Drilling Holes In Floor Joists

Away from the top and bottom.

Drilling holes in floor joists. These joists are a bit more tricky to drill holes in. If you re drilling a hole in. How to drill a hole through the side of a floor joist. Make sure you read the following before you drill so you are prepared to carefully and effectively put holes in your floor joists.

In a perfect world floor joists are left whole to provide the greatest support. Of walls and rim joists. Keep holes in these joists to a maximum of 1 5 inches in diameter 38mm. Holes anywhere in the web area of engineered i joists except within 6 in.

For a 2 10 where actual depth is 9 25 inches the maximum allowable hole diameter would be just over. Refer to the hole chart on page 9 of the tji specifiers guide for uniformly loaded joists. There are very specific locations and sizes in the code telling you what is allowed. Below are the basic guidelines.

The diameter of holes shall not be greater than 1 3 the depth of the floor joists. Often hole size can be increased and holes can be placed closer to bearing than shown on the chart based on actual design spans and loads. Sometimes joists are notched at the end where they bear on a wall or sill. If the cut outs are too large or in the wrong location the joist can be weakened and unable to support the load it was designed for.

However whenever you are drilling a hole into a floor joist or any other part of your house for that matter you need to make sure you are being safe and not causing more damage than you need to. Tradespeople often need to cut notches or holes in floor and ceiling joists to run pipes ductwork or wires. Drilling floor joists to run plumbing wiring or ducts can be tricky. Drill holes with a diameter of no more than one third the depth of the joist staying 2 in.