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P. McKinley

P. McKinley

Joined
Jan 27, 2008
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I have a basement reno question?
I have removed a 60-year old cold closet/root cellar from my basement that was directly below an entry stairwell into the main house above. I also poured a concrete to patch over cover the old gravel flooring that was inside. I now want to remove the final, small weight bearing wall below the landing. I've tripled up the support in the meantime. Can I use metal strapping tied into the floor joist above to adequately/securely suspend the structure's weight, and allow the removal of that wall?

Do I need to double-up the joist in question?
Should double-up and re-design the staircase riser to also provide "some" support to the landing? Its certainly providing little support in its current configuration.

Thanks for the help,

-Peter






 
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The photo where the rope is .What kind of support does that joist have on the rope end ? Could you double up that joist ?
 
Mete- The room is 13' 6". The joists are supported on either end by poured concrete foundation walls. The landing structure extends 41" out from that right-hand wall.

-Peter
 
You should be able to marry a 2x10 to that joist .Check with a carpenter.
 
Add another joist and strap it. That should hold fine considering how little weight you are supporting. And yes I'm a framer going through 8-12 inspections a month. Email me if you have any other questions.
 
Ive been a carpenter for 34 years and have done extensive remodels, A single 2" x 1/16 strap with 6 joist hanger nail in each end will support the weight, provided you don't have a weight bearing situation above, I see an old 3/4 sub floor in the picture so im guessing you live in an older home, most likely using balloon framing construction, this type of construction is well known for unusual bearing locations, if your roof is stick framing you could very well have a bearing load all the way down the center of your house that is picked up by the first floor walls, if this is the case doubling up the floor joist that has the strap hooked to it would be a good idea

you also should put a steel strap under the stair stringers like I show in the picture

bfpicture1_zps5d9ce466.jpg
 
It looks like the end joist of the landing almost stacks with the floor joist above. Cut some OSB or ply wood the height of bottom of landing joist to top of floor joist and the full length of both. nail along side with 8 penny nails 3 rows @ 6" centers . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
The periods represent the nailing pattern on one joist. It will look like that on the upper and lower joist. You can do this with a saw and hammer with no concrete connections
Hope I explained that clearly, the plywood would look like the strap in the picture above, just full lenght
 
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John,

THANK YOU!!

What you drew out and explained so carefully, is fairly close to what I imagined. The only big difference....instead of the 1 1/2" steel strap, I had thought to marry a 2x10 to the existing stringer and cut a seat at the top to support the bottom of the landing face joist. And, to provide all three fixed corners of the landing with 4"x4" vertical posts placed against the walls. These posts would also serve as legs/support for the L-shaped bench that will occupy that corner and right-hand wall. The grinder will go in that corner and be vented directly outside via those two holes bored through the foundation(covered with pink foam blocks).

I think your method of supporting the staircase is more work, but stronger and cleaner... I'll go with that.

Thanks folks. Your assistance is generous and greatly appreciated.
 
Your welcome

I always like to over build staircases, if you figure, you buy a full size standup freezer and get 2 or 3 of your buddies to help you move it into the basement you could put as much as 800 to 1000lbs on those stringers, any extra strenth you can put into them will be worth the effort
 
Some very good comments . One thing I learned many years ago -- with an older house , never assume always check .It's sometimes bizarre. My house was built in 1850 !!
 
John Katt said:
Your welcome

I always like to over build staircases, if you figure, you buy a full size standup freezer and get 2 or 3 of your buddies to help you move it into the basement you could put as much as 800 to 1000lbs on those stringers, any extra strenth you can put into them will be worth the effort
Click to expand...

That is exactly what happened here in Ct. a couple months ago. A new house under construction had temporary staircases built for access to the different elevations. Two plumbers ask two electricians to help them carry a cast iron tub to the second floor. As they ascended the 2nd floor staircase it gave way crashing through the first floor stair into the basement. One broken arm and two broken legs and probably no workmans comp for the electricians because it wasn't in their job description to carry bathtubs.
 
You could cut three pieces of 3/4 plywood the width of the landing X the distance from the subfloor to the bottom of the landing.
Then cap the whole end of the landing screwing the floor joists at the top and the side of the landing on the bottom.
After laminating all three pieces you could through bolt or lag to the joist and landing to carry extra shear load.

The L-hanger in the corner is a good idea.

As for the stairs, I would remove the 1x3 and piece of waferboard.
Then replace them with fresh double layer ply going down the full height of the riser X the width of the stair.
It wouldn't hurt to add the straps as suggested.

This may be a little overkill but I think it would be a simple and clean approach.
 
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William Schrade said:
That is exactly what happened here in Ct. a couple months ago. A new house under construction had temporary staircases built for access to the different elevations. Two plumbers ask two electricians to help them carry a cast iron tub to the second floor. As they ascended the 2nd floor staircase it gave way crashing through the first floor stair into the basement. One broken arm and two broken legs and probably no workmans comp for the electricians because it wasn't in their job description to carry bathtubs.
Click to expand...

Its very likely the framer will be sued and his liability policy will cover the the cost, most companies I have worked for require a 2 million dollar policy

I have heard of this happening before, what some new/inexperienced carpenters don't think about, after you cut notches in your 2x12 you are effectively left with 3-2x4's holding you up, the outside stringers need 2x4's nailed to the sides and the center stringer gets two, Then you get screws into the studs or a support wall underneath

Depending on how tall the ceilings are, Stringers can be up to 24' long, walking across three 24' 2x4's is never a good idea, In peters situation the stringers only appear to be about 10' long so its probably not an issue, but seeing how overkill is my middle name I would likely put a single 2x4 prop in the center of the outside stringer, just so I could sleep at night ;0)
 
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I've made a bit of progress.

Well, after scrounging some materials, $116.00 of 2x4s, 3/4" plywood, screws and nails, and four days of work.... I'm almost there. The stairs and landing have been secured/supported and three new SOLID benches are built and fit in place. The electrician comes tomorrow(maybe) to add new breakers, wiring, lights, and outlets.

Any HVAC folks out there? I need advice on the system components - blowers/fans, cfm, ducting, and such for the dust collection/ventilation system. I have two 4" holes through the concrete foundation wall(covered with pink foam) above the grinder that I would like to use to get the dust from the grinder and buffer OUT OF THE HOUSE.

I would hope to build something along the lines as Rick Marchand did here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-made-a-dust-evacuation-system-for-my-grinder, or at least accomplish the same goal.
The different grinders (Rick's vs. mine), I think, may add some complexity.

I'm hoping to have this project completed and the shop ready to rock after I return from our upcoming long weekend.
Thanks all for the continued assistance.

-Peter











The next, although related, project is to take care of this abomination of a wall:


Btw, this is a before photo showing how the shop was set up prior to knocking out the cold closet/root cellar, the door to which is hidden behind my grinder belts:


As an side project, I also poured a concrete pad and picked up a new anvil stand for my back yard forge. The pad is about 8" deep and reinforced with an old bent up oven grate. It was poured over a packed gravel base into a form lined with foam. The new anvil stand is a 23" tall piece of Hemlock.


 
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