joist spacing

[s.kelly]

got a friend that has just bought a 700 sq ft house built in the 30's. Floors are a little bouncy, so he called me today after he got a chance to look for the problem. Turns out the joists are spaced on 32" centers with only the 5/8 or so wood floor above. They did not always build solid in the past, guess lousy coutractors were always around.

[mgb1234]

But in the 30s the depression/recession was still going strong so it may have been a case of cutting corners somewhere and they picked a not so nice place to cut them,or it may be just something that somebody threw together real quick to have a roof over their heads,still there 60 years later

[s.kelly]

Had not thought of that.... interesting point. It is still holding up even if bouncy.

[mgb1234]

It will probably go back to that way with new houses anyways,the powers to be have decided that there is a 30% waste in lumber on new construction so they are rethinking the 16" OC joists etc.

[philsvintageradios]

it might present an issue if they had an odd situation, like a gathering where everyone really packed themselves in one room.
Phil

[s.kelly]

My house has a deck that is currently one of those 4 or fewer people at a time. I put some temporary additional support on it, but the ugly thing has to go sooner or later anyway.

[mgb1234]

They say that a deck only has a life span of 15 years

So I was at a recently purchased house and there is a brand new build two story that was listed at $350k at the peak ,it was built as a vintage replica as I was looking at the windows it looked like it was crooked at first I thought it was my house leaning so I measured it ,yep it was a full 1" difference from the top to the edge of the house verses the bottom and I fuss at being off 1/16 of an inch

There is a paragraph on the bottom of contractors invoices it reads something like "All workmanship will be completed in a professional manner "

What it does not say is that Professional manner is based on local comparisons,so basically if most of the local workers produce crap work then that is the standard they can go on with no recourse.

[s.kelly]

Definately agree on the contractors work. I have been in mechanical or construction trades for a while now, and used to wonder about something out of my area. Then I started comparing some of my work in something I had never done before to what someone had paid for. Sad some times. I am sure most "pros" can do some things faster, and there are those that are much better. But usually with care and a little time, on a first effort I can do better than most of the "pros" out there.

I did pay to have the concrete slab done for my garage. Something I was sure they could do better than me. AFTER we told them the form was out of level, she watched him "fix" it with a level and what I guess to be his one good eye. It is still 1 1/2" out in 14 feet. Best part is it slopes wall to wall, not towards the door where it might be handy.