End Joist Conundrum
End Joist Conundrum
(OP)
I am having a new house built and I did a walk through the other day. I was amazed at what I discovered. There were huge notches cut into the end joist of the house right abouve the seal plate. Some of these notches were right on the bearing corner and also in the center of the end joist. One board had 3 notches that were 10" across and 10" deep in a 2"x12". They had left about 2" of the board in tact. They appear mostly for HVAC, but others looked like oops cuts all over 3/4" of the way completly cut through the end joist. I found over 12 locations like this throughout the new build. Considering these cuts I can only imagine that the end joist is ruined, is this a correct conclusion? If so how would you repair this on a new construction after all the framing is complete with windows, electric, plumbing has all been roughed in? Thanks ElectricZimm






RE: End Joist Conundrum
By end joist do you mean rim joist?
By seal plate do you mean sill plate?
What is a bearing corner?
My initial take based on what I can understand is that these cuts will need to be evaluated individually. Some may be ok depending on where they are located and how deep they are and how they are loaded. There are guidelines for notching joists and rim joists. Anything that falls outside the guidelines should be evaluated for repair or replacement by a structural engineer preferably.
RE: End Joist Conundrum
-End Joist - On top of the sill plate what I thought was called the "end joist" a 2"x12" board set vertically on it's side that runs all the way around the house towards the exterior of the house's sill plate. The floor joist butts to this board on the ends, and they also rest on the sill plate for the first floor.
-Yes seal plate was a type -O should have been "sill plate" not enough coffee yet.
-Bearing Corner- Where two load bearing walls form a corner. Like a exterior corner of a house.
Also as a clarification this is a 2 story, 3500 sq. ft. home. Thanks ElectricZimm
RE: End Joist Conundrum
Garth Dreger PE - AZ Phoenix area
As EOR's we should take the responsibility to design our structures to support the components we allow in our design per that industry standards.
RE: End Joist Conundrum
RE: End Joist Conundrum
Garth Dreger PE - AZ Phoenix area
As EOR's we should take the responsibility to design our structures to support the components we allow in our design per that industry standards.
RE: End Joist Conundrum
On the rim joists where the rim is parallel to the floor joists it could be a bit of a problem, but, usually those walls carry less load.
RE: End Joist Conundrum
@ToadJones - I wish it was in only one location however they did not limit their cuts to just one side or the other it is all the way around the perimeter of the house, and anywhere within the section of the joist in most areas leaving only about 2" of the joist in tact. As this may pose as less concern on the ends where the joist also support the wall. I am baffled why they cut through these joist members instead of putting the duct work & plumbing cut outs in the areas that are padded out with additional framing for this purpose, and where it is shown on the prints to be run in the first place.
Again thanks everyone this has been a big help.
RE: End Joist Conundrum
It looks like some shoddy work .
RE: End Joist Conundrum
RE: End Joist Conundrum
RE: End Joist Conundrum