About 80 feet of sill in our home needs to be replaced. The home is over 90 years old and much of this is old termite damage. The house is brick, so the sill has to be cut out and replaced from the inside. The carpenters started work today, and the technique they are using is to cut about an inch out of the 2 X 10 floor joist for a length of about 5 inches. This is to allow the new pressure treated sill to be slid into position. The old (and new) sill is about 5 x 8. The joists were already originally notched out about an inch to receive the sill. I am now probably down to about 7 inches.

My questions are:

1) Is the cutting down of the joist end acceptable (I don't see any other way)

2) Would an engineer be needed to determine if gussets should be installed?

3) The sill pieces are going in with lengths of 3 to 5 feet due to pipes and other obstructions. I haven't asked yet, but I don't see any practical way of tying these to the foundation.

House is balloon frame if that is of any matter.

Any suggestions or comments appreciated. Thanks.