Hello, I am a new member here but am a long time reviewer of the advice given here and it has helped me out several times. I have what may or may not be a unique situation that I need help with. I just recently purchased a home in West Virginia that was built sometime in the 30's. This home has a basement that was dug inside the homes border foundation. There is a concrete foundation poured about 2 feet beyond the basement walls and the basement walls were not mortered to the top, only to the ground level. There is a sistered 2x10 (Actually measures 2x10 as do all the floor Joists) center beam that is supported by 3 jack posts. The three jack posts are the only center support in the basement.
This area still has no building codes or building inspections. That being said, the work that went into the house, especially the center beam and the joists are not what would be considered acceptable by todays standards. The Center beam that holds the weight of the home was peiced together and fortunately was staggered however in 2 locations the floor joists are hung at one of the intersections of staggared joints. Many of the floorjoists have plywood spacer plates between the joist and the center beam and toenailed in and some were simply toenailed with an inch gap between the joist and center beam. The house is sagging in the middle with doors that won't close and sheetrock that has cracked and pushed out above most of the doors and windows. The Center beam as well as some of the joists have been attacked by termites (Appears to be an old infestation and no live termites found.
I need to know the best way to replace the center beam and rotted floor joists. The support jacks are actually receeding into the centerbeam by as much as an inch on some of them, others seem to be supporting fine.
Is this a job for a pro or can someone with carpentry knowledge make these repairs? What type of center beam would be recommended to make the repair. How would the center beam be removed? I believe that more jacks would be required to support on each side of the center beam with a 4x4 and 2x4's attached to each joist to prevent them from twisting while the center beam is out, Right? I am thinking that to get the center beam out, I would use a sawz all to cut the nails connecting them to the joists and pull it down away from any flooring nails from above. I'm sorry I have no measurements of the length of the beam but it is a small 1000sf or smaller home.
Any advise would be appreciated.
This area still has no building codes or building inspections. That being said, the work that went into the house, especially the center beam and the joists are not what would be considered acceptable by todays standards. The Center beam that holds the weight of the home was peiced together and fortunately was staggered however in 2 locations the floor joists are hung at one of the intersections of staggared joints. Many of the floorjoists have plywood spacer plates between the joist and the center beam and toenailed in and some were simply toenailed with an inch gap between the joist and center beam. The house is sagging in the middle with doors that won't close and sheetrock that has cracked and pushed out above most of the doors and windows. The Center beam as well as some of the joists have been attacked by termites (Appears to be an old infestation and no live termites found.
I need to know the best way to replace the center beam and rotted floor joists. The support jacks are actually receeding into the centerbeam by as much as an inch on some of them, others seem to be supporting fine.
Is this a job for a pro or can someone with carpentry knowledge make these repairs? What type of center beam would be recommended to make the repair. How would the center beam be removed? I believe that more jacks would be required to support on each side of the center beam with a 4x4 and 2x4's attached to each joist to prevent them from twisting while the center beam is out, Right? I am thinking that to get the center beam out, I would use a sawz all to cut the nails connecting them to the joists and pull it down away from any flooring nails from above. I'm sorry I have no measurements of the length of the beam but it is a small 1000sf or smaller home.
Any advise would be appreciated.