I have a 75 year old house. Under the front porch, 2 joists are pulling away a bit from the ends. The joists run parallel to the fornt of the house, so it's not the like porch is pulling away from the house, the porch has just widened about an inch from settlgin over the years, I guess. Anyway, I bought a few standard joist hangers to stabilize things, but the hangers are not true 2" widths because, modern lumber isn't. But the old lumber used in the contruction of my house is truly 2". So what can I use instead of a joist hanger? Or, do you think it would work if I got a wider joist hanger and sistered another board in next to the joist to take up the extra space?

One of our local neighbors has a 9 year old pole barn that I have just bought. All of the materials are in excellent shape although I believe we will replace any foundation support posts. The galvalume roof and tin siding is all in excellent shape and we were able to remove it from the wood skeleton. However, everything was nailed on with 2" long nails with also held a rubber grommet. We'd like to replace those nails with a screw of some description. Thinking we will get the holding power of a 2" nail with a 1.75" long screw, can someone please advise what kind of screw and from whom we should use? I looked at the 9 x 1.75" Osmose screws, but their customer support has no answers. They directed me to this forum. Any advice on fasteners or anything else gratefully received! Thanks Steve