Hi All,
I’m a HO preparing my house to be put on the market in the spring of 2005. I’m the 3rd owner of a 50 year old Cape and need to repair some shoddy work done by the original owner. In this particular instance, he cut through a 2×8 floor joist in order to run heating duct work vertically.
The floor span is about 12 ft with 2×8, 16″ OC. The cut gap is about 3.5″ wide at the top of the joist and 5″ wide at the bottom, a tapered cut. It’s about 3.5 ft away from the end of the joist. This supports the first floor of the house. This joist is in the kitchen/hallway area of the house and it partly supports the weight of the refridgerator and the hallway. Surprisingly, there doesn’t appear to be any sag in this area.
My thinking was to sister another 2×8 alongside the cut joist and glue (titebond) and screw them together. The question I have is how to get the new joist from a horizontal to a vertical position. I could get the joist almost vertical and then just hammer the top or bottom until it’s completely vertical. The concern with this is that it might crack the tile floor in the kitchen. Or could I take a .5″ notch at both ends of the joists to allow me to easily get it into a vertical position and then put shims between the new joist and the sill & support beam.
Or perhaps I could just put a header in between the 2 cut ends and use joist hangers to attach them all together.
Thoughts/suggestions? Thanks in advance.
–Bill
Replies
Notch.. Set verticale... Shim to take up the notch...
Use PL Premium UA construction adhesive... There's nothing else like it...
ferget the Titebond...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Thanks for the response IMERC. One more question. Are cedar shims ok for this or is because the wood is too soft, I need to use steel shims? Are steel shims something that I can get at my local lumber yard? I don't ever recall seeing steel shims anywhere.
--Bill
Bill
I think the cedar is too soft and you won't find steel shims. You should use regular white wood shims.
Put the first one in with the fat end away from you and pound the second one in tight. This way you will have bearing all along the notch. You will have to cut your notch a little longer to do it.
Not trying to insult, you just don't want it bearing on one small point.
Make yur own steel shims from about any thing but a custom made to order to fit glued in white wood shim is about the easiest way to go...
If you lift (jack) yur new joist a schosch and then put in yur shim life may be simpiler fur ya...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Bill, the notch idea is half good.
Instead of notching, take a 8" long wedge (1/2 " to nothing) out of the ends.
Install the joist.
Use those same wedges for your shims. The angles will mate perfectly. Glue and staple them.
Personally, I'd just stand it up with out all the ripping. I push the top tight to the damaged joist and bang the bottom over. this will cause no problems providing that you are using the same size joist.
5 minute job.
You don't have to go to extraordinary lengths to mate the two together. The new joist will independently carry the load even if you never nail it to the sibling.
blueIf you want to read a fancy personal signature... go read someone else's post.
Thanks for everyone's responses. It was quite interesting and I definitely learned a lot. I liked blue_eyed_devil's idea of cutting a tapered wedge off the end and using that as a shim. That's a great idea and one I never would have thought of myself.
--Bill
I question the need to shim. The sister is just taking up some of the net load to prevent sagging and deflection of the compromised joist. The old joist still backs up the floor adequately at the ends.
Yeah, if the two joists are adequately sistered together, there's no need for the new one to be flush up against the bottom of the floor. It can sit a half-inch lower than the first one, if you're not planning to finish the ceiling.