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View Full Version : Replacing animal damaged subfloor, waste pipe run between joists



Chris Seiter
08-21-2011, 12:06 PM
We're replacing animal waste damaged(all the way through) subfloor in two adjacent rooms on the 1st floor totalling 12x20. The house was built in the early '90s and there is what looks like a single metal I-beam running the width of the house and the basement ceiling is completely exposed. The floor joists run perpendicular to this beam. The interior walls of the rooms are not above any joists so for us to add sister joists would still not span the distance between the joists below and the flush cut at the walls. We've gone ahead and gotten the joist brackets so we can build extra joists perpendicular to the existing ones and then run a new joist from those, parallel to the existing joists, that will match up to the walls of the room.
The biggest problem we're running into is on the interior side wall. Below it, where we cut away the floor, is a waste pipe between the joists. We have no room to place these brackets or other joists as the pipe runs through the channel. There are air ducts attached to the joists but these were easily removed.
What techniques are available at this point to put a floor joist where the piping is? The pipe isn't directly below the wall so a joist can fit, it just can't be attached to any of the surrounding joists.

Steven Turetsky
08-21-2011, 12:30 PM
Chris, I don't quite get what you are describing. You mention replacing a sub floor, but then question about joists, and mention a waste line.

You should post a few pictures to help with your description.

John Kogel
08-22-2011, 12:38 PM
It sounds like you are trying to install joists where there were no joists before, under an interior wall? Do you need these joists to support the new subfloor?
Moving the plumbing pipe is one option.
Use a longer joist or splice it so that it can reach from the I-beam to the outer wall.
Build a closet in the basement that can support the floating end of the new joist.

Best idea is to talk to a builder. In the long run, you will be way better off if you get someone to check that the structure is solid before you close everything in and do the finishing.

Darrel Hood
08-23-2011, 05:08 AM
Chris,
Without photos we are almost guessing at the problem. It sounds like you are describing mobile home construction. Is it a mobile home?

Darrel Hood
DILIGENT PROPERTY SERVICES

H.G. Watson, Sr.
08-23-2011, 09:13 AM
It seems you are describing typical PLATFORM construction, and your steel I-beam supports that point where your first-floor joists are staggered and load bearing wall(s) upon platform above this I-beam, and approximately at the ridge line; and that the floor joists run in the same direction as the run of your roof rafters/trusses.

The subfloor installed as a continuous membrane in platform construction and the load bearing walls above (as are the return walls for same and non-load bearing partition walls) are constructed upon the platform surface, i.e. subfloor.

Your description and terms are somewhat "muddy", perhaps consulting a rudimentary conventional wood-frame construction guide would aid you in your communications. As indicated by another, photos of the framed area as well as a description of the overall constructed structure may also help.

Suggest you consult the services of a licensed engineer who can calculate loads, etc. and prescribe adequate methods of transfering the loads and adequate support for the structure, and an overall remediation plan (stamped) for you to submit to your planning/building department.

With the disgusting damage you describe it seems apparent the property is not presently safe, nor "fit for human habitation", and should be (at least temporarily) condemmed (occupancy restricted), and the public health & safety officials contacted/consulted.