Mark42
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
When my house was built in 1992, the builder used a metal X support system between the floor joists instead of the traditional wood X. During one of my inspections I noticed that the first floor made a "twang" sound where ever you walked. The sound was coming from those metal x braces. So the builder removed them all. But seeing as the flooring was down, he couldn't get in to nail the top part of the wood x braces in. So he cut lengths of 2x10 and nailed them in place of x braces. <br /><br />Now 13 years later I am working in the basement puting in ceiling lights and I notice the floor joist move as someone walks overhead. I notice that all the 2x10 blocks have the nails walking out of them, some as much as 3/8". So when a joist is walked on it bows rather than transfer its load to the joist on either side. <br /><br />Great. Now I have another problem to fix before moving on with finishing the basement.<br /><br />So what I did was cut 8" lengths of 2x2 and glued them in the corner where the 2x10 "X" bracket meets the joist. Used Liquid Nails, and put two screws in to help pull the 2x2 tightly into place. <br /><br />The next morning I'm getting ready to leave for work and as I come down stairs and walk through the kitchen I notice that the floor actually feels different. I'm half asleep and I can notice the difference. So I did a little bouncing around on the floor to see how it reacts, and it is much stiffer. I guess I had not noticed how much the floor softened up over time. But that 2x2 and glue really made a big difference. I have some more 2x2 left over so I plan to add two more pieces to the other side of the 2x10 brace just to be double sure it holds up for a long time.<br /><br />I am thrilled that a simple fix actually worked and didn't cost me but a couple tubes of Liquid Nails and some scrap 2x2.<br /><br />Mark.
