How bad is this?

[vinny11950]

So doing some work on the upstairs bathroom had me poking around in the basement ceiling. I tore down sheet rock and found the center beam holding up the main floor joists had been notched/cut, too deep in my opinion (I am surprised the home inspector didn't see this 4 years ago when I bought the house).

The house is a small 1250 sq ft ranch, 3 bedroom, 25 feet wide and 50 feet long.

The center beam runs across the 50 foot span, with 8 x 2 floor joists on either side, 16 inches on center.

I did the mason line trick across the joist from side to side and there is no sag in the middle. Actually it seems to go up a little by a 1/4 inch.

Do I need to add more support or replace or leave alone?



They cut the beam about 3 inches to make 2 taller door ways. And braced it on each side with plate steel (i guess) of about a 1/4 inch.





Below is a wider view of the basement span showing another notch/cut on the far left of the image. They again braced it with steel plates on each side.



I found 3 metal posts supporting the center beam, and two more are hiding behind the sheet rock at the ends, so there would be 5 altogether, though they are not spaced evenly, from 78 inches to 86 inches. But they seem to be original construction support.



Below is a picture of the footing of one of the metal support beams, the difference in the concrete at the base tells me this is the footing concrete.

 

[Jags]

I am not a carpenter or code wonk...but, those two plates sandwiching the wood will hold up the front end of a dump truck (for whatever that is worth).

 

[ironpony]

have to agree with Jags, if we were doing this today, that is what we would do. Usually 3/8 plate, thru bolted. 30 yrs licensed contractor . Actually with the way it is framed, king and jack studs, the remaining header is probably sized O.K. for that span. rule of thumb 1 inch of header for 1 foot of span. Appears to be a 6 inch header and a 6 foot span. now if you remove the studs, without the steel plates, all bets are off.

 

[vinny11950]

Thanks Jags and Ironpony.

I was worried it was really bad.

The bottom of the studs are looking like they are beginning to rot, but they are still solid.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

You could still support the beam temporarily if you needed to replace them. Just do it fast!

 

[Hogwildz]

I am not a carpenter or code wonk...but, those two plates sandwiching the wood will hold up the front end of a dump truck (for whatever that is worth).

Agreed, everything will fall long before that plated before that section.

 

[JustWood]

We do a lot of house demolition. I have one excavation contractor with a small 9 ton excavator that I use on real tight quarters jobs. He'll tear a hole in the front center and walk that excavator right inside the house cleaning the inside out and pulling the walls in onto floor. If these older houses will handle that weight surely newer construction as you have will.