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notched & drilled beam = structural issue or not

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Gary in WA 
#1 · (Edited)
hey there folks

i thought i had a leak in my ceiling, the plaster was cracking a bit, so today i took a knife to it can cut out a section to take a peek.

here is what i found - now there is nothing below this, it is my dining room. no support beam whatsoever and the nearest wall is probably 3', 4' and 6' away in either direction.

the beam has three holers drilled in it, and notch cut out of the top.
the beam is almost 6.75" long, and the notch is 2.75" deep.

do i now have a structural problem and what can be done to correct this?

attached pics







here is where it is



 
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#3 ·
Pretty bad soldering job, left solder all over the joints. The notch is problematical, there must have been a pipe in it at one time. The holes are fine, two of them are at the centroid of the beam, the empty one is close to the center, but the notch, that is out of spec. I probably would not worry too much, but if you want to do something, you can sister on a 4 foot piece of lumber.

I have seen far worse, and the ceilings rarely fall down.
 
#4 ·
if space is too tight for lumber, some angle iron spanning the notch and going a foot or 2 past would more than replace the lost strength.

how is the rest of the house laid out?
I see insulation floating above the joist. so I'm thinking thats the top story, but it seams a bit off to have plumbing in the ceiling if there is no story above it. do you have a smaller second story under the roof?
 
#6 ·
Looks like the lead plumber layed it out to have the two supply lines side by side. Apprentice notched it, lead said- no, too much, both lines are already at the same elevation- top of joist- just drill them. Appear to be border-line in middle 1/3 if dining room joists are about 12'. If 16"o.c., may be able to span 12'10", depends on wood species. If 24" o.c., max. span- 11'3", these are for 2x8net 7-1/4, you would take a reduction as smaller. Don't worry about the soldering for quality, extra spill-over means there was pleanty in the joint, just didn't wipe it afterward. Looks worse than it is. Apprentice did it with the trouble on the verical drops showing.
I'd replace the notched with a solid wood block, snug fit, glued in. This would help limit the compression, then the repair. Daniel would know more on the benifits of the added material or not. The holes should be 2" apart as Jim shows in the link. Your joist is about 50% compromised, with a 14' span ?, I would strengthen it for sure.

Gary
 
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