Floor Joist Cross Bracing Has Moved

I have also observed that no twisting or movement issues were found and many homes are 20 years or older.

Floor joist cross bracing has moved.

Whether your home is new or old it is sometimes necessary to install floor joist bracing in order to eliminate squeaking and deflection in the flooring itself. Cross bracing and solid blocking. Bracing will stiffen a floor system prevent floor joists from twisting and increase overall stability however there are actually two types of floor joist bracing commonly used. Figure 1 cross and solid bridging with load on floor.

Figure 2 incorrect installation of cross bridging. Would you consider this an issue after 30 years of no problems and would you recommend they be finished. Bridging or x bracing allows joists to share weight. Residential building code requires the use of cross bracing or blocking for floor joists exceeding 2 inches by 12 inches but many homes especially older ones have.

Thd sku 205173. Install with two 6d common nails per end. As shown in figure 2 it is not unusual especially in new homes to find that the cross bridging has not been nailed to the bottom of the floor joists. Even if your joists already have a row of bridging at the center of the span adding a row on each side of the existing bridging will stiffen the floor.

I would say about 50 of the crawlspaces i inspect have cross bracing installed between each joist but never compleated. Meaning the top end was nailed but the bottm ends were not.