framingjoists
I made a large hole in my wall with hopes of fishing a wires from the main floor to the upstairs. I'm wondering if I can drill vertically through this. I'm asking because it looks integral to the construction of my house.
This hole is in the stairway between the two levels of my home.
I tried researching what this was, but was unfruitful.
Disclaimer: We bring in outside contractors for our electrical installs, so I can give you some general tips, but I'll defer to others that may know more about this specific problem.
In general, joists, and any lumber supporting a load on its side, will lose much of its carrying capacity when it is drilled or cut on the top or bottom. For passing through the joists, you should make the hole in the center (between the top and bottom) of the joist, and make it the smallest hole that allows the wire to pass freely.
Having a double joist running beneath a wall means that the wall and joists are designed to be load bearing. So because of this, unless someone with more structural knowledge says it's ok to drill a hole, I'd avoid it.
While I can't think of a good way to get the wire into the wall, you could install your outlet on an adjacent wall, or you could go for a floor mounted outlet as a last resort:
My guess is that it's either a sandwich beam (wood sandwiching a steel plate) or simply an i-Beam. When you drill, are you drilling through wood or just sheetrock?
If it's an actual i-Beam, you could hang it with some sort of clamping device.
I wouldn't trust dry-wall anchors for hanging a punching bag. Dry wall anchors can hold quite a bit, but not the active load of a swinging punching bag.
Best Answer
Yes, you can. It will not affect it structurally, given you are only drilling relatively small (3/4” or so) holes. You won’t want to drill a large plumbing line through it.