Out of square joists?

[ibilisi]

Hey all,

I was looking at the floor joists above my "shop" area and I noticed that the contractor installed one of them clearly out of square.

I am wondering if it is going to be worth it to remove the nails and straighten the joist/hangers and re-nail (as in will it cause structural issues, floor sag/squeak if left) or if I should just deal with/leave it because it is mainly a cosmetic "flaw" (sloppy install).

***** because I will be leaving the ceiling unfinished and I know I'll notice it.

It is about 1/2" out of square and not due to twisting as the other end is also ~1.2" out of square.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

 

[rburke65]

Is this a joist or the bottom of the truss? If it bugs you that much, and you can move it, do it.

 

[383]

If the subfloor is glued (which it should be) you are going to have a hard time moving it. It probably wouldn't hurt anything to leave it, but it would bug me too.

 

[ibilisi]

Yeah, the subfloor is glued to the top of the joist.

If there are no structural issues from leaving it I guess that is what I'll do. I tried to get a claw up here to pull nails, just not a lot of room to work with.

 

[RivennHewn]

It's near impossible to get perfectly straight, true lumber these days.

If the joist is twisted, you'll get this end fixed, and the other end will be out.

It's within tolerances for framing, and a lot better than some I've seen.

Why aren't the joist bays insulated?

 

[little d]

You could take a flat bar under the bracket and cut the nails, take a pipe wrench and roll the joist straight and renail if ya think it'll bother ya.

 

[theoldwizard1]

First, if those joist were toe nailed before the bracket was installed, they only way to get that out is remove the bracket and cut the nails with reciprocating saw and a metal cutting blade.

It's near impossible to get perfectly straight, true lumber these days.

If the joist is twisted, you'll get this end fixed, and the other end will be out.

It depends. If the joist was installed with to nails and later the hurricane tie was added, you are correct. The twist is there, live with it.

The framer should have noticed and installed a temporary block between that joist and the one on either side before installing the hurricane tie or having the floor glued down. The temporary could have been to nailed with double head nails, screwed or possibly even friction fit so it could have been removed later.


Now you know why they make wooden "I-beam" !!

 

[Milton Shaw]

The top is not going to move since it's glued, remove bracket and see if you can pull it straight with pipe clamps, otherwise it's not going to go anywhere. Some bracing between floor joist would strengthen the whole floor.

 

[rsanter]

Leave it alone
It is above the stud which does more for strength than it being straight

Bob

 

[PugetDude]

***** because I will be leaving the ceiling unfinished and I know I'll notice it....Any thoughts would be helpful.

You could pull the nails in the hanger, scoot it over to plumb it up, and re-nail it.

But, then I'm sure the empty nail holes will keep you awake at night.

 

[venturesomerite]

Leave it alone
It is above the stud which does more for strength than it being straight

Bob

x2. I would personally just move on.

 

[Boomer343]

A framer will never claim to be a finish carpenter.... and I never met one that was OCD either. LOL

 

[MN4x4]

You don't need a clamp or anything fancy.

If you can get the nails out of the hurricane clip you can use a piece of 2x cut to the correct length for the cavity placed between the next joist and the side of this one that's too 'close'. Start the 2x at an angle with one end against the 'good' joist and the top plate, and the other end against the bottom of the joist you want to move, angled out as far as it needs to be. Then use a hammer or sledge at the end near the joist that you're moving to drive the spacer board in toward the top plate, and the spacer board will drive the 'crooked' joist into place at the bottom.

Framers do this all the time since you never get perfect lumber, and it's easy to do on the job and requires nothing more than a piece of 2x and a BFH - both of which they always have!

 

[fury9]

Take the bracket off, pull the nails toe nails you can get at, use a block or a good toe nail and move the bottom of the joist over, then re install joist, it won't be inline with the stud anymore exactly but that's no problem.

 

[justin1795]

my buddy never installed the cap on his loft. after 6 mounths of waiting he would be happy if it looked like that.

 

[Falcon67]

If that's the only twisted lumber in your build, you must be using 1960s old growth. Straight and true really doesn't apply to anything below #1 select IMHO.

 

[JakeKohl]

It's called rough framing for a reason...leave it.

 

[Topstrap1]

Don't look up...

Topstrap

 

[rieferman]

Yikes, you'd have a heart attack in my old barn. Seriously though, I wouldn't worry about that at all.

 

[JayCrash450]

Definitely leave it. Cant you find something else to do? Does the wife want a new spice rack? Or maybe build a nice bird house for the yard.

I do understand your OCD, I have it too. I am always analyzing everything, particularly if I hire work out, which is one of the big reason why I very rarely hire stuff out. This is what ends up happening. Ill walk around, look at every square inch and be irritated that the work was not "perfect". I guarantee you did the same thing and felt a little ripped that the work wasn't to your standards. Its that old adage, "If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself."

Have a beer, sit in a chair with your buddies and complain. Talk about how if you did the work yourself that wouldn't have happened and how contractors these days don't care about workmanship. That's what I do.

 

[oldmerc]

Stop looking up

 

[ibilisi]

Haha,

Thanks for the comments all. That is why I posted here. I must admit there is a bit of a back-story. My contractor decided to walk off the job after sizing several rough openings not to plan spec, set the garage footing a foot higher than spec, used fasteners that had less than 1/4" bite on exterior batten strips which where going to be holding fiber cement siding, reverse flashed trim, yadda yadda.

So, I have this garage and workshop that I have to deal with and my trust level is low. I guess I'm second-guessing everything this individual did.

It will annoy me, but as many of you stated, I have bigger fish to fry. Funny that the contractor said he was a finish carpenter...

Happy Holidays

 

[The Boss]

If you look for mistakes - in anything - you will find them. The lumber has too many knots, the nails on this piece of plywood are closer together than the ones on this one, my framing is square, but why isn't the foundation the same...etc..

Spend your time choosing the right contractor or tradesman and trust in his judgement or you'll go crazy. If you are competent enough to do the job yourself, do it.

 

[nehog]

Look at it like this:

"That was not done by accident, but intentionally with the idea that it would make the entire building stronger!"

(and with that I GDR!)