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Vent: Floor joists sagging 3 months after framing
Walked into the build site in Austin last week. Noticed the living room floor had a dip. Pulled out my 4-foot level and it was off by nearly half an inch. Builder used undersized 2x10s on a 16-foot span. I'm making them sister in extra beams this week. Anybody else catch framing issues before drywall goes up?
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hannahk194mo ago
Honestly that sucks but good call catching it now. Had a similar thing happen on my place where the builder tried to use 2x8s on a 14 foot span and I caught the deflection with a straightedge before insulation went in. Made them add a LVL beam in the crawlspace and sister up the joists with proper 2x10s, cost me a few extra hundred but worth it to avoid a bouncy floor.
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grace_bailey4mo ago
Yup, nothing like the old "we'll just use smaller lumber and hope nobody notices" trick. Bet that builder was real happy about getting busted with the straightedge. I swear some of these guys think deflection is just a fancy word for "good enough." Amazing how fast they suddenly find proper materials when you call them on it. Almost makes you wonder how many other houses they've done that on that nobody caught.
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simonh744mo ago
Hang on, @grace_bailey, do you really think this builder was trying to pull a fast one? I see it a little different. A lot of these guys are just following what their boss told them to do without thinking it through. They're not sitting there planning to cheat you, they're just doing what they've always done with whatever lumber is on the truck. The real problem is the company that bought the cheap materials in the first place. You catch it and they fix it fast because they know they can't argue with a straightedge, but half the time I bet it's just ignorance more than greed.
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jakel364mo ago
Wonder how many of those shortcuts are hiding behind drywall right now that nobody will find for years.
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