Reinforcing Floor Joists For Plumbing

Tradespeople often need to cut notches or holes in floor and ceiling joists to run pipes ductwork or wires.

Reinforcing floor joists for plumbing.

Now it is time to use some wood and screw it into place on the original joist as well as the cross beam. Away from the top and bottom. Step 4 reinforce the floors you will have to use a very sturdy piece of wood or some steel plating to reinforce the floor joists. Nailing two 2x4s together will work to span about three joists unless the sag is under a weight bearing wall.

Drill holes with a diameter of no more than one third the depth of the joist staying 2 in. Keep the hole at least 2 in. Sometimes joists are notched at the end where they bear on a wall or sill. Determine the size of your plumber box for a double header measure back three inches from your plumber box 3 is the width of a doubled header and mark a.

You should use steel joist hangers when you do this. Use a circular saw to start the cut and finish with a. While searching around for a solution i came upon a company called metwood which produces a line of floor joist hole reinforcer technologies which attach directly to the side of the floor joist and are pre engineered to distribute the joist load around the larger up to 4 hole. Plywood web stiffeners on both sides of the i joist on either side of the hacked one.

From the top and the bottom if it s a dimensional lumber joist. You can reinforce a notched joist that has not cracked by cutting two pieces of 3 4 inch plywood as wide as the joist depth and as long as the plywood sheet. Where and how to drill joists for electrical cables or plumbing runs depends on what type of floor framing you have. Remove a section of the hacked i joist add new i joist perpendicular on both sides of the plumbing pipe using hangers.

These joists may need reinforcin g to reduce bounciness sagging or excessive deflection in the floor or ceiling. The new i joists should have plywood web stiffeners also. Steps to head off a floor joist determine the location of your plumbing drain. A steel plate can be used the same way.

Set a hydraulic jack and post under the beam and jack up the joists about 1 8 in. Jacking them up too fast may cause cracks in the walls and floors overhead. In this case you need to do the same first step of adding double joists on the first joists that are outside of the cut zone. A day until they re level.

Then you will cross block with a double header on each side of the opening and then attach short joists that will run the distance to the headers at the opening.