Drilling Through Floor Joists For Plumbing

Where and how to drill joists for electrical cables or plumbing runs depends on what type of floor framing you have.

Drilling through floor joists for plumbing. The holes will have to follow a straight line that goes across the floor and has to either go up or go down so the pipe has a slope. Of walls and rim joists. Step 3 understand the joist slopes. There are very specific locations and sizes in the code telling you what is allowed.

The maximum allowable diameter of a hole in any solid lumber joist is one third of. Let s review what is wrong with this particular joist and discuss what the proper technique is for. The picture above shows what can happen when an untrained plumber is working on your home. The slope should be about 1 4 for each foot of pipe.

Engineered floor joists can be drilled only according to their manufacturer s guidelines the code specifies the maximum size of the holes you can drill or the notches you can cut where you can and can t place them and how far apart they can be spaced. Holes anywhere in the web area of engineered i joists except within 6 in. The hole would need to be within the middle 5 inches of the joist because of the 2 inch rule on the top and bottom. Step 4 cut the holes.

Drilling floor joists to run plumbing wiring or ducts can be tricky. That also means because of the one third rule that that the hole cannot be wider than 3 inches.