Ceiling Joist Spacing

[jarodhart]

I have an attached 2 car garage that measures approximately 20'x25'. The 2x8 ceiling joists in the garage run the 20' depth of the room, and are spaced about 40-44" apart from each other. Is this normal? The house was originally built in 1968, I purchased it about 2 years ago. I'm located in the Chicago Suburbs.

I ask because I am re-doing the garage, and am nearing the point where I can begin hanging drywall, and that spacing of the ceiling joists seems awfully wide to me. I think I'm going to have to install joists in between the existing joists to properly hang the drywall...

Curious if anyone else had any thoughts. Thanks in advance for any info provided.

 

[Falcon67]

For that era, yes that's about normal. Had a 16x20 with 2x6 joists 48" more or less on center. I added a few in between and sistered any that were damaged. 1/2" drywall needs 16" OC to hang right, 5/8 can use 24" OC. 7/16" OSB is also an option at 24" spacing. And lighter than 5/8 rock.

 

[woodrail]

Not unusual, but you not going to be able hang drywall from them. You will probably need to split the difference to get spacing down to 24" Even better would be 16" with an additional 2 between.

 

[jarodhart]

Thanks for the feedback - much appreciated.

Guess I won't be drywalling as soon as I had hoped (with the need to put some new ones in)!

 

[KCarGuy]

My Brother-in-Law had his Garage Built about 10 years ago, and (I hate to say it), the Company that Put it up did the same thing with his.
It might not be a Garage from the 50's, it could very well be a newer Garage.
They most likely used the minimum amount needed to keep the walls from pulling away.

I would add more 2x8's to get 16" centers, but even that may sag over time over the 20 foot span. (but it better than what you have going right now.
Good Luck.