Do Second Story Joists need support here?
In our master bedroom/bathroom reno (second floor – only room above) we have come across a wee bit of a snag. The room itself is just over 30′ long x 12′ wide. For most of the room the joists span from the outside wall to the inside wall which is over a bearing wall below.
We are ripping out the 12×6′ walkin closet and moving it further along in the bedroom and making it 5’x10’… same orientation as the existing one. The green sqaure in the photo show shoes the corner of the framing for the existing 12×6 closet. All studs except the corner ones and outside wall ones have been removed already.
The stud wall this side of the light fixture is part of the inside wall to the previous 5’x8′ bathroom. We will be tearing this out as well to make the new master bathroom 8’x17′. Our problem now lies in that the photo clearly shows that the joists are overlapped (red square) and are resting on the existing bathroom wall. The joists appear to be 2’x10′ and the long section running from the outside wall is just over 13′ long. The photo shows that there is about 2′ or more of length that I am hoping to be able to brace if I move the end parts of the existing bathroom wall over 10″… can’t go any further as there would be a window in the way on the outside wall.
These joists are running 90º to the way I would have thought the roof would have dictated they run. The trusses should be running from left to right in this photo if the peak of the roof is any indication, so I don’t know if there is any load bearing going on here or not. There is nothing above this floor except maybe a few bats flying around.
Can I:
a) remove the closet structure and rebuild it further into the room without causing any problems. (should I build this first before completing removal of the existing closet.
b) erect two 2×4 posts 10″ closer to the inside of the bathroom (ie furether from the light) then span them with two flat 2×4′ braced with a vertical 2×4 pinned to their side (sorry about the weak explanation there). This structure will be closer to the middle of the overlap between the two existing 2×10 joists. Admittedly it will not be directly over the bearing wall below but if there is no load to bear other than the span of the joists is that a problem? The additional 10″ is critical to me being able to install the pocket doors somewhat close to the centre of the new bathroom.
I can supply addtional photos is required. Please let me know what else I need to provide here and I’ll do my best.
Replies
I am lost - would need a floor plan sketch showingjoist type and direction at each floor level.
You oft refer to outside - but I canot see what that is and the overall of this structure, only the micro-peek at one spot.
update
HI Piffin
The photo is rather limiting but the closest wall is the current 8' bathroom wall. The left side of the photo is the outside wall. The current bathroom is 5'x8' and we are going to be removing the wall in the foreground (bathroom) and probably replacing it with a beam. The second wall you see is a 6'x12' walk-in closet although it too has a double top plate. That structure will be moved further to the right and made into a 5'x10' walk-in closet.
I am now thinking that we can take out the bathroom wall if we replace it with a supporting beam. If we erect two temporary walls around this existing wall, then remove the wall and replace it with a supporting beam will this be sufficient? What size of beam will be required as there will be no load other than the roof above?
Sorry, but I really can't begin to do engineering advice without complete information re loads and layouts
An option is to get up into the attic and install a "strongback" beam above the joists, to support them. One can also do a "set in" beam where the joists are cut short to allow a beam to slip in-between and put the joists on hangers.
But there are a lot of messy details here (how long is the unsupported distance?) and it's hard to guess what would work out.
You do need to get into the attic and see if there are any loads above to worry about.