What have I got myself into?

[Bamaspek]

So..... I knew the new DW we had moved here had a leaking bathroom window sill. I was gettting the house ready for skirting and found a bad spot in the rim joist(guess thats what its called). After a morning of digging around I have a 12 foot hole in the house... rotted rimjoist spanning at least through the bathroom (under an interior deviding wall. The bathtub was a custom made tile covered 3 foot box that was leaking too. Subfloor gone and 2x6 floor joists rotted at least a foot from the rim joist. I'm no carpenter and I think I'm in trouble here.


Im in trouble right

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. You are in no more trouble than the rest of us that have done that type of repair.

You don't need be a carpenter, If you can use a saw, read a tape measure, and can drive screws you are set to go. It is not rocket Science, you just replace what is bad. I know it SOUNDS simple, but the work is not that hard. It WELL take some time to do and it will be a learning process for you.

The first thing I would do is to buy Mark's (The owner of this site) Book. It's in the "Books & Parts" section of the site. It covers about any repair or upgrade that you may need to do in simple language.

Feel free to ask questions here most of us here have been in your shoes and we (well most of us) got through it. Greg

[Bamaspek]

I was debating on the "downloaded" version of the book. I assumed if I wanted a hard copy I would need to make the additional purchase.... I need the info now, but like to have the hard copy in my hand..... I'll think it over tonight. I should have ordered it a while back.

[Bamaspek]

well I got the download.....unfortunately, rim joist repair is not in there Nothing at all about sistering floor joists or rim joists.....

suggestions (with pictures) would be appriciated.

[Greg]

Sistering is a simple mater of going along side the existing joist. If you need to cut some of the old joist out, add the new section in and sister the ends up to give it the needed support. I don't have any pictures, but perhaps some one here does or try doing a google. Greg

[Bamaspek]

So I have the subfloor,tile and concrete board up. No small task as there must have been a million staples through the rotted osb...glue,cement and tack nails holding the cement board that the tiles were on.

Air chisel and lots of time to get this stuff up....after the sledge hammer and big power tools did the big stuff

pretty much all the 2x6 floor joist in the bathroom (10 feet) were rotted near the rim joist, which was also rotted. They were solid, but discolored, where they sit on top of the metal beam so I figured I would cut the just after the beam and sister them to reach the new rim joist.

Problem...... the new 2x6 is the same height as the old, but when they are placed side by side and the rear part in the bathroom matched up.......the other end of the new 2x6 sits a little higher than the new rim joist. I'm puzzled. the new rim joists sits on the steel beam arms so I don't see how it could have went down?

[Bamaspek]

either way Ill take a fresh look at it tomorrow...that usually helps

QUESTION. should I use the simpson strong tie hangers to attach the floor joist to the rim joist?

[JD]

Depending on how much higher the new floor joist is compared to the rim joist, They can often be manipulated to fit. Sometimes I use a 4x4 as a pry bar. The placement of the original rim joist can be quite a bit lower than it was when it left the factory. That small distance from the steel beam to the rim joist can sag over time.

If you have not removed the siding in the area where the floor joists meet the rim joist, then you will need to use simpson ties to attach the floor joist. We used to use just 2x6 blocking between the floor joists to nail to the rim joist, but I doubt that will satisfy building codes now.

When sistering joists to the rim joist, all of the water damaged joist should be cut off and replaced with new 2x6. The sister is like a splint that ties the two together.

JD