Hi im a new home owner with my first house and I have a question about the joists between my first and second floor. Long story short I had some water damage and when the drywall on the ceiling got removed I noticed a few joists were sagging. When the previous owner had the bathroom on the second floor redone whoever did it notched out 3 or 4 of the joists for plumbing and thats why they are sagging also the plumbing goes below the joists so I will have to add clearance to get the ceiling to clear it. My question is im going to sister new joists on the original 2x6s should I do 2x6s and nail strips to the bottom to get the clearance, just cut 2x8s to fit between the walls to strengthen the originals somewhat and add my clearance, or notch 2x8s to rest on the original load bearing walls. Sorry for the long post I just want to be as clear as I can on the situation.

 

Going to have to post some pictures.
100% sure there 2 X 6's? If so that's way under sized unless this is a really short span.

 

This may help:
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

Bud ....................................................

Oh, and welcome to the forum

 

just measured them 1.5 x 5.5 the house is almost 100 years old. the sag looks to be about 1 to 1.5 inches to me not positive because i don't have a laser level.

 

It looks like only the five from the bump out in the wall to just past the trap that are sagging the rest look good and straight. By the way the span is 11.5 feet wall to wall. while everything is apart I'm thinking i should just sister all of the joists even the flat ones because I know I need more strength than 2x6s.

 

Looks like someone already tried to "fix" things by scabbing some 2 x 4s onto the notched 2 x 6s.

Lots of wood butchers out there.

 

Yes. That's what you need and now is the best time to do it. If the joists aren't cross-blocked I would add that too.

This is also the time to add insulation for sound deadening if you'd like that.

 

Yep; Chapter 5 - Floors

And be smart when; http://arch.umd.edu/Tech/Structural_..._Guide_A11.pdf

Gary

 

Thanks for the info everyone. I've decided to relocate the bathroom to the first floor because as you can see in the pics it wont be possible to safely run the plumbing through the joist. So im going to rip out all the plumbing then sister all the joists. My new problem is I noticed that the wall stud on the outside wall is on the west side of the ceiling joist and the wall stud on the load bearing wall down the middle of the hous is on the east side of the ceiling joist thus making it impossible to rest both ends of the sistered joist onto a load bearing wall. So my question is how should I sister the joists.

 

Others may have differing views, but I would do them in offset thirds. First one 1/3-2/3, second one half and half, third one 2/3-1/3, and so on. Glue and bolt them in place. Have a jack and 4x4 handy as with any sagging, it will need slight correction to get the sisters in place. As already mentioned, there is a difference in "scabbing" and "sistering".

 

I have sistered before with the SE permitting a shorter joist, within the height of existing joist from bearing points. Add a bolt on each end in addition to the glue/nails; a good chapter; The Design of Renovations - Donald Friedman, Nathaniel Oppenheimer - Google Books

Gary