Sistering To Repair Improperly Notched Floor Joists

How to repair notched floor joists.

Sistering to repair improperly notched floor joists. Floor joists constructed from large dimension lumber bear the weight of the structure above so notching them isn t recommended. Her floor joists were notched by someone installing electrical cabling in the middle of the span on the bottom of the joist. Doing so strengthens weak joists and can help straighten sagging joists. But it s usually best to run the sister joist over the entire span.

In situations when sistering damaged floor joists with lumber of similar dimensions it can be easy to notch and slide the sister board into place. A hole is often a round or square opening fully contained on all 4 sides within a joist. Then attach the sister joist using three 16d common nails driven every 16 in. How to sister a floor joist.

In some cases a plumber or. Driving 16d common nails in old hard wood is difficult. However doing this does not fix the slant that the floor has taken since the old joists got damaged. I know that i can reinforce the existing joists by sistering new joists to them but i m curious is there any reason a carefully installed and glued patch wouldn t do the same trick.

A notch is generally a 3 sided cut in the joist where the 4th side is open at the top bottom or end of the joist. Sistering joists means beefing them up with additional material. A failed joist may minimally lead to a sagging floor or in extreme cases the collapse of a home.