Hello,
I suspect that the carpentry firm has incorrectly supported the load-bearing wall in our 1 1/2-story house between the kitchen and living room. Before contacting them, I thought I’d see if I can get some insights here on the forum.
In my opinion, the beam itself is sized with a good margin. However, the question concerns the point loads from the columns. One stands in the exterior wall, so I think it's okay. I suspect the other is resting only on the particleboard between two floor joists, given that these are spaced at 60 cm (it's a crawl space foundation). I have also drilled a hole in the floor and checked with a stick under the column and cannot feel any wood. It can't be right to support a load this way, can it?
The reason I've started to worry about this now, over a year after the work was completed, is that we’ve now started renovating the upper floor. I feel the floor is springy and also slopes towards the point where the column stands. Additionally, the beam itself is about 2 cm lower at that end as measured with a laser level. Attached is a picture showing the placement of the column.
What are your thoughts on this? Am I worrying unnecessarily? Maybe the upper floor was already sloped before the work was done?
Very grateful for any replies
I suspect that the carpentry firm has incorrectly supported the load-bearing wall in our 1 1/2-story house between the kitchen and living room. Before contacting them, I thought I’d see if I can get some insights here on the forum.
In my opinion, the beam itself is sized with a good margin. However, the question concerns the point loads from the columns. One stands in the exterior wall, so I think it's okay. I suspect the other is resting only on the particleboard between two floor joists, given that these are spaced at 60 cm (it's a crawl space foundation). I have also drilled a hole in the floor and checked with a stick under the column and cannot feel any wood. It can't be right to support a load this way, can it?
The reason I've started to worry about this now, over a year after the work was completed, is that we’ve now started renovating the upper floor. I feel the floor is springy and also slopes towards the point where the column stands. Additionally, the beam itself is about 2 cm lower at that end as measured with a laser level. Attached is a picture showing the placement of the column.
What are your thoughts on this? Am I worrying unnecessarily? Maybe the upper floor was already sloped before the work was done?
Very grateful for any replies
The column load is expected to be around 20 kN, i.e., approximately 2 tons, so it must have a proper foundation in the crawl space. If the column breaks through the floor, it may cause extensive damage. I think you should prop up the beam immediately at a couple of points with support in the floor joists.
No reassuring news directly. As I said, I have only drilled a small hole and inserted a stick. I'll probably make a larger hole to confirm. I'll contact the company tomorrow, it should be a reputable company so I hope it won't be a problem. Thanks for the answers!
The trusses span from long side to long side, i.e., the beam supports a number of trusses (should be 2-3) and probably the same number of joists, I assume. I don't know the dimensions, probably 195 or 220*45. The house is from the early 70s, so it's not very stable to begin with. To clarify, the beam supports the wall that is 330 long.
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Hello
How did it go with this? I got a bit curious about what the firm said.
/Norra
How did it go with this? I got a bit curious about what the firm said.
/Norra
Hi. It is still ongoing. I have been in contact with the company and they should have come and looked at it some time ago. However, some things have come up in the meantime. I haven't followed up, but I'm planning to contact them again this week.
Hello!
I thought I would provide an update on this matter and take the opportunity to ask for some advice from you knowledgeable folks here on the forum.
The construction company has now agreed to address this. What they want to do is "jack up" any possible settling that has occurred and brace under the column from the crawl space below. However, I'm getting cold feet and don't know if I want them to do the job considering how it went last time.
Therefore, I'm considering tackling this myself, though I would just place a support under the column instead of lifting anything. My idea is to do it according to my attached "drawing." What I'm thinking is to wedge in a block and thus widen the floor joist closest to the column. It should be able to sit on the concrete beam directly below. Do you see any problem with this solution? Should this be done differently?
Best regards, Fredrik
I thought I would provide an update on this matter and take the opportunity to ask for some advice from you knowledgeable folks here on the forum.
The construction company has now agreed to address this. What they want to do is "jack up" any possible settling that has occurred and brace under the column from the crawl space below. However, I'm getting cold feet and don't know if I want them to do the job considering how it went last time.
Therefore, I'm considering tackling this myself, though I would just place a support under the column instead of lifting anything. My idea is to do it according to my attached "drawing." What I'm thinking is to wedge in a block and thus widen the floor joist closest to the column. It should be able to sit on the concrete beam directly below. Do you see any problem with this solution? Should this be done differently?
Best regards, Fredrik
