My home which was built in the late 30’s has true 2″ x 8″ floor joists spaced @ 16″o.c and are 11′ long, I’m not exactly sure what type of wood ( it looks like cedar )
My concern is that there is no blocking between joists at all, since I am finishing the basement I would like to add the blocking, can anyone tell me what spacing I should use? thanks in advance.
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Replies
Why?
Blocking and load sharing of floor joist have been discussed here many time. No concensous has evry been reached. General agreement is that blocking is for laterally stabilizing the joist. If you don't have floor bounce above, putting blocking in now would be not be neccessary. You are within the span limits for 2x8 joist @ 16" o.c. for most spieces, but I am not familiar with cedar used in framing. with the house being built in the 30 s, I would quess that any sagging, floor bounce or other joist related issues would have shown up a long time ago.
If your intention is to drywall the ceiling in the basement, a better solution would be to add strapping to the bottom of the joist. You get the lateral stabilization and the chance to shim the strapps for a level plane to drywall. there was a recent dicussion on strapping ceiling here. If the seach feature works, you might learn more than you care to know about strapping.
Good luck,
Dave
dave makes an excellent point, why? i agree with what he says entirely. the only reason to put them in is if you need them. if you are planning something in the future that would require blocking, like a strip hardwood floor with a pattern so that some of the floor boards are parallel to the joists, then you need them.
Dave , Thanks for your advice, I'll skip the blocking and go with the strapping when I put up the ceiling.