Do You Need Rim Joists With Floor Trusses

Triforce experts are regularly invited as speakers for continuing education webinars one participant recently asked if open web floor joists still require rim board.

Do you need rim joists with floor trusses.

When the rim board is in place you can manually drive a few nails into the wood i beam joists to hold it in place. In residential construction this is typically 16 20 or 24 on center abbreviated oc. The place where you ll be most tempted to create oversize holes and notches under the bathtub is the part of a floor you can least afford to weaken. A cast iron tub with water and occupant can weigh in at more than 800 lbs.

Since the rim joist is on its edge the builder uses an angled nailing technique to attach the bottom of the joist to the first floor wall plate. The third step is attaching the floor joists to the rim joists again generally spaced at 16 inches on center. We chose 2 in thick r 10 extruded polystyrene don t use expanded polystyrene which is a less effective air and moisture barrier. The framer uses a tape measure to make sure these are installed properly.

The rim joist should be toe nailed into the top plate below using the appropriate nail size likely 12d or 16d nails depending on the material. Most often floor joists need to be sistered because of two problems either water damage which leads to rot or termite damage that crumbled the joist. I thought that was an interesting question because once you understand everything rim board does you adopt it. The floor joists attach to the rim joist in even spacing.

If you ever want to hang something from the ceiling of your home make sure you secure it through the drywall ceiling into the floor or ceiling joist above which can hold more weight than. Rigid foam is the best insulation for rim joists. If you need to cut through a joist firm up the floor as shown in fig. These problems must be addressed firsthand prior to implementing any restoration steps.

Floor joists once the rim joist is in place which creates a frame around the perimeter of the second story floor you ll install the floor joists which are the same dimension as the rim joist. If there was water damage make sure that whatever leaky pipe or condensation issue caused the rot is fixed. You can insulate second floor rim joists following the same steps shown here if you happen to tear out a ceiling during remodeling.