I have to replace rotted studs and cap plate in a portion of a wall that supports second floor joists and a 6×8 beam spanning 6 feet with joists hanging on it.
I need to jack up the beam about 1/4″ in order to replace studs supporting one end of it.
How much weight will I be jacking up? Will the screw jack from my Econoline E250 (GVW 6200 lb) do the job?
Thanks in advance,
BruceT
Replies
that 250 jack can barely handle a VW bug...
it will take alt least 2 jacks in unision...
you'll find that a 20 ton jack will groan over the lift...
go rent some real house jacks..
don't ferget to shore up everthing as you go..
You'll need to support the floor(s) under your jacks, too. The jacking pressure goes down as well as up and you may find yourself pushing the floor down as much (or more) than the joists move up.
I'm something of a jack collector. Been buying up used jacks of all types for years.
Then I found these, and life got much easier. Uses a 4X4 (or 6x6) cut to size as needed. No cribbing, or messing around with precarious setups. It was a "now why didn't I think of that" moment. At $30(+ship) each they are a real bargain too. After testing one, I bought 5 of them, and use them all the time. They can even be used laterally, and the jack end can be positioned at either the top or the bottom or post as needed. Try that with a regular screw jack!
View Image
http://www.gearshop.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=21&Product_ID=1297&CATID=22
Those look interesting. A friend of mine loaned me a Duff-Norton jack that came from the coal mining business. It uses 2 1/2" steel pipe instead of 4x4 lumber, and the screw is 16" long. Very handy item. You may be able to find some in coal country.
-- J.S.
Interesting. I want some of those for my collection.
OK, you get first dibs. But if anybody in coal country has extras to sell, I'm interested too.
-- J.S.
Your jack may or may not work, but take careful note of what has already been said about shoring under the jacking point. You need to install solid shoring all the way down to the dirt. A small pile of 4x4s and 3 screw jacks from the rental shop are probably what you need.
You've gotten some good advice.
I prefer hydraulic jacks. Two 20 ton jacks should work nicely for you. Do be very sure of what you are jacking ON. Use squash blocks as needed, i.e. don't jack straight onto the subfloor!
The link Corey posted has my interest! No worying about temps kicking out.
And, as Marty said, shore as you go... if something drops suddenly (and I've had it happen), you DON'T want it it go very far.
"A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel." Robert Frost
Thanks guys for the advice.I only had to take the load off the wall while I removed rotted studs, top plates and sill plate and replaced them with new ones after liberal application of Termin8, (a copper naphthenate product)to the remaining wood that had been in contact with rotted members.I rented a 10-ton screw jack for $6 a day, tacked a 2x6 scrap to the underside of the beam near the end, put the jack on a scrap of 4x6 and cut a 4x4 post to size. Since the top plates were both rotted, I cut back to good wood over an adjacent header, for a sliding door removed the 3 1/8" cripples (how fortunate)and stacked 2x4 plates from the top down to replace the cut away plates. each one overlapped the butt joint of the one above and the bottom one was nailed to the top of the header as well. As I replaced the studs, I cut them to the same height as the header, since the top plate is now at that level. Finally, I used an 18" Simpson strap to better tie all 4 top plates to the corner stud.BruceT