire stud? Or can I cut the bottom portion and put a new one there.  If so, can I do that to all the walls or for load bearing walls does the entire wall have to be replaced?  And I'm assuming if I have to replace the entire wall, there's no way around saving the sheetrock?

Anything else you can think of?

[Robert Adams]

Typically the studs are just sistered in place and anything super nasty of the old ones chopped out. If it's just the bottom of a stud it varies. Some you can sister a chunk on the bottom and replace the damaged piece. All depends on how many and what that wall is doing. 

        Most houses in TX are all built with pretty much every wall being a load bearing wall to some extent because trusses are very rarely used for roof framing. Very few plain roofs here and it's cheaper here to stick frame it than truss it. Labor cost less than trusses and a crane rental. 

    
        As for the drywall... Houses in tx all have wall texture of some sort. If it was built in the 80s it's very heavy texture. Newer stuff urally has a knock down texture. No texture is easy to match and every flood house I have seen repaired you can always see where the new and old meet. Personally I prefer to just tear all the drywall out fix anything in the walls that needs it and maybe move walls etc then wrap it all up and call it done. Then after tthe storm is forgotten from recent public memory put the house up for sale and move...

       FYI gasoline is already becoming an issue here in DFW since the news scare of possibly running out. So there is a run on gas and prices have been going up all day and about $.85 today alone. So if you aren't already there and have all your own support gear it's best to wait a week or so and let things settle down.

[themoon]

Hey Robert. Thanks for replying. 
In regards to sistering, if I had to replace every stud in a wall, is it safe to sister every stud? And if I do, do I have to use a face plate to join them together?

I'm going to try and convince him to just replace the entire dry wall.  If he goes for that, I feel that it would be easier to just replace the entire stud instead of sistering everything.  Might cost a bit more but I feel it would be significantly easier.  Would you agree?

He is about 45 mins from me. I got lucky and didn't flood but it got REALLY close. Thank you Jesus. I have all my tools already. The only thing I really need to buy is the wood... which I'm hoping the Lowe's/HD has. I was going to wait in purchasing any drywall for him.

[Phil Thien]

I'm going to try and convince him to just replace the entire dry wall.  If he goes for that, I feel that it would be easier to just replace the entire stud instead of sistering everything.  Might cost a bit more but I feel it would be significantly easier.  Would you agree?

Not only do I think it would be easier/faster, I think you'd get a better result, too.

[Robert Adams]

Hey Robert. Thanks for replying. 
In regards to sistering, if I had to replace every stud in a wall, is it safe to sister every stud? And if I do, do I have to use a face plate to join them together?

I'm going to try and convince him to just replace the entire dry wall.  If he goes for that, I feel that it would be easier to just replace the entire stud instead of sistering everything.  Might cost a bit more but I feel it would be significantly easier.  Would you agree?

He is about 45 mins from me. I got lucky and didn't flood but it got REALLY close. Thank you Jesus. I have all my tools already. The only thing I really need to buy is the wood... which I'm hoping the Lowe's/HD has. I was going to wait in purchasing any drywall for him.

         If you sister every one with full studs it'll make the wall very strong however the issue now is insulation doesn't fit in any stud bay and you do end up with more heat conduction through the walls. 

        If every stud is bad then I would lay out new stud placement if possible or needed due to top and bottom plate damage nail them in place then whack out the existing. However this is very tedious on exterior walls because the sheathing is attached to the studs. Best to sister them.

       You will also be replacing bottom plates as well due to termites. Because of that you will need to build temp walls to support the ceiling and roof. 
 
          It is allot of work and will require extra lumber for the temp walls but you can reuse that as you go. Don't forget nails for the nail gun.

           Would like to see pics when you get in there. I had had a friend that lived west of Pearland. He died last year when his plane crashed after takeoff there but his parents are still there. I have to give them a call and see if they need anything. If they do I may end up making making a trip after things settle down. LOML also has has a friend there and they are just without power. 
           But that said I am north west of Fort Worth and if you have trouble getting lumber let me know. I have have a 5'x10' trailer and if I can I can haul what you need down there as long as I can get gas for the trip... After the panic the media started yesterday gas spiked and is hard to get here and up to $3 some places. You have to bring everything with you like you are going in the desert....

[jcredding]

When I had some serious termite damage at an old house we bought, I cut out the damaged bottom and then slipped a new one under before sistering. It effectively creates 4 x 6 but also gets rid of the pieces that had the termites and rot in them.

[Cooler]

Once the termites are dealt with, sistering is the answer as stated above.

Since you cannot reliably match texture (I did not know that texture was standard in Texas), then I might consider wainscoting and removing 4 feet of wall.  The wainscoting can be textured or you can use bead board.  Or you can make the wainscoting from ship lap (per Johanna Gaines).

It will be easier than matching texture and may improve property value.

The top horizontal board will hide the seam, and the boards look to be 14" on center.



This is more work, but the proportions work better:

[EricU]

wainscoting is a great idea. 

Why do termites only go so far up the wall?  Sounds suspicious to me

[K. L. McReynolds]

All the termite damage I have seen in walls is in the entire wall, bottom to top and beyond. Have seen streamers instead of 2x4's---where the termites ate all the soft wood and left the harder.

Take off all the sheetrock, replace the studs/framing as necessary, and rerock.

[Bill Holt]

Two things:
   1. Termites are not limited to the lower section of a stud.
   2. Some sheet rockers like to install horizontally.  You may find a seam at 4'.

Good luck.  It is hot and humid, making for rough working conditions.