Can I Replace Floor Joists Myself?

Changing out a joist in a floor is a significant project. Hiring a professional carpenter is the best option if you lack the necessary skills to complete the task. If you don't know what you're doing when replacing a floor joist, you could endanger your family's safety and your home's market value. When attempting a DIY floor joist replacement, it is imperative to observe all safety measures.

Floor Joist-Subfloor Separation

Replace Your Floor Joist With The Same Size.

Take precise dimensions of the existing floor joists in your home, including their length, width, and height. The next step is to track down a floor joist of the same size to use as a replacement.

• Always get the same brand and model of joists. For floors supported by I-joists, you'll want to replace them with regular joists.
• Take pictures of your joists from different angles and bring them to your local hardware store to have a staff identify the kind for you.
• An I-joist consists of a horizontal piece of timber at the top, a vertical piece of lumber at the bottom, and a middle web, which is usually plywood.

I-Joist Plywood Web Removal Requires A Circular Saw.

Use a circular saw to separate the web from the upper flange (the lumber attached to the subfloor). That manner, the top flange may be detached from the subfloor with little effort.

• Cover your face from stray nails, wood chips, and sawdust by donning a pair of safety goggles.
• You should also secure your lungs and neck from wood dust by wearing a dust mask.
• Remove the web from the top flange by cutting it off and storing it out of the way.

Disconnect Joists From Cables And Walls.

Using a reciprocating saw, remove the floor joists from adjacent walls. In the event that the saw fails to perform its job, you can use a crowbar or hammer to break the joist free.

• Wear safety glasses whenever you're operating an electric saw.
• Make sure your reciprocating saw is equipped with a wood-cutting blade before you begin working with wood.

Hammer The Floor Joist Off The Subfloor.

Start by removing a quarter to half an inch (2.5 to 5.1 cm) of the floor joist with a reciprocating saw. As a result, there will be a deficiency. Then, using the pry bars and the reciprocating saw, remove the floor joist from the subfloor.

• Use the flat side of a heavy tool like a hammer or crowbar to pry open the space between the floor joist and the subfloor.
• Utilise a metal-cutting blade for sawing through nails and a wood-cutting blade for sawing through wood.
• This is a difficult undertaking that will call for persistence. Have patience and use a variety of resources to find the ones that serve you best.
• The joist should be placed in a convenient but out-of-the-way location once it has been completely detached from the subfloor.

Putting in a New Joist

Apply Adhesive To The New Joist.

Apply the glue right before you screw the joist into place. A caulking gun is then used to spread the adhesive along the length of the joist.

• Don't forget to put glue on the joist before you attach it. If the joist is moved too soon after the glue has been applied, it will dry and not hold.

Insert The Replacement Joist.

If the old joist was flush with the sill of the foundation, you can attach the new one by pressing one end onto the old one. The other end is slipped into its corresponding slot on the opposite side.

• Tap the joist in place with the hammer.
• The new joist installation will require the help of at minimum one other person.

Raise The Subfloor If The New Joist Won't Fit.

It doesn't matter if it's a screw jack, a hydraulic jack, or something else, just use a jack. Set up a wood block under the jack and another between the jack and the subfloor as a starting point. The joist can be tapped back into position after being raised by the jack.

• If the jack doesn't lift the subfloor high enough, you'll need to upgrade to a heavier-duty model.

Hammer And Nails Strengthen Joist Hangers.

Locate a metal joist hanger to use in securing the new joist. Encase it in the joist hanger. Make sure the hanger is fully supporting the joist's bottom. After that, nail the hanger to the wall using 16d galvanised nails. Finish by nailing the hanger to the joist.

• You can get joist hangers from any hardware store or lumber yard.
• I-joists and standard wood joists can both be supported by special joist hangers.

How to Replace Floor Joists?

Replacement of a floor joist is necessary if the condition of the joist is such that it can no longer properly support the floor above it. However, due to the complexity of the task, it is sometimes recommended to engage a specialist to rebuild joists. An expert structural engineer can help you determine whether the joists need to be replaced or repaired, and whether or not the unlevel floor is due to a problem with the foundation.

Issues with Floor Joists and What to Do About It

The simplest method for detecting joist problems is to walk across the floor. If you see a sagging or bowing floor in one room, it may be due to a damaged joist, as stated by the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. Place a stone or a small ball on the floor near one corner of the room to determine if the floor dips or bows in that area. When the floor is sloped, the marble should slide down to the lower level. Put the marble where you think the floor is higher and see where it moves.

Feel free to conduct the marble test in any other part of the room, or even in a next room, for the sake of comparison. This test is ideal for use on wood or other hard, smooth surfaces, as a marble will not roll through thick carpet. To check if the floor is absolutely horizontal, a carpenter's level can be set up in a few different locations.

Joists in floors are at risk from things like water, fires, and even severe termite infestations. Even though the floor above the joists appears to be level and undamaged, you should nonetheless inspect them if you suspect that your property has been subjected to such an event.

Checking for Problems in the Joists

To find out which floor joists need to be replaced, you should look at them closely. Without tearing up the floor, you can only get to the joists by entering an unfinished basement or a crawl space basement. If a section of your floor is drooping or bowing, you should check the floor joists underneath it for damage. Floor joists need to be replaced if they show evidence of severe water damage, rot, insect damage, twisting, or splintering. The joist's structural integrity could also have been compromised if it had been poorly cut or drilled in order to conceal ducts, pipes or wiring beneath the floor.

Get a carpenter who has worked on joist projects to take a look if you aren't sure whether to replace or repair the damaged joist. $120 is a reasonable estimate for the assessment fee. Seek the advice of a structural engineer if you have reason to believe that multiple joists are rotten or that there is a problem with the building's foundation. An engineer has the training to spot issues like rotting interior joists, weak support beams, and foundational issues that would be invisible to the untrained eye. Price estimates range from $250-$750 for the engineer's report, or $120-$170 per hour.

Floor Reinforcement

A sagging floor or a faulty joist that runs the length of the room necessitates the use of a jack post and temporary beam to restore structural integrity. In some cases, a structural engineer may advise installing two jack posts at even intervals across the sag. As a result, the floor is more stable during the time it takes to remove the damaged joist and fix it.

Because cranking up the jack posts too high, too rapidly might produce cracks and stress on the entire home structure, it's best to seek professional advice if you're unsure of what to do. And no more than a quarter inch a month is acceptable for floor elevation to prevent structural damage.

• Join several joists, along with the damaged one, by nailing together two 2x4s. Attach these to the underside of the joists that are spanning the damaged joist in the area in which the post jack would be installed.
• You need to put a post jack in the ground below the new 2x4s, on a piece of wood that is thick enough to hold the weight of the jack. Use wood that is cut to the specifications provided by the manufacturer.
• Tweaking the handle, nut, or lever in the direction specified by the manufacturer will cause the jack to rise by a fraction of an inch. Repeat this process of slowly rotating it upwards until it is too tall to be wiggled loose. To slightly lift the sagging floor, raise the height by no more than 1/4 inch.
• Maintain the monthly uptick in floor height of 1/4 inch until the floor is level. The damaged joist can be restored once the area has been levelled.

Fixing a Broken Joist

If the floor joists need to be replaced and can't be accessed from the basement or crawlspace, it's best to hire a pro. This necessitates cutting away at least some of the subfloor and floor around each problematic joist. However, if the joist can be seen and reached from the basement and you are confident in your ability to remove and replace it, then you should do so. Just make sure you have a good work light and enough eye protection.

Avoid the hassle of replacing a broken reciprocating saw blade by always having a backup set on hand. Take a full length measurement of the joist before chopping it out of the wall. Ideally, it would be about 13 inches longer than the space it crosses, but that's not a hard and fast rule. To ensure that the new joist fits flush on top of the existing beams or foundation walls, it should be cut to the same dimensions.

• You can use a crowbar or other type of pry bar to pry the damaged joist off the subfloor, and you can use wedges of wood pounded between the subfloor and the joist to make your job easier.
• You can further weaken the joist by cutting it vertically with a reciprocating saw once you've loosened up a part of it. Pull it up from the subfloor by prying at each end and then sliding it across the joists. When necessary, a reciprocating saw can be used to saw through nails. Take out the rotten joist pieces until they're all gone from the building site.
• Apply a bead of adhesive to the new joist's upper surface.
• You should ask a friend for help putting in the replacement joist.
• To do this, position a bottle jack next to the joist on one end and a wood block on top of the jack to keep it from touching the subfloor. Jack up the subfloor until you can tap the joist into position.
• Gently nudge the joist into place. Anchor both ends to a beam or wall.
• Bring the jack down and take the discarded wood plank away.

Is It Hard To Change Out Floor Joists?

The joists in your foundation are vulnerable to dry rot and termites, but if you catch the damage early enough, you may replace the joist with lag bolts and construction adhesive. Any joist that has lost its structural support must be taken out and replaced. If you're curious about the difficulty of replacing floor joists, no one can tell you more than the person actually doing it. Read on if you want to know how difficult it is to install new floor joists. Removing the old joist, prying it up, securing the floor, and installing the new joist are all necessary steps in joist replacement. To replace a floor joist, you'll need to know how to use power tools, have basic carpentry skills, and be comfortable working in confined spaces.

How to Recognize Joist Issues?

One of the most obvious signs of a joist problem is the creaking or squeaking that occurs when walking across the floor. When walking across the floor, if you notice that one area sinks or even bows up, you may have a joint problem. In order to determine if the floor dips or bows, simply place a marble or a small ball in one corner of the room and see if it rolls to the lower area if the floor dips or away from the suspected high position if the floor bows. For reliable results, try conducting the test from different locations within and outside the room.

The ball or marble may have difficulty rolling through dense carpet, but it will glide easily on smooth wood or floors in this test. A carpenter's level set can be used in this situation to check the flatness of the floor at various points. Extreme termite infestations, fires, and flooding are just some of the many causes of damaged joists. If you've recently run into this issue, it's important to check the joists even if the floor above them looks to be level and undamaged.

Conclusion

I-joists have a horizontal timber at the top, a vertical lumber piece at the bottom, and a web (often plywood) in the middle. Cut the upper flange away from the web with a circular saw (the lumber attached to the subfloor). After the joist has been fully removed from the subfloor, it should be moved to a spot that is accessible but out of the way. You can press one end of the new joist onto the old one if the old one was flush with the sill of the foundation. A damaged joist could be the cause of a sagging or bowing floor in a single room.

If a floor joist is damaged to the point where it cannot support the floor above it, it must be replaced. A professional structural engineer can advise you on whether or not the joists need to be replaced. The floor joists may be damaged if a piece of your floor is sagging or bowing. A structural engineer would suggest placing two jack posts across the sag at regular intervals. The floor should not rise at a rate of more than a quarter inch every month to prevent structural damage.

Raising the floor by no more than a quarter of an inch per month will help to slightly correct the drooping. When the ground is level, the damaged joist can be repaired. It's important to remove all of the rotten joists from the construction site. Your foundation's joists are at risk from dry rot and termites, but if you identify the issue in time, you can repair the joist with lag bolts and construction adhesive. A knowledge of power tools and basic carpentry abilities are required to replace a floor joist.

Content Summary

1. Replacing a floor's joist is a major renovation. Floor joist replacement is not a job for a weekend warrior unless all precautions are taken.
2. Space Between Floor Joists and Subfloor Use a new joist of the same size to replace the old one. Find a matching sized floor joist to use as a replacement.
3. You should switch out the I-joists that are supporting the floor in your home for some standard joists. The floor joists need to be cut free from the walls around them using a reciprocating saw.
4. Pry the floor joist and subfloor apart using the flat side of a heavy implement such as a hammer or crowbar. Stick the new joist down with some adhesive.
5. You should put the glue on before you screw the joist into place. Use the hammer to tap the joist into position.
6. If the new joist won't fit, you'll need to raise the subfloor. To prevent the new joist from moving, you'll need to use a metal joist hanger.
7. Wrap it up in the joist hanger. If a floor joist's condition is such that it can no longer effectively support the floor above it, then it must be replaced.
8. An experienced structural engineer can tell you if the joists are fine, if they need to be fixed, or if the uneven floor is a result of a problem with the foundation.
9. Walking across the floor is the quickest and easiest way to check for joist issues. To see if the floor dips or bows in one corner of the room, simply place a stone or a small ball there.
10. A carpenter's level can be placed in various spots to determine the floor's levelness.
11. If you have reason to believe that something has happened to your property, you should check the joists even if the floor above them appears to be level and unbroken.
12. Close inspection will reveal which floor joists should be replaced. The floor joists may be damaged if a piece of your floor is sagging or bowing.
13. If you aren't sure whether to replace or repair the broken joist, have a carpenter who has experience with joist projects take a look.
14. If you suspect a problem with the building's foundation or that numerous joists are decaying, it is best to consult a structural expert.
15. The use of a jack post and a makeshift beam is necessary to fix a sinking floor or a defective joist that runs the length of the room.
16. Furthermore, the floor should not rise at a rate of more than a quarter of an inch every month to avoid causing structural damage. Fasten them to the bottom of the joists that span the rotten joist at the proposed post jack location.
17. Jack height can be adjusted by a fraction of an inch by turning the handle, nut, or lever in the direction indicated by the manufacturer. Raise the floor by no more than a quarter of an inch to fix the sagging.
18. Keep the 1/4 inch monthly floor height increase going until the floor is even. A professional should be hired if the floor joists need to be rebuilt and the only access points are the basement or crawlspace.
19. A portion of the subfloor and floor must be removed from around each troublesome joist. Keep a spare set of reciprocating saw blades available to save the inconvenience of replacing a damaged blade.
20. Before chopping the joist out of the wall, be sure to get a full length measurement of it. Run an adhesive bead along the top of the new joist.
21. Raise the subfloor using jacks so the joist can be tapped into place. Move the joist into position with light taps. No one but the person doing the work can give you a more accurate assessment of the difficulty of replacing floor joists.
22. Floors that make noise when you walk on them are a telltale sign of a joist issue.
23. Simply placing a marble or small ball in a suspected high position will reveal if the floor dips or bows, while placing the marble or ball in a suspected low position will reveal if the floor bows.