Removing Floor Joists For Elevator

If you remove the ceiling joists its like removing the bottom leg of a triangle.

Removing floor joists for elevator. Pry the floor joist from the subfloor with the back of your hammer. Get out your crowbar and your hammer. Working in the unfinished basement below the bouncy floor we had to remove the plumbing and electrical lines running through the joists and then rerun the lines. It was a complex expensive job.

To replace floor joists you must first remove the floorboards that cover them. Tack a beam under the sagging joists. The elevator is in the back corner of my house and runs from basement to 2 nd floor. In order to maintain the support integrity of the ceiling or floor joist or rafter system it is important that if joists are cut that the load that was bearing on those joists be transferred to a modified support system.

Put the tip of the crowbar between the boards and push it in using the hammer to tap on the end. Jacking them up too fast may cause cracks in the walls and floors overhead. Cutting and or removing joists to provide an entry or access can be the most difficult part of the overall project. But first calvin cuts the web out of the i joist so that the top flange can flex as he wedges it away from the subfloor.

Each floor is 600 square feet and the elevator is about a 5 x 5 space in the corner of each floor. A day until they re level. Watch this video before. So at some point the joists were cut to make the shaft.

Then use pry bars and your reciprocating saw to pry and cut the floor joist away from the subfloor. Without it the weight on the roof will cause the rafters to flatten particularly at the center of the span and bow the wall out where the rafters connect to the wall plate and ultimately fail. This will create a weak spot. This should lever the boards apart and allow you to wiggle the crowbar further in to pry the boards free.

Nailing two 2x4s together will work to span about three joists unless the sag is under a weight bearing wall. The span of those joists would have been 11 feet and they are 2 x 8. Separate the floor joist from the subfloor using pry bars and wedges then cut it free with a reciprocating saw. Set a hydraulic jack and post under the beam and jack up the joists about 1 8 in.