Hello everyone! Here's an update on construction at my house. It's been a loooooong time and a cold winter, so quite a lot has changed since my last update of this sort. Yesterday I worked on two significant tasks on the house. The first was to cut back the second level floor and joists so that there is enough "run" or space to be able to construct building-code compliant stairs down to a new landing and exterior door. The second project is to sister a number of cut-away joists that hold up the main second unit bathroom. These joists are long... about 16 feet each, so inserting them and jacking them up is a bit tricky. More on that in a second post. For now, take a look at the work to prepare for building the staircase.
Here is a view of the area on the second floor that needs to be cut back. If it's not cut back and I build the stairs, then the stairway will be too steep, and it will fail the building inspection.
Here's a view from the bottom. Actually I have already cut away the new double header that I'd originally built. This was added primarily to strengthen the structure at the bottom of the old staircase that leads up to the third floor.
Another angle.
Here are my initial measurements and cuts. I used a laser on the bottom side to ensure that everything was straight and square, and drilled small pilot holes up through the floor (which is about 2.5" thick). I used my circular saw to make the bulk of the cut. I set the initial depth to be shallow, then increased the depth by ~1/2" until it was fully extended. Next, I used my sawzall to cut the joists
The last cut was along the right side, and ... "voila!" the whole floor section dropped down the the first floor.
...like so!
Here's a closer look at the piece.
....and another.
Here's a close-up of the cut itself.
The view from the top-down.
The view from the opposite side.
Next, it's time to sister the joists that run underneath this floor. Stay tuned for my next post.
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