Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Plumbers Drilled through Joists...Is this Acceptable?

Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 47 Posts
O

onpointdev

· Registered
Joined
·
2 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hi Everyone,

New to the forum, but already learning a lot.

Im doing a full gut rehab, that has essentially snowballed into becoming a new construction home.

Plumbers started over the weekend when I was not on site and drilled through the 2x8 joists. Joists are doubled up per SE and the span is about 14'. Do you think this is going to fly, or should it be headed off or reinforced in some way? Plumbers told me I'm crazy for even thinking its going to be an issue at inspection.

What do you think?

Pics and rough sketch attached.
 

Attachments

#2 ·
By rights the SE should have included a diagram on how many and of what size and what location on the joists holes and notches could be made.
Barring that they should have called the engineer with an RFI for this if direction was not available.
It might be alright but I would check with the engineer, that is what he is paid for.

Andy.
 
#3 ·
I'm not a structural engineer but it looks OK to me. I'd be concerned if the joists were cut to accommodate an air duct or for whatever reason it was cut less than 1" to the edge.
 
#5 ·
SE called out double joists.

For an engineered application as this how is it you were not on site when the plumber showed up?

They and others are notorious for hacking framing yet you as the GC weren't there.

Like Andy said call the SE, he designed it not us.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thanks for your input everyone. I'm having SE come out this week to take a look, so he can give more clarity.

Was looking for the more general answer, as in drilling through joists can be acceptable as long as it jives with SE calcs. Typically in the past, Ive either found a way to re-route without drilling joists, or used TJI's and followed specs for drilling.

@griz, Mothers bday was this weekend. Did a walkthru on Friday with plumber specifically to avoid this issue. Plan obviously wasn't conveyed to the laborers and this is what I discovered today.
 
#7 ·
Looking at it I'd say it needs more support. The one's on the left by themselves would have been OK. But the fact there are two of them makes me think this weakens the joist to much. The one on the right is the same thing, but the closest one is to large to go through and be acceptable. IMHO.
 
#8 ·
There are two acceptable ways to know allowable hole sizes: SE, and code, which is quite detailed about this. Where I live, you need 2" of meat left on each side of the hole, and the hole can't exceed 1/3 of the actual joist measurement. An SE is the only way to cut a bigger hole.
 
#15 ·
As Griz pointed out, those being double joists may change things. But only an engineer can sign off on that.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#16 ·
If one of my subs violates a code, it's not automatically my fault because I'm not there to prevent it. There's many times I'm chasing things for a remodel that I can't be there when things are rolling. This is why I pay what it's worth not what is cheap.
 
#18 ·
When I looked at this I thought of the code for hole size and the pipe size that was drilled. And my thoughts are yes the hole is too big for that size joist but I think thats why the designer doubled the joists to gain some strength. I dont see any other reason.

I also think that plumber did a nice neat job.
 
#19 ·
I worked in on an old 1900's balloon framed house last month. Single framing members carrying cast iron radiators, mud wall tiles, plaster, mud/concrete filled joist cavities ect....Sure the doors were re cut 10x as the weight pressed down but it held. :laughing:

Really its amazingly disturbing. I opened the ceiling to repair for repair and search for the tub leak above and found that the framing was completely relying on a single joist that was cut more than half way through. The floor header spanned the room under the cast iron tub and the supporting joist was carved up from the tub and lavatory drain. Its a little unnerving. Fortunately old growth heavy dimensional lumber.
 
#20 ·
Tom M said:
When I looked at this I thought of the code for hole size and the pipe size that was drilled. And my thoughts are yes the hole is too big for that size joist but I think thats why the designer doubled the joists to gain some strength. I dont see any other reason.

I also think that plumber did a nice neat job.
Click to expand...
14' is a pretty long span for 2x8. I bet that's why they are doubled.

At the end of the day, I bet you are fine. The doubling does help, and a lot of the requirements are very conservative and consider the hole may have been drilled right next to a knot or some other weak spot in the joist. Doubling reduces the chance of this.
 
1 - 20 of 47 Posts
About this Discussion
46 Replies
18 Participants
Last post:
greg24k
Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum
posts
3.6M
members
169K
Since
2003
A forum community dedicated to professional construction and remodeling contractors. Come join the discussion about the industry, trades, safety, projects, finishing, tools, machinery, styles, scales, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
General Discussion Tools & Equipment Business Painting & Finish Work Decks & Fencing