Thread: Floor Joist Question

I bought a 1850's home that has a 16x25 room with a falling apart floor system. The current system had a brick wall that split the 25 in about half, with pockets inside of it for the floor joists to rest in. Over the years I think this wall use to be a load bearing wall brick wall that was removed to make the room the current size.

The wall that splits the joists is in piss poor shape, and has the typical home owner brick stacking to support the floor joists..

I was thinking of removing the top 1-2 foot of this "wall" that is now nothing more than a divider wall for the crawlspace to the basement, and capping it with mortor. Then attaching a Ledger board along the oposing brick walls and run the floor joists acroos the 16 foot strech instead of the 25 foot strech.

What is the best way to attach the Leadger board in your opinion? Or should I try to repair the old brick wall and rest a center beam on it and split the 25 foot span? Is there some "other" support that I should add?



I have seem one of the walls in question that I would like to attach the ledger board to, and it seems to be in good shape, have yet to dig out the other side yet.. thats tommorow.

I can get some pics if you want them..

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FYI: once this floor system is done, I have another room that is 17x35 with joists that are 17 foot long from 1850 and some of them are weak..

I can't picture what you are asking, but maybe something in this catalog might do what you want?

2009-2010 Wood Construction Connectors Catalog from Simpson Strong-Tie

Ledger boards should only be used if you can't get the joists to bear ontop of the wall. The attachments of ledgers board to a masonry walls needs to be calculated, there's no rule of thumb.
The original brick wall may not even have a footing under it, did you dig it out to verify that it can be load bearing? I have found old brick foundation walls were only resting on a thin layer of mortar on the soil which is not a footing.

You need to consult with a structural engineer, this is not a "do it yourself" type of project.

have you removed the existing floor joists?