Cutting Floor Joists For Plumbing

The worst thing is when new homes or poor remodeling jobs end up with joists that are cut to fit the pipes and no repairs are ever made.

Cutting floor joists for plumbing. Of walls and rim joists. How to cut the subfloor to access the floor joists for plumbing. I ve also sistered on steel flat plate when i wasn t able to nail on a long enough replacement joist for example existing plumbing or electrical wires prevent you from getting a full. Where and how to drill joists for electrical cables or plumbing runs depends on what type of floor framing you have.

The maximum allowable diameter of a hole in any solid lumber joist is one third of. Tradespeople often need to cut notches or holes in floor and ceiling joists to run pipes ductwork or wires. When it s time to remodel it s often also time to reroute plumbing or replace subflooring that may have become rotted or cracked. As a remodeling contractor and carpenter one common structural framing issue i see alot of in bathroom remodeling jobs are floor joists that were cut drilled notched or need to be cut out to accommodate plumbing pipes and drains.

Even worse is that over time any rot or decay from moisture that these cut up joists see. Codes don t directly address how many holes and notches you can cut in a joist. It s important to calculate the siz. If your home is more than 20 years old your floor joists are most likely solid wood 2x8s 2x10s or 2x12s.

Engineered floor joists can be drilled only according to their manufacturer s guidelines the code specifies the maximum size of the holes you can drill or the notches you can cut where you can and can t place them and how far apart they can be spaced. One fix i did was to sister on new joists. I jacked up straightened out the floor before gluing nailing and carriage bolting the new joist to the cut joist. Holes anywhere in the web area of engineered i joists except within 6 in.

One rule of thumb is to provide twice the distance between holes as the diameter. Sometimes joists are notched at the end where they bear on a wall or sill. Roger goes over the best practices and rules for notching and drilling holes in joists while filming our bathroom series. Things might work out for a while but you will have a high likelihood that the floor will flex and your tile will crack.