Cutting A Floor Joist Out Of The Floor Above

One of our recent whole house balloon frame remodeling projects had a floor so out of level that anyone sitting on the toilet in the future bathroom risked sliding off.

Cutting a floor joist out of the floor above.

Cut into floor along the lines between the joists but several inches inside your marks for the centerlines of the joists. The only problem was the subfloor was nailed to the floor joist with some very large nails and they did not come out very easily. If your home is more than 20 years old your floor joists are most likely solid wood 2x8s 2x10s or 2x12s. The space between the beam and the floor boards above was 7 inches so i decided to use regular framing lumber and rip a 1 2 inch off the width of a 2 8 framing member.

The notching and boring rules of thumb for solid lumber are shown in fig. A nominal 2 8 board measures 1 1 2 by 7 1 2 inches cutting the new joist. Such is the case with this house after a small electrical fire. Second floor joists are nailed to the bearing walls and supported by a piece of stock called a ribbon board in this case 1 6 stock let into the studs see drawing right.

When installing a new joist on a foundation wall you may need to notch the bottom edge so it. I was careful not to cut too deep where i suspected the floor joists were and came back and finished cutting over the top of them with the reciprocating saw laid down as much as possible. Each type of floor joist offers its own unique benefits and drawbacks which is why those working in carpentry all tend to have their own favorite floor joist option though they are still required to be well versed in each type of floor framing. The fire burned through a section of one of the floor joists and the homeowners wanted to replace it without tearing up the finished wood floor and subfloor above.

But sometimes you have to cut out an old floor joist and put in a new one.