Uh-oh. Odd beam found

While ripping out carpeting in our newly purchased home, I found a beam coming in though the subfloor and butting up to the wood floorboards. I cannot tell if the subfloor failed above the beam or if the beam was added when they did some other work. There was a lot of structural work done at one time around this area. Fortunately, the house, a Ditmas Park wood frame, feels very sound with no cracks in the doorways or stuck windows. The floors are fairly level for an older home. I don’t see any signs of imminent collapse

Do you have a recommendation for a good general contractor or structural engineer who would be able to troubleshoot this and come up with a plan of action? Thank you!

dmdesmond

in General Discussion 8 years and 9 months ago

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dmdesmond | 8 years and 9 months ago

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Really MDR? It does already have cross bracings from joist to joist which appear to be in good shape as well as additional bracing which I’m guessing keeps it from moving in any direction. The post itself is very firmly stationed.

I guess I could sazall the post down a bit and replace the absent piece of subfloor with a steel plate drilled into the post underneath the surrounding subfloor? I am hesitant since I barely understand what spring bracing is and have no real business diagnosing a structural problem with my own house. The floor does, however, feel very sound so I am not too alarmed.

MDR | 8 years and 9 months ago

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DIY

dmdesmond | 8 years and 9 months ago

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Post! It is a post, not a beam. Thank you and apologies! I can’t really give a good photo since you really need a penlight to set what is going on in there but I will try

CMU, I think your assessment sounds good. Who do I hire to do this?

cmu | 8 years and 9 months ago

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I suspect he means a post that was installed incorrectly with nothing to bear against except the old subfloor, so it broke through at some point later. If so, easy fix. Put cross bracing from joist to joist (triple vertical 2×8 should do it) Cut the post shorter to spring set against the bracing and nail off thoroughly. Unless OP has a really saggy upper floor section, the post probably doesn’t carry much of a load since it’s only 1/2″ off.

daveinbedstuy | 8 years and 9 months ago

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Beams are horizontal. Posts are vertical. Confusing without any pics.

dorkofwindsor | 8 years and 9 months ago

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very confusing, could you post pic?

dmdesmond | 8 years and 9 months ago

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The beam is coming up from the somewhere on the first floor and punches trough the subflooring of the second floor. I haven’t figured out from where the beam is coming on the first floor.

It looked like a slight warp in the floor with some tape over it. When I pulled the oak floorboards off, there was a rough hole in the subflooring below the floorboards, with this beam sticking through. It is about half and inch too high for the floorboards to lay flat over it. The beam looks like 3 2 x 6’s strapped together. Not sure if this is older rough hewn wood or newer planed wood.

CarmenR | 8 years and 9 months ago

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I’m a bit confused by this- is the beam in a wall somewhere? is it in the stiffening wall??