The first thing Daryl and Chad (his employee) did was create holes in the basement floor. To be up to code, the braces must extend at least 3” below the surface of the floor. I marked the hole so you could see it.
Next, they put the i-beam in place, bolted it to the 2X10 rafters, cemented it in place, and carved the crack out before filling it with grout.
The final step was to block back the brace with 2X10 pieces (seen in the picture above sitting beside the braces) and voila – 17 braces in place, and a basement that will never move again! The next step will be to draw up a floor plan, frame the exterior walls, spray-foam the headers, insulate the rest of the walls with R-20 fiberglass, vapour barrier, and drywall. This will be enough to qualify me for the money from the Energuide Grant Program. All that will remain after that is to frame the interior walls, install a bathroom, drywall, install doors, paint the whole thing, install in fixtures, trim, and install a suspended ceiling. Maybe I should have said the “next steps”…
whats the proper way to frame up a wall over top of the bracing? and insulation? let me know if you have got to this step.
ReplyDeleteSo from here, I had the basement spray-foamed (do your research between open and closed cell foams) and then framed inside of the braces. This left room for me to add in an additional R20 of insulation (in addition to the 2" of spray foam which is R13.1). It takes up a bit of floor space, but makes for an airtight seal and a lot of R-value. Remember to float your walls -- even they outside ones!
ReplyDeleteGood read. Thanks for the informative post!
ReplyDeletethe problem I have is that the wall bowing the joists run parallel to the wall. Between the joist and the walls the opening is less than 4" (2.5" - 3.0") which would not allow the intalation of a strong enough I-beam. What solution could I aplly? Thank you. Jose
ReplyDeleteHi Jose,
ReplyDeleteSadly, you have to rip out all of the interior framing to get the I-Beam in. You could also try just cutting out parts of the wall, like a spot every 4' to put the I-beam in, but once you do that, you had might as well rip it all out. It's not pretty, but it'll work!
Chris
Anonymous;
ReplyDeleteCan you notch the top of the beam to fit between your joist and the wall? The length of the beam will still have its full strength, and the notched end will still be stronger than the joist. I would think you would still want to block between the next couple of joists to reinforce the one taking the load.