Master Bath Renovation: I have got a problem with my floor, HELP.

[Christopher Reyes]

So my wife and I have entirely torn out our miserably outdated master bathroom and are right in the middle of the renovation. We have removed all the dry wall, and we cut out the subflloor with a circular saw so that we can upgrade and rearrange the plumbing. We are going to make a nice custom tile shower, with dual shower heads and a water-tile rain shower... its going to look great, if I ever get that far.

I have the plumbing mostly done, and I am fast approaching the point where I am going to have to put the subfloor back on and frame the shower, but ofcourse I have a problem. There is not a joist that runs directly along the wall in the back of the room where the shower is going to be, and I have no idea how I am going to securely attach the floor without any bowing or flexing. The closest joist is about 8 inches inside the room, so obviously 8 inches of the edge of that floor is going to be hanging.

I'm hoping someone has some bright solutions for this. I had a few ideas, but I don't know which will work the best. I was thinking about taking some metal brackets and attachign them to the sole plate of the back wall, that way the edge of the floor can at least hang onto that. I was also considering attaching some blocking between the two joists, so that the floor can be nailed to that blocking...however the other joist is on the other side of that wall and I am concerned thatI won't be able to sufficiently attach the blocking.

I hope that makes any sense.

~Chris

[Kevin Bourque]

Put a piece of blocking between the existing joists at either end of the room . Then attach a new joist to this blocking. I hope this makes sense.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'm a bit fuzzy on the layout.
How was the old floor installed?

A picture if possible would help a lot.

The old floor had to lay on top of something or as you say, it would have been a spring board.

I was too slow in typing & I believe Kevin's answer makes the most sense if it's the way I'm seeing it in my mind.

[Stephen Tashiro]

The closest joist is about 8 inches inside the room, so obviously 8 inches of the edge of that floor is going to be hanging.


I'm not a (real) carpenter, so this is just a wild idea: If you can get to the next joist outside the bathroom, add a joinst between it and the one in the bathroom. Put cross members between the joists and attach the third joist to them. If there are pipes and wires to route through the 3rd joist, perhaps you must construct the third joist in-place. There are types of joists that have a top board, a bottom board and lots of cross bracing in between that leaves spaces. Or perhaps you can make the third joist out of two boards with u-shaped openings that can be laminated together with the u's facing in opposite directions.

You may as well post some photos of the situation. People will ask for that.

I suppose you'll get a lot of scolding and warning about codes in this thread - but I'm glad to leave that to others!

[Scott Shepherd]

I'm not a carpenter either, but if you can't get in there with a screw gun to scab in another joist, then consider drilling some holes in it, put Liquid Nails on it, and then lag bolt it to the existing joist.

[Christopher Reyes]

Here is a picture of what's going on, I hope that helps. This is an old picture, so we have made significant progress since, but you can see the situation with the floor pretty clearly. The picture is taken from the adjoning bathrrom, if you look to the right of the picture that is the area of concern; the strip of wood along the sole plate to the right is just the old subfloor that has since been cut away. The next available joist to attach a blocking to is on the other side of the partion to the right, and so will be difficult to get ahold of.

237255

Thanks for all the helpfull comments so far. Hopefully I don't get beat up on code tooo bad.

~Chris

[Steve Friedman]

Chris, maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but the picture looks like there is nothing supporting the partition wall. If so, wouldn't you want to run a joist under that partition wall, which would also give you a joist to secure the flooring?

Steve

[Kevin Bourque]

It looks like that partition wall on the right is being supported by the sub-floor.

Anyway....cut 4 pieces of 2x blocking.( the same width as the existing joist)
Slide them under the wall and install them perpendicular to the existing joists by attaching one end to the joist you can see in the pic and the other end to the joist you can't see on the far right.
Essentially 2 of the pieces will go on the far ends of the bathroom, and the others will go in between.
Then cut 3 pieces of the same blocking material and install them between the new blocking, and parallel to the existing joists.
They will end up being installed directly in front of, and parallel to that partition wall on the right. Thats your nailer.

[David Weaver]

Put a piece of blocking between the existing joists at either end of the room . Then attach a new joist to this blocking. I hope this makes sense.

I agree with this. Had the same situation recently in my BR, and I had to contend with a garage ceiling below it (plaster, no access from below).

[Steve Friedman]

It looks like that partition wall on the right is being supported by the sub-floor.

Kevin, your solution sounds fine, but can you really lay a partition wall between joists like that? My construction experience is limited to my DIY projects, but I would think that a partition wall needs something more substantial supporting its weight. I understand that it could be that DIY-ers just tend to overbuild everything.

Steve

[Ben Hatcher]

If you can't access the joists on the covered side, I would put in some blocking every 16" oc from the joist to below the wall. Attach it to the subfloor under the wall with some glue. Then drive some screws through the bottom plate and into the blocking. This will provide plenty of support for the new subfloor. If you are worried about load from above the wall, glue and screw some 1/8" plywood to the wall before you hag any drywall. This will turn the wall into a giant I-beam which will transfer any load to the ends. This should prevent any drywall cracking in the future.

[Kevin Bourque]

Kevin, your solution sounds fine, but can you really lay a partition wall between joists like that? My construction experience is limited to my DIY projects, but I would think that a partition wall needs something more substantial supporting its weight. I understand that it could be that DIY-ers just tend to overbuild everything.

Steve

If it's not a bearing wall it's not a big deal. The subfloor only has to support the weight of the wall which is negligible.