Wondering =notching out floor joists

Darjordan

Hello to all who answer this and thank you for your help

My question is this: I have a 2 story home built in 1927 with 4 bedrooms. The last owners had one of the bedrooms renovated into a bathroom. The problem started with a slow flush, so out came part of kitchen ceiling to look at plumbing. It was then noticed that the contractor had notched out 3, 2X6 floor joists to accommodate the new plumbing to the main stack. The question is we would like to relocate the clawfoot bath tub and would have to notch out 2 more 2X6's. I was told you could strap the joists and lag blot them to retain strength, is this true ????

Shamus

Yoyizit

Need photos/drawings.
Tub is acrylic or cast iron?

Daniel Holzman

Notching a load bearing joist is often big trouble, although unfortunately it is very commonly done by HVAC and plumbing people to accommodate their needs. Strapping a joist refers to installing a metal strap on the tension side of the joist, and can be effective. I assume you mean lag bolt (not blot). I am not sure why you include lag bolting with strapping, usually you do not lag bolt the straps.

Lag bolting is a technique to allow you to sister a joist, however if the first joist needs to be notched, probably the sister would also need to be notched, so you may not regain enough strength that way.

A tub can be very heavy, a cast iron tub can be >300 lbs dry, and if it holds 50 gallons that would be almost 400 lbs more if full, and this load is only distributed over two joists at best. If the tub happens to be near the center of the span, this is a large point load on the joists, and is best evaluated by an engineer or architect. Its a tough day when your tub full of water and a bather falls through to the lower floor.

Darjordan

I do apologize for the confusion. I was thinking of strapping 4X4 under each notch on each side of the 2X6 and bolting them all together and glue for each 2X6 that has been notched. I was told for every inch notched out run a foot per inch. I'm looking at 2 foot strapping for each 2 inch notch. I'm just concerned if this actually helps or not. The tub has been there for many, many yrs now on the already notched out joists and no strapping.

Shamus

Tub is cast iron

Sorry not 4X4, I meant 2X4 in my prior post for the strapping.