October 21, 2006
Notched Joists
This can't be good.
I read somewhere that you can cut up to a three inch hole in the center of a ten-inch joist, as long as you're at least two inches away from the sides of the board and 18 inches away from the ends of the joist.
This white pipe would have easily fit through a three-inch hole in the center of the board. But I guess cutting a huge pyramid out of the wood, changing the floor joist from 10 inches wide to 2 inches wide, works too. It especially works if you want your eight-year-old to fall through his bedroom floor into the kitchen intermittently.
I'm trying to figure out how to fix this. Suggestions appreciated.
Comments
Can't see what is on right side, but if there is something to screw into on that side an aluminum angle screwed to each side of the joist notbh to prevent it from flexing open should do it.
Hi Tara,
This is exactly the type of thing we ran into when gutting my brother Steven's house!! It's a tough solution. Interestingly, we came across it 4 times in different locations... each time solving it differently. First time, we were able to remove the pipe and just install a new beam alongside the damaged one. The next time we nailed a 2X4 along both sides of the entire length of the joist below the opening. The other two times we were able to move the pipe temporarily and just install a new joist all together, cutting a hole through the center to push the pipe back through. Of course, that required bracing things up during the transfer process. -Peter