Hi. Hope this makes sense. I apologise in advance ... it's a little difficult to explain! Attached is a picture of the joists in the bedroom above. In the living room below, the joists are exposed at the bottom i.e they are designed to look like old beams. with the plasterboard running on battens between. I thought they were stuck on "faux" beams which could be removed but they are actually the bottom edge of the joist. I have never seen this before. I have cut a section out as in pic. I want to remove the "exposed" beam. My question. Can I just cut the edge off and leave 150mm joist without affecting integrity/strength of joist? And second ... the cut probably won't be exactly even ... will this be a total headache when plaster boarding over? I hope this is at least a little clear... thanks G
So you want to reduce 200 beams to150 beams?. In all probability, unless the beams were oversized in the 1st place, the structural strength and/or deflection capabilities will be reduced to unacceptable limits.
What Severntrent said. I did a job last year for a customer who had done exactly what you describe. He'd then put new floorboards over the cut-down joists to create the country manor house effect he was after. To be fair to the guy - he'd done a super job and it looked great - but the joists were now only 4" x 3" and the floor above bounced like a trampoline. He was reluctant to undo all of his handiwork (100% understandable) so I had to prop up the floor with Ackrows and put in a central steel supported by padstones concealed in the stone walls of the property. I then clad it in reclaimed timber to make it look like a big beam. Joists are the size they are for good reasons ....
Thanks so much for all the advice - really appreciated. I totally take on board all the comments. I have one query. In the pic attached the red arrow shows the bracket which attaches the joist. The blue line shows the proposed cut. I was just wondering, if the bracket is attached this high up (ie doesn't span the width) , why would it affect the structural strength to cut off this section? Probably a stupid question!
Stop it. There's no such thing if you don't know the answer, so stop putting yourself down. There are a lot of good people on here who will willingly share their expertise and give you sound advice. People like you at least have the sense to ask questions so you'll get it right - many don't. I'm sure you'll fix this one way or another.
Severntrents answer in post 2 was the reason, you're effectively turning an 8x2 into a 6x2 x the whole floor area, the batten/cleat nailed on the side of the joist provides no strength whatsoever it's just there to attach the plasterboard to. Board the undersides of the joists, it's only an extra 15mm or so.
Thanks for the reply. It was built in the 1980's. Terraced. (hence I assumed that the bit of the beam which is left exposed may have been a faux beam)
Yes I understand the battern provides no strength. The red lines indicate the depth of the bracket on the right. The "exposed" bit of the beam (blue arrow) is approx 50mm so boarding over the top would effectively lower an already very low ceiling (if I wanted it flat) by 65mm.
Hi Summarising the points above Yes, but first get the advice of a structural engineer and it may require additional supports, e.g. a steel beam. The group is indicating this is a disruptive option but may get what you want. Either plasterboarding but with lower ceilings or (I suppose) living with it and painting the beams with the same colour also works but not quite what you were after.
Didn't notice those fixing brackets, unusual way of fixing timber, a bit disconcerting more suited to steel beams. Are all the beams so fixed?
It would be worth a proper look if you really want to do this. Floor joists are sized to the biggest span so that all the wall plates are the same level and the floors are obviously level. It may be that there are areas where the span is small enough to work with a shallower joist and you could get away with what you want to do. BUT you need an SE to confirm this for you.
Thanks for all the replies. I guess an SE is the way forward. I was just wondering why, if the joist is supported by a bracket which doesn't span its entire depth (as pic hopefully shows), removing the bottom section (in black) would affect its strength? i would have assumed that the bit below just adds weight to the bracket rather than any structural strength to the joist itself. Cheers again for your interest
But you are not just removing the bit below the bracket you are removing 50mm along the complete length of the joist??