Gotta do something anyway!

Yes, you are correct. If I did that I could do conventional flooring but not tile. There's really nothing special to photograph. It's just a plain 2x8 floor on a block wall. Just extremely overspanned and too high to the original structure because they built the foundation too high. My guess is they forgot or never thought about the 1 1/2" for the plate, thus everything ended up 1 1/2 higher than planned.


The floor was "supported" underneath through the usual method of "let's just throw some crap under a dozen problem spots and repeat for 30 years until the floor resembles an ocean". These folks had no business framing anything, and I'm not in the construction business. Ten years after it was built it was already noted as having significant structural problems...and that was 30 years ago. The 2x6 ceiling joists are also 24' long....sidenailed into an 18" kneewall, which is being pushed out by the roof because collar ties are apparently overrated. I may seriously knock it down and start over from the floor up. But right now it is at least under a roof, even if it may fall on my head.

In the old house which I have gutted, I expect those things. Usually the things you find are not complements of the builder, but the occupiers. We found some cool stuff in the walls from the past. For me that's part of the cool. In most cases I find the construction done very well for the standards of the day. Aside from not using headers and balloon framing (which they had no concept of fire science at the time) I find their construction to be very solid. Unlike the idiots who built the garage and the kitchen. When no two stud spacings are the same and half of the studs on a wall are nailed on the wrong side of the measurement, the rafters run at an angle, the joists are all double spanned....it's obvious that skill and craftsmanship were lacking. The final proof? The old house at 110 yrs is solid as a rock (aside from a broken beam courtesy of a water leak and HVAC contractors who decided to move a foundation pier which sank) and the 40 yr old section is junk....and was from day 1.

This isn't really an engineer worthy problem in my book. Worst case is I'll divide the span properly and go with another floor type. But trying to get wifey what she wants.

The old construction is not the issue. The modern foundation is. Even turning the joists doesn't solve the other end and would still be over spanned. In short, either I can notch the joists (don't like), notch the sill (don't like) or use a 2x6 and short span it (sounds sketchy). I could possibly attach a ledger to the block....but the old house doesn't matter. I wonder about maybe notching the 2X8 in conjunction with a hanger? I could also remove the joists and turn the rim joist into a beam and then that doesn't sound too appealing either.