Hello,
First post here, though have lurked for some time! Hoping someone might be able to give me some advice about two existing RSJs that we've uncovered from above.
They both have a number of copper pipes crossing over them, but there's not enough room between the RSJs and the chipboard floor, so the pipes are squashed and noisy, and the floor is pressed up quite a bit. We would like to reroute the pipes through the beams. Am I right that if we follow these guidelines, then this won't be a problem structurally?
1. Drill holes in the centre (vertically) of the web
2. Drill holes within the middle third (horizontally) of the beam
3. Drill holes at a distance apart from each other of at least the height of the beam
4. Drill as small a hole as is manageable for the copper pipe to go through with some plastic insulation around it (to protect from corrosion in the future)
The other worrying issue is that one of the copper pipes must have gotten wet at some point, because it has corroded part of the top flange of one of the beams. The normal thickness of the flange is 9mm and it is as little as 5-6mm at the thinnest corroded part. Do you think we can just clean and paint this area, or will it need some kind of reinforcement? Would a general builder know how to do this, or would we need to involve a structural engineer?
I've attached photos.
Many thanks for your help!
Suyin
First post here, though have lurked for some time! Hoping someone might be able to give me some advice about two existing RSJs that we've uncovered from above.
They both have a number of copper pipes crossing over them, but there's not enough room between the RSJs and the chipboard floor, so the pipes are squashed and noisy, and the floor is pressed up quite a bit. We would like to reroute the pipes through the beams. Am I right that if we follow these guidelines, then this won't be a problem structurally?
1. Drill holes in the centre (vertically) of the web
2. Drill holes within the middle third (horizontally) of the beam
3. Drill holes at a distance apart from each other of at least the height of the beam
4. Drill as small a hole as is manageable for the copper pipe to go through with some plastic insulation around it (to protect from corrosion in the future)
The other worrying issue is that one of the copper pipes must have gotten wet at some point, because it has corroded part of the top flange of one of the beams. The normal thickness of the flange is 9mm and it is as little as 5-6mm at the thinnest corroded part. Do you think we can just clean and paint this area, or will it need some kind of reinforcement? Would a general builder know how to do this, or would we need to involve a structural engineer?
I've attached photos.
Many thanks for your help!
Suyin