I am working on a house that the concrete piers on the back side have tilted, and pulled the ledger board and header away from floor joists. this resulted in the floor joists dropping over about a 30 foot span.
so far we have fixed the water drainage issue causing the piers to tilt, we have raised the back side of the home and pulled the ledger and header back into position. the floor joists are now resting on the ledger board, but the joists lack around a half inch in certain spots from flushing up to the header.
the ledger is two 2×8 beams that have been nailed together, with the header being a 2×10 beam sitting on top of one of those ledger beams, like this (side view):
l this is the header. this text is parallel to the floor joists. ll this is the ledger lllll this is the concrete pier
the people who built this home didn't use joist hangers; instead, they nailed ONE nail into the outside of the header going into the floor joists…
a couple of questions i need help with:
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the ledger boards have separated in three spots from one another, up to 3/4 of an inch, probably due to our jacking and pulling in activities. Could I use bolts, and bolt them back together? Or should I sister another 2×8 along their length, and bolt all three together? this would add another 1.5 inches for the joists to rest on, so that seems like a better solution, but not sure. also by doing this, I am thinking maybe the extra board would apply pressure to the concrete piers and allow them to pull back to level.
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Can I use joist hangers on the joists in the areas where it is still pulled away from the header board up to a half inch? There is not sag and the wood is all in good shape. Is there a problem with doing any of this?
I am not a carpenter by trade, my side is electrical, but I have framed out a few buildings in my time and I am very good with the tools needed.
Best Answer
You need an engineer and an inspector to tell you what to do in this situation.