Help Identify Joist-Frankenstein

Boiler98

Hello all.

I have a single car garage that I am slowly converting into a workspace. We moved into the house about 6 months ago and the space is garage is slowly filling up with new toys -- organization must occur!

To help get to that organization (I want to install slatboard on the walls) I need to identify, and hopefully remove, a *huge* joist that spans part of the garage. Pictures have been attached.

From the bottom you can see the board laid flat, instead of vertical. Then from the top you can see that there are no less then 4 other spans of wood attached together. It makes this who thing really big and confusing as to why this was done.

Additionally, as seen in the bottom picture, there is a wall support that appears to help hold this joist up. It is this support that really gets in my way of installing wall paneling.

What I would like to do is remove this huge "Frankenjoist" and replace it with a regular one. But perhaps there is a reason why it is the way it is... does anyone have any ideas, or believe I would be fine to replace it?

Now... to replace it, I'm considering putting the joist higher (making a rafter tie).

You can see that garage already has a mix of ceiling joists and rafter ties in the attached pictures. I am hoping those ties were installed low enough to be effective... they are ~ 23.75" (top) to ~ 29" (bottom) from the peak, while the ceiling joists are 40.5" (top) to 44" (bottom) from the peak. The ties are made up of a 2x6 laminated with plywood on the outside of the rafters (picture of them in the attachments).

Would I be able to replace this Frankenjoist with a rafter tie at the same height?

Thank you for any help & suggestions!

Attached Thumbnails

       

Jackofall1

Be my guess that the rafter tie you refer to is actually a chain hoist hang point, any abrasions in the middle of frankenjoist?

I would say given the fact you have block walls there would be no reason stopping you from changing it out to a standard joist.

Mark

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