I noticed a creaking noise from my kitchen island when I walk around, so I checked the basement and found that one of the floor joists looks damaged. It seems like the crack started at a knot in the wood, and I'm surprised to see it splitting like this. I'm wondering if sistering the joist with a 2x8 would be a good option, or if I should just replace the entire joist. Any advice?
1 Answer
You don’t need to remove the whole joist; sistering it should work just fine! The only time you'd want to replace it is if it’s warping badly enough to lift the floor. It looks like you might just have gotten a bad piece of wood. I had a similar issue and only replaced mine because I was already halfway through removing the floor. No point in creating more work if you don’t have to!
Thanks! There’s no noticeable warping, but I'm thinking about pushing it up a bit before I sister it, just to avoid reinforcing a sagging joist.