If the floor in an upstairs room doesn't provide sufficient support or you want to install an upstairs room where one doesn't yet exist, you may want to beef up the ceiling joists over the first floor. Two different factors determine the weight capacity of ceiling joists: the size of the joists used and the spacing of those joists. Changing either of these factors beefs up the joists so that they hold more weight.
Instructions
Joist Spacing
1. Remove the material that covers the ceiling joists. If wood panels cover the ceiling, remove the screws or nails that hold the panels in place with a hammer or screwdriver. If drywall covers the ceiling, break through the material with a hammer and peel the drywall away with the claw end.
2. Measure the length of the joists in the ceiling and the width of the joists from the top to the bottom. Cut boards to the same width measurement as the joists in the ceiling and to the length of the joists to make additional joists. To beef up the ceiling joists significantly, cut a new joist to go between each of the joists already in the ceiling.
3. Measure between the joists in the ceiling and install the new you cut at equal intervals between the original joists. Secure each joist by screwing a joist hanger onto each end then screwing the joist hangers to the wall plate to which the original joists are attached.
4. Reinstall the same wood panels or new drywall with the original screws that you removed from the ceiling and secure the materials to the original joists. You don't need to secure the ceiling to the new joists.
Joist Size
5. Take the ceiling material down from the joists. Remove wood panels with a screwdriver or break through drywall panels with a hammer.
6. Measure the length and the width of the joists. Cut boards that have a larger width than the current ceiling joists down to the length of the original joists. Create one joist to go between each of the current joists.
7. Remove any flooring that sits above the joists by prying the nails out and pulling the boards up. If there are no flooring sites above the joists, skip this step.
8. Attach joist hangers to the ends of the joists with screws. Install the joists so that the bottoms of the joists line up with the bottom of the original joists and the tops of the joists extend above the wall plate and into the space above. Install one of the wider joists at even intervals between all of the current joists but leave the original joists in place.
9. Place the ceiling material back onto the ceiling. Reinstall the flooring above the floor or lay down plywood panels to create a floor surface over the taller boards.
Tags: ceiling joists, original joists, , joists that, with hammer, wood panels, above joists
