Cost to Replace Joists and Main Beam

We just completed inspection on the house we’re buying, and there is a fair amount of water and termite damage to about a quarter of the joists on the ground floor, and a couple on the next floor up, as well as some damage to the main beam. The back of the house (extension, not the main house) is sagging a bit in one corner and may have to be shored up. Does anyone have an idea of the kind of money we’re looking at to replace the rotted joists and main beam, and shore up the corner of the foundation? $25,000? $50,000?

ggrkfppsn

in Renovation 9 years and 1 month ago

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Contractor | 9 years and 1 month ago

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I’m thinking 34 – 38k.
John@jmbbrothers.com. 917 886 9576

CarmenR | 9 years and 1 month ago

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> @MC NYC
> What does replacing a party wall entail? Is it similar in scope to replacing a main beam?

We did not have to replace a party wall, but we did have to repair a portion of ours that had a hole in it. The repair cost approx. $8k.

For comparison sake, we also had to rebuild a foundation wall on the front of the house and that cost a similar amount.

ggrkfppsn | 9 years and 1 month ago

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What does replacing a party wall entail? Is it similar in scope to replacing a main beam?

randolph | 9 years and 1 month ago

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we had to replace one of our party walls, repocket all the joists, replace/sister a dozen of them. $70k.

CarmenR | 9 years and 1 month ago

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When you start dealing with structural issues, things quickly escalate in cost. I would imagine a bare minimum would be $50k. Once an engineer gets involved, you have to shore up everything. We’re 75% through a renovation that included substantial structural work. If you want any info, feel free to email me at greenwoodframed at gmail If you can see termite damage, I can’t imagine there won’t be additional termite damage that you can’t see…

ggrkfppsn | 9 years and 1 month ago

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Yes, the new beam would definitely need to be steel.

The extension is also on a pier-and-beam foundation, not slab.

CarmenR | 9 years and 1 month ago

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I would be very surprised if your structural engineer would allow you to replace that main beam with wood- you’ll likely need steel for that span. Do you have beams in the extension floor or is it slab?

ggrkfppsn | 9 years and 1 month ago

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The house is 25 feet wide, 40 feet deep, and three stories tall. The main beam is the large wood support that runs from front to back of the house, resting on steel support columns in the cellar. The majority of the joists (running perpendicular to the main beam) are over the cellar, but the extension is probably directly above dirt – we won’t know until we open it up.

CarmenR | 9 years and 1 month ago

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Also, are your joists sitting directly above dirt or a cellar?

CarmenR | 9 years and 1 month ago

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What is a “main beam”? Is it made of wood? How wide is the house?