Hello everyone. I am looking for some re-assurance or guidance with this issue.

I own a 100 year old 2 story home. We originally had a contractor over to the house because we had noticed gaps in our 2 year old hard wood floors. We figured it was because of sagging floors (just found out its from the loss of humidity from the extreme winter cold in Buffalo).

While the contractor was down in our basement he noticed a large crack in very large support beam which supports floor joists which have been notched out to fit over it. He said that very old wood dries and cracks but was not sure of the severity of the crack and that he would send some pics to an architect he uses. I attached a couple pics of the beam.

The architect came back with the suggestion that the problem needs to be addressed by reinforcing the beam using bolts and metal plates at the beam and floor between a support post.

My worry is that the crack does not warrant that much of a fix, and it is a money grab but of course I have not background in this.

Also, I noticed that one of the floor joists has a large crack as well. It seems the joist directly next to it had the same issue and was repaired as shown in the attached photos. Do you think that joists needs the same repair? This joist seems more of an issue to me than the beam, but again I have no background in this. The contractor did not even notice that joist, I just did while down looking at the beam again.

I would appreciate any comments on either issue. Thanks so much.

-Greg

 

Any time a joist is notched like that it's created a weak spot.
As much as they notched it, they have reduced it to about a 2X4 as a floor joist.
I would sister it full length, lift the cracked one back in place and use what's called an old work joist hanger or one made for an LVL.
That main beam looks like it's gone beyond the normal checking and he's right, steel plates through bolts and pull it back together.

 

On the large support beam, as the crack originates at the notch for a floor joist, I would surmise that the crack if from fatigue and should be addressed. The joist hanger is the way I would go on the other cracked joist.

 

So you agree with steel plates through bolts. What about the support post between the beam and the concrete basement floor which he is also calling for?