Wooden Beam Support in Old House

[twentytwenty]

Hi Guys

We are looking to buy a house and the basement is ripe for conversion, one thing that stood out to me was the steel support found on the beam on the picture below. Obviously we would want to remove/remedy it to gain head height.

So a few questions if anyone can help.

1) Is this a common kind of support or one that is found on older properties (this one is 1890 ish)
2) Is there another fix if we removed it (some kind of steel plate pinned to it?)
3) Should we be worried. (It must have been there years).
4) Would you replace the beam? (With steel even?)

If anyone has any other thoughts/info on this issue please feel free to chime in.

Thanks for your help.

Untitled

• twentytwenty
• 22 May 2015
• 1

 

[ree]

You would do well to post better pics than that - pics from a different angle.

Are you referring to the joist with the double surface outlet box? Is there an angle iron fixed to the far side of this joist - or any of the other joists?

Measure the dimension between the joists - it appears to be too wide.

What section are the joists? (eg. 2" x 8")

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

That "support" is trying to bend the centre of the wooden beam upwards to counter the downwards weight on it. I have seen them in Victorian churches and Schools so it is a bona fide solution if carried out by a Victorian and not a 1970s bodge by some laddo. Of course the structure is only as strong as the wood , so if its rotten. . . Easy thing go upstairs and JUMP on that bit of floor.
Frank

 

[Newboy]

It was a typically ingenious late Victorian method of spanning using a smaller timber section than would normally be needed and providing a pillar free space beneath.

The metal tie rod (running underneath & parallel to the joist is bolted to the joist at either end, the central bolt (which should be bearing onto a plate on the underside of the joist) is then wound up. This put a (small) compressive force on the joist and an upwards thrust at the mid-point.

1) Is this a common kind of support or one that is found on older properties (this one is 1890 ish)

Not unusual

2) Is there another fix if we removed it (some kind of steel plate pinned to it?)

No - if you remove it the compression force and upwards force will not be replicated by any type of plate. One thing will happen - the joist will deflect and another may happen - the joist may snap.

3) Should we be worried. (It must have been there years).

No - but don't let any surveyor under the age of fifty see it!

4) Would you replace the beam? (With steel even?)

No unless you really need to

 

[tony1851]

Personally, I suspect those steel beams are much later.

The beams have been 'spliced' in the middle (presumably to get them into the basement easily), but the splice they have done - simple welded end-plates - is not sufficient to take the high bending-moment in the middle, perhaps the reason for the tie rods below.

If the ties are removed, the beams could well come apart in the middle through tension failure of the lower bolts.