Joist repair

[Seanie_230]

Hello All you fab people who help me out all the time

I need some opinions on how to sort out these joists that are gettnig wet everytime it rains.

So as you can see from the pic joists 1-5 need to be removed from the wall and cut back a bit to stop them touching the wall / space where the air brick is.

the way i have been advised is to cut each joist about 6 inches away from the wall and put in some joist hangers on joist 1 and 6 and run a new joist across to conenct the old joists to
this idea i think would be ok if i did not need to repalce joist 1 also as its wet inside the wall.
someone did mention a polythene cover that goes on the end of joists to keep them dry.

this takes me to my second idea
shoudl i cut back joist 1 and screw the new joist hanger to the wall and joist 6 conencting all old joists to the new corss joist?

i am also thinking of removing the step that is pretty much on its last legs and putting in two cources of brick to make the new step and the french doors to sit on.

Any ideas would be great cheers all

 

[Seanie_230]

HI All
so i have been looking online and found some joist repair plates that is a peice of steal that bolts around the bottom of the joist allowing the wood to be away from the wall
what do we thingk of those?
i woudl need to cut away about 6-9 inches and then put in a new peice of timber so i can still put floor on top
i dont know if were allowed to post links to them to show you .

 

[middi]

To simplify things just ask any builders supplier to give you - " heavy duty wall joist (sadle) hangers"

Middi

 

[Seanie_230]

Turns out I need to catch the rat first, damn things, put traps down bu the bait was gone on both traps but only one trap has snapped.
I only know this because we saw one in the garden twice.
Apparently they can get through air bricks

 

[Penners]

Seanie_230 - Any solution that isolates the timber joists from the wet, while still ensuring that they are well supported, should be worthwhile pursuing.

But are you able to determine why these joists are getting wet when it rains? Measures to prevent this should also be part of your overall approach to the problem.

 

[Juju]

As Mr P says, it's best to tackle why the rain is getting in first. We've got the same problem as you - drenched doorstep every time the rain pools in the road outside, gets splashed up the house and pours in through the letterbox and under the door. I've put quite a few posts on here about our problems - the main cause is the heavy rain gathering in the large deep potholes right by our front door. We're waiting for the council to mend them then we can move on to getting them to sort out the drains and speak to the police I guess about the speeding motorists. I think I could be waiting a while and in the meantime, the potholes are disintegrating every time we have heavy rain. I now have a pile of tarmac bits and stone outside my house - I can't be bothered to sweep them up as I'll just be doing it every day plus I'd like the council to see what a mess it is. A section of wood fell off our window yesterday - the window is fragile anyway and now that it gets drenched every day with the rain and the contents of the potholes, it is looking very bad. The water pours through the closed window on to the window cill, window seat etc and into the living room. I'm so fed up with it. Why have I got to spend a load of money on repairs because a) the road is falling apart and b) people think it's ok to drive right in the kerb well over the speed limit of 30mph....

Anyway, moan over. It could be worse - at least we're not flooded like lots of others in the past week round the country (am keeping an eye on the nearby river though which has risen dramatically in the past few days!) I'll be interested to see what you do as we'll need to do something similar I reckon. I haven't been in our cellar for a while as I don't want to know what state the joists are in!
Juju

 

[Penners]

Why have I got to spend a load of money on repairs because a) the road is falling apart and b) people think it's ok to drive right in the kerb well over the speed limit of 30mph....

It sounds to me as thought you should writing to your (rather important) MP, Juju!

 

[Zebra]

Is there a damp proof course in that wall Seanie? Is the ground level outside well below the level of those joists? Presumably your air bricks are clear if rats can get through. So why is the damp penetrating to the joists? Do you think it could be due to some more recent work, and not the way the house was originally built?

 

[Seanie_230]

Hi there the joists sit on what looks like bitchemen.
The outside garden path was cemented right up to the bottom of the airbrick and what I understand is that the airbrick should be 150mm over ground level so I need to reduce the level outside some more.
Looking at it the outside path has been gone over a time or two.
So I suppose splashing rain and wind cause water to come in through the airbrick.
The step is a right mess and I am temped to replace it with a new one or a lintel of some sort, I will work this weekend on lowering the ground level as I have cut the path a few inches back from the wall but I still need to lower it further and see how it goes.

 

[Penners]

bitchemen.

Didn't he write A Subaltern's Love Song?

:wink:

 

[Keith Bowman]

bitchemen.

Didn't he write A Subaltern's Love Song?

:wink:

Nah..just another shade of grey!

 

[Juju]

Well I'm pleased to report that the council has mended the potholes outside our front door so the worst of our problems with the rain are over. That's good going as I only reported them 2 weeks ago unless of course they were coming to fix them anyway. Still at least, Mr P, I didn't need to write to my esteemed local MP as I wouldn't want to distract him from 'running the country' with my tales of woe!
But of course we still need to do repairs resulting from the damage. I'm hoping the carpenter can mend the window which is largely held together with wood filler - otherwise it'll be a new window which won't be cheap (it's a large arched multiframe window with a funny bit at the top that opens inwards - so definitely not one you can buy at B&Q!) And we will need to look at joist repairs and possibly new floorboards too I think.
Juju