I don't know if banding would be stout enough for an old heavy house. Since
steel is stronger and thinner, I'd be tempted to use some kind of I beam with
screw jacks. That would take the bounce out of the floors.
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Leavens
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, October 03, 2009 9:41 AM
Subject: [BlindHandyMan] stiffening inadequate floor joists?
Hi,
It is too wet outside to do any work and I am contemplating a problem I have
had since moving into this old building.
The original house has floor joists rough sawn but only 2 by 8 on 24 inch
centers. We have a springy and uneven floor. Some of it is also because at some
point one of the heating systems required framing in a big cold air return and
they clearly didn't shore up the floor when cutting that joist, someone long
since removed all of the cross bracing.
I don't see sistering or adding joists in the usual way because of plumbing,
wiring and duct work and I don't want to add more posts and beams. It recently
struck me though that I could build in place an open web joist, jack things
temporarily up then fix the lower cord. This lead me to think perhaps a better
way might be to jack tings up just a little above the desired point then apply
a web of strap steel to either face of the existing joists on the diagonal. A
series of 'V's so that the diagonal essentially forms triangles. This would
allow me to continue to respect wiring.
More stiffening might be achieved by running a length of angle iron along the
top inside corner against the floor and the joist and run a bolt through it and
the straps and similarly at the bottom of the joist, I wonder how much would be
enough and how much too much. At some point it might be better to fabricate
individual steel webbed joists and fit them between the originals but then they
may serve the purpose of lifting the originals which would continue to be
pulling down after nearly a century.
Just kicking around ideas. I would like to preserve as much open space there
as I can.
I don't have reasonable access to engineering or architectural services.
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