Floor Joist reinforcement

Remodeling the basement and the area that I want to turn into the family room has a problem with
weak floor joist's. It's 16 x 20 with 2x10's on
12" o.c. spanning the 20 ft. Add the master bedroom with a water bed and the bathroom, and the
floor show's a large amount of spring. That was before I place a divider wall to support the joists. My current thought is to place 16ft. 2x6's flat, ever 2 ft. and glue/screw into each floor joist to help distribute the load. The basement ceiling is only 7ft. and since we have several persons that are 6-4 to 6-7, placing beams is not a option.
Any pearls of wisdom???

 

jmacc,

Since you desire not to have a beam installed in the basement, your options are very limited. Adding another 2x10 to the existing may help some but trying to sandwich 3/4 plywood between the 2x10, may increase load capacity but I fear it may not be sufficient. I suggest using TJI's but I wonder how you will get these into the basement and up into position next to the existing 2x10's. TJI's would be 9 1/2" so securing these to the 2x10's would be done with 2x4 vertical placed blocking between the TJI web about every 2'. The loads that these can carry over large spans outweighs the additional 2x10 and plywood. Cost is more but it does work. I have attached a link for your review;

http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ourprodu...usjoisttji.asp

Let us know how you're doing!

 

One thing I did do was install a "pergo" type
Hardwood floor in the bedroom, hallway and living room( the real wood type) I hope it will add a extra support base. It defininty cut down on the "sqeaks" around the house.
TJI is not really a option due to the lenght
problem. I appreciate the idea.
Thanks

 

If all you need is to stiffen the floor and to help eliminate the bounce then here is what worked real well for me. I also had a 2x10 floor joists on 16" centers that only spanned 15ft but I felt some bounce and wanted it gone.
What i did was to take some 1/2 plywood and rip it into 9 1/2" by 8ft lengths and then place two of these pieces on both sides of the joist in the middle of the span where it is most important. I attacthed these pieces with a strong wood glue and 3 clamps, I then used 6 deck screws 2 on each end and 2 in the middle, let the glue cure before using the room and the floor really stiffened up. Don't forget to put the bridging and or blocking back up after installing the plywood supports.