Replacing Joists in Basement

Hello, Looking for some feedback regarding a future project. My wife and I purchased a home that's about 130 years old. Has a nice sag upstairs from a cast iron tub and poor structuring in the basement. (two story).

I have a lot to do in this project house and looking for thoughts on my plan of action.

First and foremost the Sag upstairs is up to 1.5 to 2 inches in a 12-14ish foot section. After reviewing the joists in the basement a lot of them need to be replaced do to crappy patch work done previous. (can provide photos if needed) The Main wall is supported by a 5 foot cinder block wall in the basement. Unfortunately the main joist has rotted and isn't providing much support. same for a second section. All of the joists need to be replaced in the long run. However I'm hoping main point fix and I can revisit Joists in the future so I can begin the project updates. I know people say start low and go high but hear me out lol.

I want to replace the Main Joist for the wall in the middle of the home. Was going to check its sag with a string, replace the beam and add the tall metal Jacks and use of Cinder block wall. Or Remove the Cinder block and us solely the jacks. (this is optional) There are two cinder block walls. One supporting main wall and a second in random spot not really supporting anything. The shorter joist that is also bad that is under a short wall (6 feet, but tub sits on top of it in second floor) I want to add more support on this wall using Beam/Jacks as well. I want to replace both of these beams and this will fix a majority of the sag that I have. However this is where i'm stuck. Should I go through and begin swapping out the other joists one at at time or can I move on to second floor projects? The joists in basement are decent but unconventional. Still have logs as joists for those who know what I mean. I do main parts and come back to other joists later??

The projects upstairs are everything lol. I want to remove the floorboard and sister joists to fix the remainder of the sag. Floorboards need to be replaced anyways so this is for added support. I'm then working on other projects on this floor.

In short. Can I fix 2 Main joists and move to second floor? Or is it best to complete ALL joists before moving upstairs even if the sag is removed and floor is level?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

Where are you located?

Well, you have described what I would call a gut job and major remodel/rebuild. You do need to start at the bottom. Fixing things higher up in the house can be done as an emergency repair but when you start jacking and straightening at the bottom it's going to affect everything above. Before looking at the walls I would look at the footers and foundation. Are they up to the task of supporting the house and surviving freezing the thawing without moving?

 

I could not agree with Pilot more on this one.
For 15 plus years before I retired all we worked on was 100 plus year old houses and churches.
It would be rare to find enough footings or proper footings, but very common to find undersized, over spanned, insect or fungus damaged floor joist, and moisture or insect damaged outside rim beams.
If these issues are not addressed first any work you did now on the second floor would most likely have to be redone.

 

Pilot, Yes there was an addition built to the house 40 or 50 years ago. Foundation is solid. Half is a Michigan basement that has been lowered in the center, and other half is a crawl space. This whole process is only on the older part of the home. The house itself is pretty solid and I don't really need to focus on the basement. I just want to do it mostly as it will be needed in the next ten years. and would rather get a heads start on it now. The sides, foundation walls are solid. No issues there. All have past inspections as well for when i purchased the home.

 

Thankfully nothing is damaged as much as its just done poorly. Word is good not major dots. Support was done poorly which caused weighted areas to sink further then others. Around the home is great. No water leaks etc. As i mentioned in Pilots reply the home had a major addition done in the last 50 years so a lot of that foundation items were cleaned and restored at that time.