Rotten Beams - Must Replace

MHMConstruction

I'm doing a remodel and the house (old cracker shack, here in North Florida) had termites and the main affected area is a back corner of the house. It's set up on concrete block footings, about every 8 feet, and on top of the footings are 6x8 beams that run the length of the house, from front to back. The joists (2x8 old wood) sit on top of the 6x8 beams, and so forth.

The termite-eaten parts are about 3 feet long on both joining beams in the back corner. My plan is to get a few car jacks and set them up at 3 different locations in the back corner (possibly with a temporary 'joist to evenly support the lift), jack it up 1/4", and cut out the old rotten beams to the center of the next footing, and replace with.......

1) home made beam made up of 4 2x8's sandwiched together?

2) an 8x8 post, laid down?

what do you think?? And any other methods would be appreciated..

B.McCarthy
MHM Construction
Gainesville, FL

Kgmz

I would use a pressure treated beam. Termites don't like eating pressure treated wood.

Forry

Sounds ok. If it's a dry location, the stacked 2x is better, if wet, one member is best. In wet locations, the wood on wood can be problematic in the long run. Definetely PT. Also, I prefer replacing double runs if it's not too invasive, as lots of short beams create more hinge points than is ideal.

MHMConstruction

Forry,
Tell me what you mean by 'double runs' - do you mean going to the next footer down, or are you talking about sandwiching the beams together, or..?

And many thanks for replying - it looks like this is my project for tomorrow - if I don't post in the next day or so, it means I'm pinned underneath my project!!

MHM

TonK

A little late, but I'd use some LVL's instead of the stacked 2x's...

I'm interested to hear how this was completed.

WNYcarpenter

In the past we've lagged a ledger beam to the wall studs on the outside then used railroad jacks to support the structure. That way we could work in the crawl space without hydraulic jacks and cribbing in the way.