How To Join Floor Joists

Most often floor joists need to be sistered because of two problems either water damage which leads to rot or termite damage that crumbled the joist.

How to join floor joists.

But larger is not always better when builders are constructing a home or adding a room addition. The longer the distance a joist spans without support the more it will flex. 1 ft 0 3048 m. If there was water damage make sure that whatever leaky pipe or condensation issue caused the rot is fixed.

Common sense tells you that large floor joists can carry more load and spacing joists closer together also increases the load bearing capacity of a floor. Doing so strengthens weak joists and can help straighten sagging joists. Sistering or joining joists the term sistering joists is the practice of overlapping two joists by a certain distance across a beam to create an extended joist. Tack a beam under the sagging joists.

The extra two inches of vertical distance when a floor is framed with 2 x 10 joists rather than 2 x 12s can be quite important for example. Here is a pathetic attempt to splice some floor joists under the bathroom. Maximum floor joist span for no. How to sister a floor joist.

If the floor is sagging the damaged joist and or a few neighboring joists may need to be jacked up slightly to straighten or raise the floor so the sister joist can be put into place. Notches will compromise the strength of the new joists but some notches are acceptable depending on their location. Dead load weight of structure and fixed loads 10 lbs ft 2. This is unusual in new deck construction and would only be necessary for very long spans that exceed the length of your longest boards.

These problems must be addressed firsthand prior to implementing any restoration steps. By building a wall under joists you divide the span. 2 grade of douglas fir are indicated below. 1 psf lb f ft 2 47 88 n m 2.

Live load is weight of furniture wind snow and more. Nailing two 2x4s together will work to span about three joists unless the sag is under a weight bearing wall. The floor above will be stiffest if you place the wall in the middle of the joists. Then set new joists same height as existing ones alongside the old.

If you build a wall to support joists be sure to place a stud directly and tightly under each joist. Sistering joists means beefing them up with additional material. The long view makes the overlap seem longer but i believe the nearest one is less than a foot with very few nails. Framing lumber is the typical.