Adding posts to 2nd floor baloon framing

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4 north,south and 4 east,west , we tie them and hang them but for small job like that just drop them in as you go, about 2+ inches from the bottom and no closer than 2" from sides. And that is a good or reasonable size for a footing, good job.:clap:
 
Thanks :) I dug about 10" deep. It took 7 bags of cement to fill. This rapid set high strength cement heats up quite a bit.
 
Lev said:
Thanks :) I dug about 10" deep. It took 7 bags of cement to fill. This rapid set high strength cement heats up quite a bit.
Click to expand...

I never thought to mention to drop a saddle in for the post, but you can drill one in later.
 
I was going to use one of those steel columns that are filled with cement. What's preferred? And do those have a saddle as well or is it just those plates?
 
Happy holidays Neal :) (and everyone else too)
Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Update:
So I've added the basement support.
Basement support.jpg

Then I inserted my ripped 4x4 posts into the bays, and added a saddle at the bottom.
I have not secured the post to the saddle yet. But I have managed to nail the saddle to the beam it's resting on.
Post in saddle.jpg

I'm now preparing to close the top of the post so I can rest some ripped 2x8's on it.
Top of Post.jpg

I'm debating which insulation/firestopping material to drop in the bays.
Blown insulation/fire stopping material would obviously be most convenient, but any recommendation on what makes the most sense?
Would appreciate your thoughts.
 
Last edited:
Two things. Fire stopping and insulation are two different things.
Fire stopping is completely closing the gap at each floor that has a certain burn thru rate. 1/2 inch plywood , osb, drywall or solid lumber that stops any air flow from the basement into the floor cavity or wall cavity or from the wall cavity to the next floor or attic.
A fire in the basement of a ballon framed house can quickly run up the wall cavity to the attic. That give people a very limited time to get out of the house.
Newer houses are platform framed which mostly closes all these gaps but we still do many extras to seperate walls from heat duct cavities and floor cavities.
All holes for plumbing and wiring are caulked with fire rated caulk. All this is good practice for fire stopping and moisture and heat containment inside the house.
 
Just realized you're in Canada, you guys don't celebrate Thanksgiving in November.. anyway... Christmas is coming. :)

OK thanks. The insulation itself would also delay fire from spreading up, right? Delay smoke too?
Or is it just to insulate from outside temperature?
 
That's OK we a good TG in Oct.
Treat fire stopping and insulation as two different things. Stopping all air movement will aid the isnsulation.
 
OK-

So I'm closing the top of the bays:
Fireblocks.jpg

And I'm going to seal any gaps with these:
Firestop stuff.jpg

Once I'm done sealing the tops, I'll start putting down the new joists.
 
Hope the weekend is going well.

I started putting down the joists. I'm aligning them with the highest joist.
13.New joists.jpg

Turns out that the highest joist, which is the very first one, nailed to the studs, is quite higher than the rest.
13.Ceiling sloping.jpg

You can see that the new joist starts very close to the ceiling below, and towards the middle it's already separated by +3 inches. But the new joists are also much higher than the existing joists.
Looks like the house is somewhat sloped to the left and backwards - the highest point is the front of the house.

I did a quick sanity check and where the new floor and existing floor meet, there will be some height gap.
13.Above floor2.jpg

Part of me thinks that I should've leveled the new joists below that highest joist, so the floor would slope just a little bit around that first bay, and then would be level and less of a height difference from the existing floor.
Any thoughts?
 
That's a tough one, a few of us have been there. You have to way the options, on how perfect you would like to get it and how much work it will take to do it and how much you can live with.
If you continue level can you just add sleepers to the old floor and make it all level, The stairs will still be a problem if you have a big difference there.
 
There's just a corridor leading to this space - I'll just slant the floor a little for the time being, to bridge.

Today I cut an existing joist from the ledger board, added some 2x8's along the wall, and hung the joist on them:
Joist hanging on new header.jpg

That was a lot of detailed work. Next I'm going to add a new joist right next to it.
BTW those joists on the right are resting on some wood, raised above the floor level - they're material for tomorrow's work.
 
Thanks! I haven't yet handled the slope. Looks like the difference between existing floor and new floor is going to be around 3-3.5".
There's a short corridor where they meet, I'll just slant the corridor floor for now - it's about 3' long - to bridge the gap. At least until we redo the rest of the floor.


And Neal - THANK YOU for all the support and help with this so far!
 
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