How To Find The Floor Joist

If not then go back to old manual method.

How to find the floor joist.

Look at the subfloor and find a row of nails which are attached to a joist. You are probably aware that you can use a stud finder to find studs in your home s walls however there may come a time when you need to locate flooring joists beneath the carpet. I recently used a product available at the big box stores called squeek no more. See the image below for an example of joists spaced 16 on center 16 o c.

Move the hammer to the left or the right until the sound changes from hollow to solid. A number of test hole locations are within the photo but they are not visible. You ll have to drill small holes to find your first joist but you should be able to measure out 16 inches and go from there. Go to a corner of the room and measure out 16 from both walls and make a square on the floor.

Kneel down on the hardwood floor and gently tap the head of the hammer on it paying special attention to the sound it makes. Those kind of screws were originally designed to re attach a single board in a place where it had popped loose on a floor made of nailed down individual boards especially squeaky stair treads. You can guesstimate where the joist is shoot a screw on either side go underneath and measure where the joist is between the screws go back up and use the measurement to hit it. For example if you need to repair a squeaky floor you will need to be able to find the locations of joists in order to correct the problem.

Its a screw to tighten the sub floor to the joist traditionally connected with a nail which is may be causing the squeek. Reading the table you ll see that 2 x 8s installed 16 apart on center can span 12 4. Since the example house we are designing for is 12 feet wide we need to find in the floor joist span table a joist size and centering that can span 12 or wider. Finding floor joists if you have a stud finder try it it might work through the two layers.

The nails tell you where the first joist is and which. Pull back the corner of the carpet padding with the pliers. It is very easy to operate and requires only the use of a single button. The best stud finder for floor joists franklin sensors fs710 professional stud finder.

True floor joist span calculations can only be made by a structural engineer or contractor. This sample table gives minimum floor joist sizes for joists spaced at 16 inches and 24 inches on center o c for 2 grade lumber with 10 pounds per square foot of dead load and 40 pounds of live load which is typical of normal residential construction. This indicates that you have located a floor joist. So our house would look like the picture below with all floor joists 2 x 8.

This 3 in 1 stud finder offers a built in leveler and ruler for added value.