I just remodeled a kitchen, adding granite countertops, a heavy, commercial-style range and ceramic-tile floors. I was concerned about the floor’s flexibility. If it was too bouncy, the grout would eventually loosen and pop out.
There was a finished basement below the kitchen, so adding posts to bolster the floor wasn’t an option. But the basement’s suspended ceiling was easy to remove, which gave me access to the 2×10 joists under the kitchen floor.
As shown in the drawing, I used continuous steel wall-bracing straps as tension rods to stiffen each joist. I wrapped the joists from the top of one end, around the bottom at midpoint and back to the top of the opposite end. I nailed the strap to the joist every few inches with joist-hanger nails. The floor was substantially stiffened by this procedure, and so far, the grout has remained intact.
Tim Brigham, Koloa, HI
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