Thanks for taking the time to document this. It means the world to people who are DYI out of necessity. Your showing of mistakes is humbling and appreciated, too.
That's the spirit! Read the comments. Learn from my mistakes. In hindsight I could've left the cinder blocks and shimmed the center of the floor just for good measure, but whatever.
Dude, everybody is a critic, right? No matter how or what you do there is gonna be somebody talkin bout what they think you did wrong. Raising a sagging floor and crawlspace work in general is difficult even under good conditions. Thumbs up for having the stones to take on the project yourself. Thanks for the video.
You guys are all so funny! I came here because I have a section of my house I need to jack up. I'm a single mom and I replaced the vapor barrier in my crawl space and will soon tackle removing the old insulation, treat the mold and put new insulation in - ALL BY MY FEMALE self!! LOL! There are multi talented women still out there!
@@terryferre2149 Because all these guys are making a big deal out of the fact that this mans wife was helping him... ?? I personally don't see gender as an issue, but many here do.
Im a DIYer by financial default but, never something this big in scale. I need to do this same thing to what looks like the same size house. It was your video that really has me ready to tackle it.
Everyone who's freaking out about how "omg you almost killed yourself/ your wife" - chill. Yes the blocks were used incorrectly and yes it was a cheap jack BUT IF IT WOULD HAVE FAILED the floor would have simply let go enough to go back to it's initial sagging state. Everyone acts like the entire damn house would have collapsed with the force of a megaton nuke and there would be nothing left of this man and his poor innocent wife but ashes and dust. And for the troll who keeps commenting that you reinforced a floor and got a staph infection and almost died - no one cares. Thanks for sharing man
Right? The blocks didn't fail because he was over the evenly stacked center.. not ideal but could've been worse.. the jack is more than capable of temporarily lifting one joist that's already in place ..I'd have used adhesive still..it's probably gonna creak a lot over time, but whatever, it'll last just fine.. Unfortunately there are people out there in the field that are dumber than the commenters.. On my house, the main wall's joist also carries the weight of the HVAC, wh, w&d, and all of the bathroom fixtures.. They cut six inches out of a 2 foot section of the lower portion of the 10" joist, basically supporting the main internal wall of the house ..
This video is great, a real look at something a regular Joe is doing and the issues you saw, what you liked and what you didn't!!! God bless you with 2x6 joists!!! I have an old house and it has 2x8s spanning 12 feet and they are still sagging like the builder meant to do it!!! Hahahah
I was demoing a concrete porch when a 8x 12ft roof fell on my neck. thankfully I reacted in time and was not injured because of it. but I was young and not conscious of my actions. I've since then learned building code and learned the proper way to ensure that never happens again. watching your video made my mouth drop when I saw your sissor Jack used to lift your home\ apt and you and your wife underneath the home.
Thanks for showing how this is relatively easy... I have a wet crawl space that I got taken care of, but it looks like there's a few joists that need sistering... springy floors are a red flag!
Two suggestions for future projects. Remove the rotten joists, doubling-up for insufficient spanning joists. Make sure to overlap the center bream by 6 inches or so for earthquake protection.
Don't worry about what the armchair experts are saying... they have never done this work and probably never will. Great job. The wife and I just moved into a 52 year old home with an Identical crawl space as yours. The main beam is sagging about 1" over the length of the house. The main beam is sitting on Cinder blocks Im doing this as we speak.. I've installed 5 evenly spaced deck post jacks on foundation blocks(made for 4x4's) and every other day I jack them up about 1/16th and then let the wood fibers relax. When I reach my target hight I will reshim the cinder blocks so there will be a total of 9 load bearing points over 50'. Now I need to take the sag out of the center of the floor between the main beam and the foundation wall. For this I will use 3x7's or similar to span 5 or 6 joist at a time with a jack at each end. They will remain permanently running down the center of the floor. There's really not that much load on the center of your joist..its all on the main beam and foundation wall. The jack you used is rated for 3K lbs which is more than enough. I suggest encapsulating the crawl though. We did, and it made a HUGE difference in Smell and temperature. Im in Ontario. No need to worry about freezing pipes anymore. ;)
Lot of good critiques. Years and a lot more work later, I know how I should've done it. This house was flimsy and easy to work with. Also, the supports were never actually removed, so the only real danger was wasting time and materials. Houses with sturdier construction demand proper screw jacks and properly used bottle jacks. But as you can read in the comments, there are people who swear by nails and glue and people who suggest bolts. Do your research before you work!
Well bro you got a good team on your side thank you for your honesty video I really like it because that is one mistake I can see a lot of us doing for the first time 👍👍up and I say that from experience
The reason why you need to glue the joists together is to make "one" joists. Right now you have the bolts holding the two joists together as opposed to having made a "complete" joist. Will it hold? Probably for eternity but it's still not correct.
Screw a piece of wood to extend out the beam that holds the joists so the one you messed up the length on will have support and can rest your mind over it.. I got to do the same to mine,, kitchen also... lol
I've had to correct a stupid plumer's crap job who notch a 2X8 joist pretty bad just under the bathtub to run his drain pipe. I had to bolt a 6 ft. piece over the 2 inch half way down the joist he made and bolted it onto the joist. Bolts were 3/8, 8 inch apart on the 2X8, 2 inch from the top and 2 inch from the bottom all the way across the 6ft piece and I used gorilla glue in between, it's holding great.
One other thing when using bolts they should be staggered up and down so the load is evenly grimaced across the joists in a str8 line the load on the bolts is greater . Overall good video and agree with the other post good looking helper, much better looking than the one I often use my brother in law.😃
I think you did a fine job.Size of the beams you used being a little more narrow than the original is no problem.You really should add some sleepers across the whole middle of the room.A sleeper is just a big timber heck you can even use landscape timbers they have a flat side get long ones place them across as many joist as you can and jack till snug and block under them and you will have like a concrete floor you can jump up and down and it will not shake anything.You will never have any sagging settling maybe but all you need to do is check for gaps and jack till tight again whitch I doubt you ever have to do.Just my thoughts we used to have bouncy floors.
Wonderful work. I might have to do this to a house my wife and I are looking at. Doesn't look terribly hard and my Dad has lots of tools (nail gun) that we could use.
Read the comments, learn from my mistakes. With small beams like this, the floor bends easy. With thick, old beams you're probably better off bringing in concrete, pouring a new footer, building up blocks and shimming at least two beams in the center of the floor. That's what a contractor did on my new house. Depends on if the beams are good and simply sagging or if you need to sister in new beams next to them. Watch a couple videos and be careful!
The sagging is called DEFLECTION.. The new 2x6's installed will do the same thing. The load is to heavy. You should have installed 2x8's, jacked the 2x6's and then pinned them to each other with lots of 2.5" screws..
These joists should be 16" on center. They look like they are 24" Also to help stiffen the floor put in blocking ever 4' degrees to the joists. They need to be tight. It will take any bouncing out of the floor and reduce sagging. These look like awfully long spans for 2x6's. You should consider putting in a post ever 8' or so. Post should be a 4x4 or 4x6 on end on top of a pier block - not the block bricks you have. It should be solid concrete.
My opinion: Made more than 1 mistake, but your floor will be fine for as long as you live maybe. No need for green treated 2x6s, its under a house maybe they were cheaper who knows but also by not going with original stock I can see without additional piers under there maybe your floor will bow again in the next 10 years, anyway great job thanks for posting the video really helped me out to see your work.
Crawlspace voids are known harbor mold spores. Which causes sinus infections, that was my life experience. Especially under older homes not built to today's moisture codes.
I'm no expert but never ever use a car jack/ scissor lift Jack. Use 1 8ft 5x5 and 2 20 ton Jack's. Make sure to use a metal plate between the Jack and the 5x5 or whatever so the Jack doesnt sink into the board your lifting with and split it.
Side grinder with metal cut-off be a lot quicker than a Dremel tool. Go through nails like butter. Just stick your piece of board up under that short joists
I need do that under my AC ,water heater And furnace area all three are together and is to much weight I had leaking from the roof in that area and is really saggy that part ,my only problem is to enter to the crawl space is really difficult and I am 6.3" 220 pounds so...... :(
Most these crawl spaces I see are nice with room compared to mine. I drilled a few door knob size hole in my bath floor as it is sagging and a sister joist is not holding well. I put a camera into hole and looked around then played it back and seen a nasty looking black spider on a joist like NOPE as there is only like 8" of room below the joist to the crawl space floor. Gotta spray insecticide in that area to kill them.
Floor joists are too long of a span for two-by-sixes therefore you need a beam right down the center of all floor joice's. Eventually those new ones you put in will sag without a supporting beam underneath all of them
Very surprised nobody mentioned this. You are using the concrete block under your jack incorrectly! VERY DANGEROUS!! the block has very little strength on its side and can crumble very easily!! You should always use block right side up, this is where it has the greatest strength.
Steve Barringer Oh I noticed it straight away, there have been guys killed by putting cars or trucks on blocks laid on their side like that, especially cinder blocks which are much weaker then concrete blocks. They would jack up the vehicle, lay those block under it on their side, go underneath, start working on something, the vehicle would shift, the block would shatter, and they would get crushed. Before they had masonry saws the masons used to cut them to size with a chisel and a hammer by knocking the webs out, some still do. Fortunately in this case it's unlikely that the house would cave in should the blocks break since it's only under one floor joist, but it's still a bad habit to get into.
Ok, besides the blocks (OMG) you should be sandwiching the new joist boards if you aren't going to replace the old one with two new ones. Nice job though getting it done.
Should have ran an extra beam between the existing beams you have to prevent your floor joist from sagging supported by pad and block, concrete piers would be better but solid blocks would do better than the hollow one's
Noticing the crawlspace doesn't have vapor barrier in there. Do you have moisture issue or mold? What part of the US? Just curious to check out my crawlspace soon as my joists are rotted from the shower. Thanks for having your wife in the video to inspire me to crawl in my crawlspace tomorrow. Be interesting after 25 years of being a homeowner.
go ahead and scab onto ur cross brace too!!! will help support the short one and cross brace looks like crap ,also id pour some concrete pads before blocking up so blocks dont sink in mud
Hi, how do you sort out a wood issue where it is sinking when you stand on it,, sagging.. i mean... and you cant really go below... I dont think i can because the part of the floor almost levels with the ground. I am worried, i dont know how i can strengthen or fix this... the corner of my lounge is sinky or saggy when you stand there ;-(
+Imre Csoka Hrmm. So there's no crawl space under the house? I'm no expert but it seems like you'd have to rip the floor up all the way to the joists and replace/support them from above. But again, I'm just a DIY guy.
Hey man thanks for replying quickly, i was about to go sleep. Anyhow ill take a few pictures for you BUT for now only when i stand in the corner i can see it sinking but like millimeters, I doubt an inch. There is a floor door or trap door but i dont think i am go as far up to that part of the lounge as I am guessing it is very close to the ground.If I go out to the back thats the wall to that part of the lounge, If i can just add, the house is built on like stone and on a slight gradient. The house is 101 years old. I just hope the wood and materials they used those days were better than these days, as i am told. I guess i feel it i like a car you know when u hear a noise or your breaks are feeling spongey then its a good idea to try sort it out. I am learning to DIY so i need to learn some theory i guess before i use my guns although I am lanky and dont really have any . Okay so thats my short story. Thanks
This is NOT the way to use cinder blocks. the walls of the block should be stacked vertically. Any pressure to the left or right of that rib and that block will crumble. Beautiful helper though.
If you have floors that sag from one side to the other, and the exterior wall that sags also: do you start in the center and level your way out to the exterior wall or level from the exterior wall to the center?
My guess would be bottle jacks and jack stands throughout the floor, raising each until you're level. I tried to do this on my new house which has 2x10s and I thought I would be doing a lot of jacking and cramming boards in. They ended up pouring footers and building new supports through the center of the floor. It ended up being easier to pour and build new supports than to try and sister 15+ new joists that might not have straightened out the floor anyway. Also, it took 4 guys about three days to do it all. Def not a one man job.
frnkjones40 you are absolutely correct! we do masonry, and the sides of the block are the weakest point! definitelyneed to stack blocks, the way they are intended to support weight... i cant believe it didnt break under the jack!
hey I thought it all look good. on that one that was short you should just marry a little chunk of lumber to The girder and then it'll capture the one that you made short
Do not use a car jack or those hollow blocks!!! Use 18 ton or more house jacks and solid pier concrete block. This could cause serious injury if the jack slipped or the block cracked. Safety first. The repair of the joists look good.
Good call. Learned a lot since then. I'd propose a 6 ton jack...would have been MORE than enough on top of properly placed cinderblocks with a piece of 2x10 on top of them. These 2x6 floors flexed easily. On my new house the 4x10 main beams pushed 20 ton jacks to the limit.
Benjamin Jeffares I've going to jack up and sandwich repair a load bearing girder beam in my living room that is sagging. I think 3 20ton jacks should work since the sag is localized to a central point where the two perpendicular beams meet. The local hardware stores only have one type of jack that will fit my 3 foot high crawlspace.
where was the serious danger? lol. if the jack failed, or the bricks broke, the floor would have went directly back the original configuration not Collapsed and killed the world. Yes I agree its better to use the "proper" equipment. But there isn't anything wrong with what he did.
you should really use a hydraulic jack for lifting beams and joists under the house, not a car/truck jack...also, those concrete blocks should be faced so the voids are down, as stress will be taken better that way by the blocks. This situation could result in a sudden failure of the jack or blocks, sending pieces flying....even on a small one story home, Id be wanting to use a pneumatic bottle jack. A car/truck jack typically will only be rated for 2 or 6. Having a few good bottle jacks (like a 4 ton or higher) on hand for this kind of job is ideal and safe, even if just one jack is being used. I keep a 6 and a 12-ton on hand, though you can rent them for even larger sizes.
The joists are so rotten that I would have removed the old boards and replaced them. I always prefer pressure treated for only a few pennies more. I see no cross bracing. Your joists will eventually creep, squeak and eventually could crack. Cross bracing also distributes weight to neighboring joists. Without cross bracing, your joists can fail. If you had removed the old boards, you could have spaced them closer (18" suggested) than what appears to be 24". Your bolting of the sister boards are too far apart. They should be 8" apart staggered with one row nearer to the top and the other row nearer to the bottom. Since replacing the old boards is preferred, you could have replaced them and added additional joists for a cost less than that of the bolts.
bolts are fine. them boards aren't going anywhere. from the looks of that floor ' old school ' its an old house & would probably last another 40/50 years. its fine
NEVER, under any circumstances, remove the existing floor joists. If there is rot or decay present then correct the moisture condition in the space with foundation vents and a 6-8 mil plastic moisture barrier (cover no more than 80% of the ground) and if you have a standing water issue dig out a sump and install a pump and drain line. Leave the existing joists in place. Sister 2x4s or 6s or 8s depending on what is there already. Then install 4"x4"x10's @ 90°angle to floor joist using cinder blocks placed appr. 12"s from either end of the 4x4. If the floor is sagging badly then raise it up in stages, a few inches each time over a period of 2 to 12 weeks, each situation varies. Also, if there is an extremely high moisture condition or standing water, be sure to dry the crawlspace slowly so as to prevent warping and twisting in the floor and sub-floor. Finally, do not use glue, adhesive, etc to attach the new runners to the existing joists. You can use glue to join 2 or more new 2x's together for addef strength but not when attaching new to old. Use lag bolts or wood screws of sufficient length. If using lag bolts/washers/nuts it does not matter which side you install them from. If using wood screws be sure to start them on the side with the existing/damaged wood so that they anchor in the new wood. Anyway, that is the way I have always done it.
Common practice by builders would be to bolt 1' on center and stagger the bolts high and low. The construction adhesive will help bond the wood since it will shrink over time and bolts may appear lose. Please if you post something be safe first, the comments about the "concrete" blocks or cmu (concrete masonry unit not cinder block) are absolutely correct. Solid 8x8 acting as dunnage would have been a better option. Ask a professional before doing this work, this could have ended badly. If you add a 3rd joist at the one that was short, it would distribute the load better. 22 years of commercial and residential construction and I saw too many mistakes.
You can not use nail under the flooe. You did it right. Actualy it needs to bolds to hold or can do like triangle . The first one close to the top, the second one close to the bottom edge and go on
Not to mention the obvious fact they {the floor joists} should have all been placed on 16 inch center-line and what you have appears at least to me to be on 24 inch , you really need to just get a delivery of 2x8 and start sistering them in place you don't have nearly enough floor support ..But hell what do I know ..
Alan W. insulation should be on the inside of the crawlspace walls, but watch out for moisture. I am.going to use either XPS or polyiso foam board when I do mine.
about how bad were the floor joists to start with? ill be doing the same thing in a few weeks and would be JAZZED if i could complete in only six hours as you did.
The floor was bowing about 1.5" in the center of the room. In hindsight I would've done three cinderblocks and shims after the job just for good measure.
+Bill Veder Without watching the vid again I think I put a new board through to the joist and bolted the existing one to it. Even if the old board isn't touching the joist it reduces flex when bolted to the other one. In hindsight I could've done a better job overall. Learn from my mistakes!
Don't wait on me, my project is already done, no video sorry. My situation was a little different. I installed new joists in a basement/crawlspace, no jack needed, I had to cut out some drywall but the new joist went right in, I added a shim on each side, clamped the new joist to the old one, a handful of deck screws and I was finished. Good luck everyone.
Had to leave the vid after viewing the 1st 37 seconds, I was afraid that everything was going to collapse on top of everyone including me. Wow! that was a dangerous thing to do.
Lay it on both sides and it should be longer on through to your mud seal. A few mistakes were made actually and really tho your gonna put your Jack's on sideways cinder blocks buddy ? I mean it's not dangerous but it is backwards start with one end a couple nails and lift it up and start screwing once you've got it flat your not going for level your going for flat so jack little bits up and crawl out and check the floors every direction with a true straight edge
Why didn't u cut the piece with a Sawzall all 2 sexonds get of.kir the way. Nobody uses a demean tool for this work either bro , Sawzall with a demo blade ( wood with nails bladw ) chew thru that in literally less than 10 seconds. Just a tip
if you loved your lovely lady you wouldn't have a home resting on a scissor jack resting on two f grade block. that Jackis rated for 3200 lb not 7000 or more second matter at hand your 2x6 should be a 2x8 every 18 or 32in on center depending on your local building code. but safety is something you should consider more.
not to be rude, but after watching the video and about to do the same thing, there was nothing done dangerous to risk either of their lives. If the jack failed, or the blocks broke, the house would have just gone back to its original position. not crumbled to the ground.
We are doing joist work under the house , and this is Joyce... ba-dum bum! is she wearing a bunny suit? she needs some ears to go with it , and whiskers and...
As construction, constructive criticism.. this was done wrong in multiple ways in regards to current building code! Definitely and always GLUE! Never put more holes or any.. notches etc just take from its strength over the long spans of a basement. If you have the chance to add more surface area to support, you really should have held it tight against floor with other joist, and again, glue because all those building adhesives are made to make a bond stronger her than the piece your gluing, even with standard wood glue, and nails because they stretch, and pull. However screws although we think keep it better attached, are brittle, especially any kind of drywall screws. That’s why homes are built with nails in a general purpose of a main build, minus attaching new subfloor which is glued with a liquid nails and screwed for squeaks. Again this is just for knowledge and safety purposes for your home 🏡☮️🙏🏼
Yikes! You know that there are house jacks not car jacks that are used for this. The sister-in-law job was not correctly executed. This is not how this fix is done. Madame, your husband is not very bright.
No way would my wife help under there. You gotta keeper!👍🤙✌️😎
I think u did a good job dude. Not mistakes, ur learning. Alot of people are afraid of doing stuff like this. Hats off to u and ur wife and brother.
Thanks for taking the time to document this. It means the world to people who are DYI out of necessity. Your showing of mistakes is humbling and appreciated, too.
That's the spirit! Read the comments. Learn from my mistakes. In hindsight I could've left the cinder blocks and shimmed the center of the floor just for good measure, but whatever.
Dude, everybody is a critic, right? No matter how or what you do there is gonna be somebody talkin bout what they think you did wrong. Raising a sagging floor and crawlspace work in general is difficult even under good conditions. Thumbs up for having the stones to take on the project yourself. Thanks for the video.
Well said Doug
@@4seeableTV ...thanks
You guys are all so funny! I came here because I have a section of my house I need to jack up. I'm a single mom and I replaced the vapor barrier in my crawl space and will soon tackle removing the old insulation, treat the mold and put new insulation in - ALL BY MY FEMALE self!! LOL! There are multi talented women still out there!
What does your gender have to do with making repairs to your home? So weird...
@@terryferre2149 Because all these guys are making a big deal out of the fact that this mans wife was helping him... ?? I personally don't see gender as an issue, but many here do.
How did you treat the mold? Thank you
@@ronswoodshack I used concrobium. You can get it at lowes.
Im a DIYer by financial default but, never something this big in scale. I need to do this same thing to what looks like the same size house. It was your video that really has me ready to tackle it.
This looks exactly like mine. So glad I decided to watch this one. I'm saving for when I can get to the leveling and repairing under it. Thank you
Very good
Usefulness - 9 out of 10
Wife - 10 out of 10
Everyone who's freaking out about how "omg you almost killed yourself/ your wife" - chill. Yes the blocks were used incorrectly and yes it was a cheap jack BUT IF IT WOULD HAVE FAILED the floor would have simply let go enough to go back to it's initial sagging state. Everyone acts like the entire damn house would have collapsed with the force of a megaton nuke and there would be nothing left of this man and his poor innocent wife but ashes and dust. And for the troll who keeps commenting that you reinforced a floor and got a staph infection and almost died - no one cares.
Thanks for sharing man
Right? The blocks didn't fail because he was over the evenly stacked center.. not ideal but could've been worse.. the jack is more than capable of temporarily lifting one joist that's already in place ..I'd have used adhesive still..it's probably gonna creak a lot over time, but whatever, it'll last just fine..
Unfortunately there are people out there in the field that are dumber than the commenters..
On my house, the main wall's joist also carries the weight of the HVAC, wh, w&d, and all of the bathroom fixtures..
They cut six inches out of a 2 foot section of the lower portion of the 10" joist, basically supporting the main internal wall of the house ..
@@AJNoon Nah we just build new house no need to risk our lives to live in a rotting house for 10 more years
Thanks very helpful jacking up the sagging joist tIl level THEN sistering them, plus all the comments very helpful too…next project on the list.
Great job! Well done and a large improvement.. I am doing the same to my house now and thank you for the pointers...
This video is great, a real look at something a regular Joe is doing and the issues you saw, what you liked and what you didn't!!! God bless you with 2x6 joists!!! I have an old house and it has 2x8s spanning 12 feet and they are still sagging like the builder meant to do it!!! Hahahah
I was demoing a concrete porch when a 8x 12ft roof fell on my neck. thankfully I reacted in time and was not injured because of it. but I was young and not conscious of my actions. I've since then learned building code and learned the proper way to ensure that never happens again. watching your video made my mouth drop when I saw your sissor Jack used to lift your home\ apt and you and your wife underneath the home.
DIED OH HELL.
Thanks for showing how this is relatively easy... I have a wet crawl space that I got taken care of, but it looks like there's a few joists that need sistering... springy floors are a red flag!
Two suggestions for future projects. Remove the rotten joists, doubling-up for insufficient spanning joists. Make sure to overlap the center bream by 6 inches or so for earthquake protection.
I know now! Wasn't that smart back then :(
Don't worry about what the armchair experts are saying... they have never done this work and probably never will. Great job.
The wife and I just moved into a 52 year old home with an Identical crawl space as yours. The main beam is sagging about 1" over the length of the house. The main beam is sitting on Cinder blocks Im doing this as we speak.. I've installed 5 evenly spaced deck post jacks on foundation blocks(made for 4x4's) and every other day I jack them up about 1/16th and then let the wood fibers relax. When I reach my target hight I will reshim the cinder blocks so there will be a total of 9 load bearing points over 50'. Now I need to take the sag out of the center of the floor between the main beam and the foundation wall. For this I will use 3x7's or similar to span 5 or 6 joist at a time with a jack at each end. They will remain permanently running down the center of the floor. There's really not that much load on the center of your joist..its all on the main beam and foundation wall. The jack you used is rated for 3K lbs which is more than enough. I suggest encapsulating the crawl though. We did, and it made a HUGE difference in Smell and temperature. Im in Ontario. No need to worry about freezing pipes anymore. ;)
You could also install a metal hanger to help support that short joist you refer to around 2:50
Lot of good critiques. Years and a lot more work later, I know how I should've done it. This house was flimsy and easy to work with. Also, the supports were never actually removed, so the only real danger was wasting time and materials. Houses with sturdier construction demand proper screw jacks and properly used bottle jacks. But as you can read in the comments, there are people who swear by nails and glue and people who suggest bolts. Do your research before you work!
Well bro you got a good team on your side thank you for your honesty video I really like it because that is one mistake I can see a lot of us doing for the first time 👍👍up and I say that from experience
The reason why you need to glue the joists together is to make "one" joists.
Right now you have the bolts holding the two joists together as opposed to having made a "complete" joist.
Will it hold? Probably for eternity but it's still not correct.
Screw a piece of wood to extend out the beam that holds the joists so the one you messed up the length on will have support and can rest your mind over it.. I got to do the same to mine,, kitchen also... lol
Nobody has such a spacious crawl space
Thank you for sharing! :)
Thought I was the only 1 that thought of the car jack. great minds think alike
I would use a impact with the correct socket to lift the jack
I love it all ,read everybody comment , it's good to see how to not make those deadly mistakes, good job ,we all learn.
there was no deadly mistake lol.
I've had to correct a stupid plumer's crap job who notch a 2X8 joist pretty bad just under the bathtub to run his drain pipe. I had to bolt a 6 ft. piece over the 2 inch half way down the joist he made and bolted it onto the joist. Bolts were 3/8, 8 inch apart on the 2X8, 2 inch from the top and 2 inch from the bottom all the way across the 6ft piece and I used gorilla glue in between, it's holding great.
One other thing when using bolts they should be staggered up and down so the load is evenly grimaced across the joists in a str8 line the load on the bolts is greater . Overall good video and agree with the other post good looking helper, much better looking than the one I often use my brother in law.😃
I'd like to see the floor before and after you did it if possible, please.
I think you did a fine job.Size of the beams you used being a little more narrow than the original is no problem.You really should add some sleepers across the whole middle of the room.A sleeper is just a big timber heck you can even use landscape timbers they have a flat side get long ones place them across as many joist as you can and jack till snug and block under them and you will have like a concrete floor you can jump up and down and it will not shake anything.You will never have any sagging settling maybe but all you need to do is check for gaps and jack till tight again whitch I doubt you ever have to do.Just my thoughts we used to have bouncy floors.
Wonderful work. I might have to do this to a house my wife and I are looking at. Doesn't look terribly hard and my Dad has lots of tools (nail gun) that we could use.
Read the comments, learn from my mistakes. With small beams like this, the floor bends easy. With thick, old beams you're probably better off bringing in concrete, pouring a new footer, building up blocks and shimming at least two beams in the center of the floor. That's what a contractor did on my new house. Depends on if the beams are good and simply sagging or if you need to sister in new beams next to them. Watch a couple videos and be careful!
Because you have 2x6s, I would install another row of supports in the centers of the floor joists.
The sagging is called DEFLECTION.. The new 2x6's installed will do the same thing. The load is to heavy. You should have installed 2x8's, jacked the 2x6's and then pinned them to each other with lots of 2.5" screws..
Hi
what are specification of bolt? space between two bolts? All bolts are in the line or zigzag?
Thanks
These joists should be 16" on center. They look like they are 24" Also to help stiffen the floor put in blocking ever 4' degrees to the joists. They need to be tight. It will take any bouncing out of the floor and reduce sagging. These look like awfully long spans for 2x6's. You should consider putting in a post ever 8' or so. Post should be a 4x4 or 4x6 on end on top of a pier block - not the block bricks you have. It should be solid concrete.
24" OC nope never. Needs solid bridging at least
You can come do mine
My opinion: Made more than 1 mistake, but your floor will be fine for as long as you live maybe. No need for green treated 2x6s, its under a house maybe they were cheaper who knows but also by not going with original stock I can see without additional piers under there maybe your floor will bow again in the next 10 years, anyway great job thanks for posting the video really helped me out to see your work.
Crawlspace voids are known harbor mold spores. Which causes sinus infections, that was my life experience. Especially under older homes not built to today's moisture codes.
I'm no expert but never ever use a car jack/ scissor lift Jack. Use 1 8ft 5x5 and 2 20 ton Jack's. Make sure to use a metal plate between the Jack and the 5x5 or whatever so the Jack doesnt sink into the board your lifting with and split it.
I've use car jacks before just because we need more jacks it worked just fine kinda of pain jacking it up though
I need one of those things. With gold hair and ganas to help work.
Side grinder with metal cut-off be a lot quicker than a Dremel tool. Go through nails like butter. Just stick your piece of board up under that short joists
I need do that under my AC ,water heater And furnace area all three are together and is to much weight I had leaking from the roof in that area and is really saggy that part ,my only problem is to enter to the crawl space is really difficult and I am 6.3" 220 pounds so...... :(
Most these crawl spaces I see are nice with room compared to mine. I drilled a few door knob size hole in my bath floor as it is sagging and a sister joist is not holding well. I put a camera into hole and looked around then played it back and seen a nasty looking black spider on a joist like NOPE as there is only like 8" of room below the joist to the crawl space floor. Gotta spray insecticide in that area to kill them.
May I ask you why you left space between the new joist and the planks?
Floor joists are too long of a span for two-by-sixes therefore you need a beam right down the center of all floor joice's.
Eventually those new ones you put in will sag without a supporting beam underneath all of them
just put a post in the middle of the floor joist
Was the outer wall bolted down to the cement?
nice job it's awesome to do your own work and save money 🔧 🔨
Everything in Life has a Risk , very glad you overcame that Horrible Bacteria .
Very surprised nobody mentioned this. You are using the concrete block under your jack incorrectly! VERY DANGEROUS!! the block has very little strength on its side and can crumble very easily!! You should always use block right side up, this is where it has the greatest strength.
Steve Barringer Thanks Steve! Next time, for sure!
Steve Barringer Oh I noticed it straight away, there have been guys killed by putting cars or trucks on blocks laid on their side like that, especially cinder blocks which are much weaker then concrete blocks. They would jack up the vehicle, lay those block under it on their side, go underneath, start working on something, the vehicle would shift, the block would shatter, and they would get crushed. Before they had masonry saws the masons used to cut them to size with a
chisel and a hammer by knocking the webs out, some still do. Fortunately in this case it's unlikely that the house would cave in should the blocks break since it's only under one floor joist, but it's still a bad habit to get into.
Dafuq am I watching? This guy is melting my face off. How is this the number 1 return????
Ok, besides the blocks (OMG) you should be sandwiching the new joist boards if you aren't going to replace the old one with two new ones. Nice job though getting it done.
Should have ran an extra beam between the existing beams you have to prevent your floor joist from sagging supported by pad and block, concrete piers would be better but solid blocks would do better than the hollow one's
Noticing the crawlspace doesn't have vapor barrier in there. Do you have moisture issue or mold? What part of the US? Just curious to check out my crawlspace soon as my joists are rotted from the shower. Thanks for having your wife in the video to inspire me to crawl in my crawlspace tomorrow. Be interesting after 25 years of being a homeowner.
Back it off the beam with 4x4 or 2x4 wit lag bolts should hold
Did you treat timbers with boracare?
go ahead and scab onto ur cross brace too!!! will help support the short one and cross brace looks like crap ,also id pour some concrete pads before blocking up so blocks dont sink in mud
Hi, how do you sort out a wood issue where it is sinking when you stand on it,, sagging.. i mean... and you cant really go below...
I dont think i can because the part of the floor almost levels with the ground.
I am worried, i dont know how i can strengthen or fix this... the corner of my lounge is sinky or saggy when you stand there ;-(
+Imre Csoka Hrmm. So there's no crawl space under the house? I'm no expert but it seems like you'd have to rip the floor up all the way to the joists and replace/support them from above. But again, I'm just a DIY guy.
Hey man thanks for replying quickly, i was about to go sleep. Anyhow ill take a few pictures for you BUT for now only when i stand in the corner i can see it sinking but like millimeters, I doubt an inch. There is a floor door or trap door but i dont think i am go as far up to that part of the lounge as I am guessing it is very close to the ground.If I go out to the back thats the wall to that part of the lounge, If i can just add, the house is built on like stone and on a slight gradient. The house is 101 years old. I just hope the wood and materials they used those days were better than these days, as i am told. I guess i feel it i like a car you know when u hear a noise or your breaks are feeling spongey then its a good idea to try sort it out. I am learning to DIY so i need to learn some theory i guess before i use my guns although I am lanky and dont really have any . Okay so thats my short story. Thanks
Imre Csoka dig trenches
This is NOT the way to use cinder blocks. the walls of the block should be stacked vertically. Any pressure to the left or right of that rib and that block will crumble. Beautiful helper though.
If you have floors that sag from one side to the other, and the exterior wall that sags also: do you start in the center and level your way out to the exterior wall or level from the exterior wall to the center?
You are correct. I know better now.
My guess would be bottle jacks and jack stands throughout the floor, raising each until you're level. I tried to do this on my new house which has 2x10s and I thought I would be doing a lot of jacking and cramming boards in. They ended up pouring footers and building new supports through the center of the floor. It ended up being easier to pour and build new supports than to try and sister 15+ new joists that might not have straightened out the floor anyway. Also, it took 4 guys about three days to do it all. Def not a one man job.
frnkjones40
you are absolutely correct!
we do masonry, and the sides of the block are the weakest point!
definitelyneed to stack blocks, the way they are intended to support weight...
i cant believe it didnt break under the jack!
frnkjones40 ) was
hey I thought it all look good. on that one that was short you should just marry a little chunk of lumber to The girder and then it'll capture the one that you made short
Do not use a car jack or those hollow blocks!!! Use 18 ton or more house jacks and solid pier concrete block. This could cause serious injury if the jack slipped or the block cracked. Safety first. The repair of the joists look good.
Good call. Learned a lot since then. I'd propose a 6 ton jack...would have been MORE than enough on top of properly placed cinderblocks with a piece of 2x10 on top of them. These 2x6 floors flexed easily. On my new house the 4x10 main beams pushed 20 ton jacks to the limit.
Benjamin Jeffares I've going to jack up and sandwich repair a load bearing girder beam in my living room that is sagging. I think 3 20ton jacks should work since the sag is localized to a central point where the two perpendicular beams meet. The local hardware stores only have one type of jack that will fit my 3 foot high crawlspace.
where was the serious danger? lol. if the jack failed, or the bricks broke, the floor would have went directly back the original configuration not Collapsed and killed the world. Yes I agree its better to use the "proper" equipment. But there isn't anything wrong with what he did.
you should really use a hydraulic jack for lifting beams and joists under the house, not a car/truck jack...also, those concrete blocks should be faced so the voids are down, as stress will be taken better that way by the blocks.
This situation could result in a sudden failure of the jack or blocks, sending pieces flying....even on a small one story home, Id be wanting to use a pneumatic bottle jack. A car/truck jack typically will only be rated for 2 or 6. Having a few good bottle jacks (like a 4 ton or higher) on hand for this kind of job is ideal and safe, even if just one jack is being used. I keep a 6 and a 12-ton on hand, though you can rent them for even larger sizes.
The joists are so rotten that I would have removed the old boards and replaced them. I always prefer pressure treated for only a few pennies more.
I see no cross bracing. Your joists will eventually creep, squeak and eventually could crack. Cross bracing also distributes weight to neighboring joists. Without cross bracing, your joists can fail. If you had removed the old boards, you could have spaced them closer (18" suggested) than what appears to be 24".
Your bolting of the sister boards are too far apart. They should be 8" apart staggered with one row nearer to the top and the other row nearer to the bottom. Since replacing the old boards is preferred, you could have replaced them and added additional joists for a cost less than that of the bolts.
bolts are fine. them boards aren't going anywhere. from the looks of that floor ' old school ' its an old house & would probably last another 40/50 years. its fine
NO SHIT
NEVER, under any circumstances, remove the existing floor joists. If there is rot or decay present then correct the moisture condition in the space with foundation vents and a 6-8 mil plastic moisture barrier (cover no more than 80% of the ground) and if you have a standing water issue dig out a sump and install a pump and drain line. Leave the existing joists in place. Sister 2x4s or 6s or 8s depending on what is there already. Then install 4"x4"x10's @ 90°angle to floor joist using cinder blocks placed appr. 12"s from either end of the 4x4. If the floor is sagging badly then raise it up in stages, a few inches each time over a period of 2 to 12 weeks, each situation varies. Also, if there is an extremely high moisture condition or standing water, be sure to dry the crawlspace slowly so as to prevent warping and twisting in the floor and sub-floor. Finally, do not use glue, adhesive, etc to attach the new runners to the existing joists. You can use glue to join 2 or more new 2x's together for addef strength but not when attaching new to old. Use lag bolts or wood screws of sufficient length. If using lag bolts/washers/nuts it does not matter which side you install them from. If using wood screws be sure to start them on the side with the existing/damaged wood so that they anchor in the new wood. Anyway, that is the way I have always done it.
Common practice by builders would be to bolt 1' on center and stagger the bolts high and low. The construction adhesive will help bond the wood since it will shrink over time and bolts may appear lose. Please if you post something be safe first, the comments about the "concrete" blocks or cmu (concrete masonry unit not cinder block) are absolutely correct. Solid 8x8 acting as dunnage would have been a better option. Ask a professional before doing this work, this could have ended badly. If you add a 3rd joist at the one that was short, it would distribute the load better. 22 years of commercial and residential construction and I saw too many mistakes.
2x6 floor joists 24"OC? Terrible
Lol forget the job congratulations 🎉🍾 on your better half
You can not use nail under the flooe. You did it right. Actualy it needs to bolds to hold or can do like triangle . The first one close to the top, the second one close to the bottom edge and go on
HUH?
Hey how much would a job like this cost???
20,000
Just nail or bolt a cleat or two along the main beam under your new joist would be next best thing if u couldn't get it over the beam
Lag some 4x4 angle iron under the short one, problem solved.
People use liquid nails and other adhesives stop the floor from squeaking.
Is this Jack good for this type of job .....big red 12 ton capacity hydraulic bottle Jack ..stubby. ????
Not to mention the obvious fact they {the floor joists} should have all been placed on 16 inch center-line and what you have appears at least to me to be on 24 inch , you really need to just get a delivery of 2x8 and start sistering them in place you don't have nearly enough floor support ..But hell what do I know ..
did you put insulation after ? looks like it could use it
Alan W. insulation should be on the inside of the crawlspace walls, but watch out for moisture. I am.going to use either XPS or polyiso foam board when I do mine.
1:31 lol
about how bad were the floor joists to start with? ill be doing the same thing in a few weeks and would be JAZZED if i could complete in only six hours as you did.
The floor was bowing about 1.5" in the center of the room. In hindsight I would've done three cinderblocks and shims after the job just for good measure.
when you did this did you push each joist up gradually or was it all in one shot?
I did them one by one. I pushed the joist up about about inch past level, drilled and bolted, then when I let out the jack it sagged to level.
Why would you need to use through bolts to a joist that's not even touching?
+Bill Veder Without watching the vid again I think I put a new board through to the joist and bolted the existing one to it. Even if the old board isn't touching the joist it reduces flex when bolted to the other one. In hindsight I could've done a better job overall. Learn from my mistakes!
+Benjamin Jeffares Nah I think you did a great job. I have to add some new joists in my crawl wish me luck. Thanks for making the video
+Bill Veder I am waiting for your video so I can compare the two. I need to do some repair. Benjamin did a good job though...
Don't wait on me, my project is already done, no video sorry. My situation was a little different. I installed new joists in a basement/crawlspace, no jack needed, I had to cut out some drywall but the new joist went right in, I added a shim on each side, clamped the new joist to the old one, a handful of deck screws and I was finished. Good luck everyone.
I like you try it. How many years old is this house.
About 60 years old
Opssssssssss i need trusses!!!!!!!!!
OMG. Jacks in cinder blocks?
All that mold at 0:41.
Your lucky..it so hard to get a cute girl in to a crawl space...lol
My problem is getting into the cute girls crawlspace
@@dougdouglas3696 u beat me to it
@@MerchantNation LoL
😊 too😊😊😊 go go
Where are you located? Beautiful wife. Nice work.
i need a cute helper
And here i thought i was the only one who had some girls in my crawl space. 👍
She is very beautiful :)
I meant your lady , she is very beautiful)))
Third grade huh?
That looks bad on the end. The new joist should be supported on both ends.
A bottle jack is easier to use
Or just pay a local kid to hold it up🤣
Had to leave the vid after viewing the 1st 37 seconds, I was afraid that everything was going to collapse on top of everyone including me. Wow! that was a dangerous thing to do.
Lay it on both sides and it should be longer on through to your mud seal. A few mistakes were made actually and really tho your gonna put your Jack's on sideways cinder blocks buddy ? I mean it's not dangerous but it is backwards start with one end a couple nails and lift it up and start screwing once you've got it flat your not going for level your going for flat so jack little bits up and crawl out and check the floors every direction with a true straight edge
Why didn't u cut the piece with a Sawzall all 2 sexonds get of.kir the way. Nobody uses a demean tool for this work either bro , Sawzall with a demo blade ( wood with nails bladw ) chew thru that in literally less than 10 seconds. Just a tip
a dremel? lol
I think we got it you said the same thing over and over.
if you loved your lovely lady you wouldn't have a home resting on a scissor jack resting on two f grade block. that Jackis rated for 3200 lb not 7000 or more second matter at hand your 2x6 should be a 2x8 every 18 or 32in on center depending on your local building code. but safety is something you should consider more.
not to be rude, but after watching the video and about to do the same thing, there was nothing done dangerous to risk either of their lives. If the jack failed, or the blocks broke, the house would have just gone back to its original position. not crumbled to the ground.
TOO MANY "UMMMs" .
Jeesus. You lucky those CMUs did not crumble. I suggest hiring a professional next time.
We are doing joist work under the house , and this is Joyce... ba-dum bum!
is she wearing a bunny suit? she needs some ears to go with it , and whiskers and...
THANKS
Not using glue was a big mistake. You blew it.
John Parker glue a new sister joist to a rotten floor joist ,I think not
As construction, constructive criticism.. this was done wrong in multiple ways in regards to current building code! Definitely and always GLUE! Never put more holes or any.. notches etc just take from its strength over the long spans of a basement. If you have the chance to add more surface area to support, you really should have held it tight against floor with other joist, and again, glue because all those building adhesives are made to make a bond stronger her than the piece your gluing, even with standard wood glue, and nails because they stretch, and pull. However screws although we think keep it better attached, are brittle, especially any kind of drywall screws. That’s why homes are built with nails in a general purpose of a main build, minus attaching new subfloor which is glued with a liquid nails and screwed for squeaks.
Again this is just for knowledge and safety purposes for your home 🏡☮️🙏🏼
Are y’all still married?
Hey, honey, show me your crawl space... if you know what I mean.
Next time buy a better house....
Weird channel.
Yikes! You know that there are house jacks not car jacks that are used for this. The sister-in-law job was not correctly executed. This is not how this fix is done. Madame, your husband is not very bright.